For our purposes here, we will just draw a simple distinction between L1s and L2s:

• L1 – Network relies on its own dedicated operators.


• L2 – Network relies on the operators of another network. It may or may not have its own dedicated operators in addition to these.

We reduced inflation, but the token holders’ profit is unchanged. The only difference is that there is directionally less incentive to stake rather than hold idly (because the staking yield is reduced). On its own, PoS issuance is simply an internal tax which redistributes network ownership among token holder subsets to incentivize staking.

Network TEV (Total Economic Value) is defined as follows:

TEV = Network Fees + MEV Tips + Issuance

In a cryptonetwork, token holders would also be unwilling to supply capital at a loss indefinitely if the token’s only value is derived from its ability to generate profits in the future. However, this gets into the unique properties and value capture mechanisms of crypto – tokens may have value capture outside of their ability to produce income.

As noted above, we also assumed 100% token ownership so as to isolate the asset’s ability to generate income vs. its utility value as a currency. However, an alternative scenario to consider would be if there remained a subset of holders who own the token and keep it un-staked , perhaps even paying inflation to token stakers. This should only occur... See more

It seems obvious that applications, not general-purpose networks, will capture the majority of cash flows generated in these systems over the long-run. This is already playing out. Apps have all of the leverage and pricing power with the end-customer. There’s still a big question though – how much MEV leakage will these apps leave around for the... See more

Bitcoin is special. It was the first, and it’s still the most decentralized, credibly neutral, predictable, and reliable network. No other network can match its story, and perhaps no other will match these features.

Also, unlike most of its peers here, BTC makes no attempt to be a productive capital asset. Now, that may sound like a weakness at... See more

In both cases though, you also need to care about the net income of all token holders in aggregate. That is the measure of the token’s overall value capture from generating income, and hence is a major component in its valuation. Imagine a network with high issuance and low staking participation. The income statement for stakers might look great.... See more

Aside from being productive capital assets, you have likely heard some variation of these two other buckets for assets (neither of which are necessarily mutually exclusive with each other or capital assets):

• Consumable / Transformable Asset – Sometimes also classified as commodity or utility value. Cryptoassets offer infinitely programmable, fast,

... See more