Guides
Guides related to the economics of onchain economics, the intersection of the crypto and macro, and onchain metrics.
Apply what you learn
Use these interactive tools alongside the guides to analyze real data.
Protocol Economics
Incentives, mechanism design, and token models that shape protocol behavior over time.
Feb 06, 2026
The monetary policy of Layer 1s: how token emission schedules mirror central banking
Compare Bitcoin halvings, Ethereum burns, and Solana disinflation to central bank monetary policy frameworks. Understand how protocol-level money supply rules shape token value.
Feb 06, 2026
MEV as a hidden tax: measuring the deadweight loss of blockchain extraction
Frame MEV through public finance economics: tax incidence, deadweight loss, and rent-seeking. Quantify how much MEV costs users and evaluate whether solutions like Flashbots reduce this invisible tax.
Feb 06, 2026
Harberger taxes and onchain property rights: radical markets meet NFTs and domain names
How blockchain enables the first real implementations of Harberger taxation for digital property. Analyze live experiments in partial common ownership across ENS names, virtual land, and NFTs.
Feb 06, 2026
Onchain treasury management: how DAOs allocate capital vs. corporate finance
Compare DAO treasury strategies to corporate capital allocation frameworks. Identify common failures in concentration risk, grant spending, buyback timing, and compensation structures.
Jan 19, 2026
RWA tokenization: how traditional assets become blockchain tokens
Understand the complete tokenization process from asset selection through token issuance to secondary market trading, including participant roles and economic considerations.
Jan 19, 2026
RWA finance: how real world assets are transforming DeFi
Understand how RWAs integrate with DeFi protocols, the benefits and risks of this integration, and how it's changing the decentralized finance landscape.
Jan 19, 2026
Oracle risk in prediction markets: what happens when resolution fails
How prediction markets determine truth through oracles, the economics of securing resolution, and what happens when the system fails.
Jan 19, 2026
Prediction market mechanics: where the odds actually come from
How prediction markets work at the protocol level, from order book and AMM designs to share pricing and resolution mechanisms.
Jan 19, 2026
Prediction market fees and value accrual: who captures the spread
How prediction markets generate revenue through trading fees, resolution fees, and spreads, with comparison across Polymarket, Kalshi, and decentralized alternatives.
Jan 19, 2026
Conditional prediction markets: building complex bets on-chain
How conditional prediction markets enable correlation trading, complex hedging, and composability with DeFi primitives.
Jan 13, 2026
Tokenomics red flags: 7 warning signs in a token's economic design
Identify bad tokenomics before investing using this checklist of concentrated ownership, aggressive vesting, unlimited supply, and other warning signs.
Jan 13, 2026
Token buybacks vs dividends: which value accrual mechanism works?
Compare buyback and dividend models for protocol value accrual with real data from MakerDAO, BNB, GMX, and Curve.
Jan 13, 2026
Stablecoin yield: where does the 5-8% actually come from?
Trace the actual cash flows behind stablecoin yields from T-bills to lending spreads to token incentives, with risk assessment framework.
Jan 13, 2026
How to read a protocol's revenue
Learn how to find, interpret, and analyze protocol revenue data using the five core metrics that separate sustainable projects from unsustainable ones.
Jan 13, 2026
Ponzinomics vs real yield: a framework for evaluating DeFi returns
Use the 5-point scoring system to distinguish sustainable protocol yields from unsustainable token emission schemes.
Jan 13, 2026
MEV explained for normal people: how bots profit from your trades
Understand what MEV is, how sandwich attacks and front-running work, and practical steps to protect your trades.
Jan 13, 2026
The real cost of Ethereum L2s: where your fees go
Trace L2 fee flows from your wallet through sequencer operations to L1 settlement, and understand who profits from each transaction.
Jan 13, 2026
Why gas fees don't go to ETH holders (and what actually does)
Understand exactly where your Ethereum gas fees go: base fee burns, validator tips, and how value actually accrues to ETH holders.
Jan 13, 2026
Bitcoin halving economics: what actually happens to miner revenue and network security
Analyze the real impact of Bitcoin halvings on miner economics, security budgets, and the long-term fee market sustainability question.
Jan 13, 2026
The hidden economics of airdrops: who pays when tokens are 'free'?
Understand who actually bears the cost of airdrops through dilution, treasury depletion, and sell pressure dynamics.
Jan 10, 2026
Onchain profit: why most protocols don't have it
Profit is revenue minus all expenses including emissions. Most DeFi protocols are unprofitable when token incentives are properly accounted.
Jan 09, 2026
DeFi business models explained
How DEXs, lending protocols, perps, LSTs, and L2s generate revenue with different cost structures and sustainability profiles.
Jan 08, 2026
Sequencer revenue and L2 economics
L2 sequencers earn fees from users and pay costs to Ethereum. Learn how margins vary with L1 gas and why most sequencer revenue doesn't reach tokenholders.
Jan 05, 2026
Emissions vs revenue: why token incentives are expenses
Token emissions are costs, not revenue. Learn how to measure emissions-to-revenue ratios and assess protocol sustainability.
Jan 03, 2026
How to read a DeFi income statement
Apply GAAP-like income statement principles to protocol economics: map fees, revenue, and profit for any DeFi protocol.
Jan 02, 2026
Tokenholder revenue vs protocol revenue
Protocol revenue and tokenholder revenue are different. Most protocols earn revenue but deliver nothing to tokenholders without explicit mechanisms.
Jan 01, 2026
Treasury management for protocols
How protocols should manage treasuries: runway calculation, diversification, burn rate control, and common mistakes to avoid.
Jan 01, 2026
Protocol economics primitives: a starter mental model
A lightweight framework for thinking about incentives, value flows, and constraints in onchain protocols.
Dec 30, 2025
MEV explained like an income statement
MEV is revenue when captured by protocols, a hidden tax when extracted from users. Learn who captures MEV and why it rarely accrues to tokenholders.
Dec 30, 2025
Cost of funds in DeFi
What protocols pay capital providers (LPs, stakers, validators) is cost of funds, not profit sharing. Learn why ignoring this breaks profitability analysis.
Dec 29, 2025
Bribes, rebates, and kickbacks in DeFi
How to account for bribes as expenses when paid and revenue when received, with correct income statement treatment.
Dec 28, 2025
Liquidity mining: what worked and what didn't
Why early liquidity mining succeeded, why returns diminished, and lessons for rational incentive program design.
Metrics
Practical, decision-useful metrics for onchain businesses and protocols.
Feb 06, 2026
Onchain velocity of money: does MV=PQ work for token economies?
Apply the equation of exchange to crypto tokens. Understand why high-velocity tokens face structural price pressure and where the classical framework breaks down onchain.
Feb 06, 2026
Crypto as a parallel balance of payments: capital flows between chains
Treat each L1 and L2 as a small open economy. Map bridge flows, stablecoin migration, and TVL shifts using balance of payments accounting to identify surplus and deficit chains.
Jan 19, 2026
Onchain accounting: how blockchain changes financial record-keeping
Understand what onchain accounting means, how it differs from traditional bookkeeping, and why it matters for crypto businesses and potentially all of finance.
Jan 10, 2026
TVL explained: what it measures (and what it doesn't)
A practical guide to Total Value Locked, how it's calculated, and how to avoid common interpretation mistakes.
Jan 08, 2026
DeFi unit economics: LTV, CAC, and payback
Apply customer acquisition cost and lifetime value analysis to DeFi protocols for sustainable growth assessment.
Jan 07, 2026
Gross margin in DeFi protocols
Gross margin is retained revenue as a percentage of gross fees, measuring protocol efficiency at capturing value after pass-throughs.
Jan 07, 2026
Fees vs revenue vs profit: the DeFi accounting guide
Most crypto dashboards mislabel metrics. Learn the precise definitions of fees, revenue, and profit for accurate protocol analysis.
Jan 06, 2026
TVL vs revenue: why the balance sheet isn't the income statement
TVL measures locked capital at a point in time. Revenue measures value captured over time. Learn when each metric matters and when it misleads.
Jan 06, 2026
What is protocol revenue? The definitive guide
Protocol revenue is retained value after pass-throughs, not total fees. Learn the precise definition and how to measure it correctly.
Jan 05, 2026
Payback period for token incentives
How long until user-generated revenue exceeds acquisition cost? Most DeFi incentives have infinite payback because users leave when rewards end.
Jan 03, 2026
Take rate in crypto protocols
Take rate is the percentage of fees a protocol retains after pass-throughs. It reveals business quality that gross fee metrics hide.
Jan 02, 2026
Real users vs subsidized activity
How to distinguish genuine user demand from incentive-driven activity that collapses when emissions end.
Dec 30, 2025
Stablecoin supply and flows as a signal
Stablecoin supply changes and chain-level flows reveal capital deployment better than token prices driven by speculation.
Dec 28, 2025
Onchain cash flow: stablecoins as the unit of sustainability
Track protocol sustainability through stablecoin-denominated cash flows. Learn what counts as cash onchain and how to monitor treasury health.
Yield
Where yield comes from, how it’s sustained, and how to compare opportunities.
Feb 06, 2026
Liquidity traps in DeFi: when yield farming incentives stop working
Apply Keynesian liquidity trap theory to DeFi protocols where increasing token rewards fail to attract incremental capital. Identify why some protocols escape and others collapse.
Jan 19, 2026
Liquidity provision in prediction markets: real yield or hidden risk
How to provide liquidity in prediction markets, the unique risk of binary outcomes, and a framework for evaluating LP opportunities.
Jan 09, 2026
Real yield in crypto: how to separate cash flow from inflation
Learn to identify yield funded by protocol revenue versus token emissions, and why the distinction determines sustainability.
Jan 04, 2026
The sustainable yield checklist: 7 questions before you ape
A practical checklist for evaluating DeFi yields. Seven questions that reveal whether yield is sustainable or subsidized.
Valuation
Frameworks for valuing tokens and protocols using cashflows, risk, and comparables.
Jan 19, 2026
Understanding RWA assets: categories, characteristics, and evaluation framework
Learn to categorize different RWA types, understand their distinct risk profiles, and evaluate specific RWA investment opportunities.
Jan 04, 2026
Protocol earnings quality framework
Score revenue durability through recurring vs reflexive sources, concentration risk, subsidy dependence, and volatility sensitivity.
Dec 29, 2025
Revenue multiple vs fees multiple in crypto valuation
Fees multiples inflate valuations by counting pass-throughs. Revenue multiples are more accurate but still require emission adjustments.
Dec 28, 2025
Price as a lagging indicator: what to watch instead
Token price lags fundamentals due to reflexivity and narrative formation. Learn which metrics reveal protocol health before price reflects it.
Thesis
Clear theses about markets, primitives, and why onchain systems might win.
Feb 06, 2026
The stablecoin trilemma: decentralization, stability, and capital efficiency
Every stablecoin design sacrifices at least one of three properties. Map USDC, DAI, and algorithmic stablecoins onto the impossible trinity from international economics.
Feb 06, 2026
Credit markets without credit scores: how DeFi lending reprices risk
How overcollateralization and algorithmic interest rates replace credit scores in DeFi, what the resulting rates reveal about trustless credit, and why the spread over Treasuries prices decentralization risk.
Feb 06, 2026
The Phillips Curve of crypto: token inflation, staking yields, and network activity
Investigate whether higher token emissions buy network activity the way inflationary policy reduces unemployment. The short-run tradeoff is real. The long-run breakdown is predictable.
Jan 19, 2026
What are real world assets (RWA)? Bridging traditional finance and blockchain
Understand what RWAs are, why they matter in crypto, and how they connect blockchain technology to traditional asset classes like bonds, real estate, and commodities.
Jan 19, 2026
What is onchain? The foundation of transparent finance
Understand what onchain means, how it differs from traditional financial systems, and why blockchain transparency changes economics.
Jan 19, 2026
The economic impact of tokenization: how RWAs will reshape global finance
Understand the macroeconomic implications of widespread asset tokenization: capital market efficiency, financial inclusion, industry disruption, and the infrastructure transition ahead.
Jan 19, 2026
Real world assets in crypto: market overview and investment considerations
Understand the current RWA crypto landscape, major protocols and issuers, market size, and how to evaluate RWA investments critically.
Jan 19, 2026
Real world assets explained: from physical property to digital tokens
Understand the full scope of real world assets, how tokenization works mechanically, and the economic implications of bringing traditional assets onchain.
Jan 19, 2026
Prediction markets vs polls: a framework for information quality
When prediction markets outperform polls and when they don't, with a decision framework for choosing the right information source.
Jan 19, 2026
Prediction market regulation: CFTC, offshore, and on-chain
Why Kalshi is legal in the US and Polymarket isn't, how regulatory frameworks differ globally, and what clarity would change.
Jan 19, 2026
Onchain wallets explained: self-custody and why it matters
Understand what onchain wallets are, how they differ from exchange accounts, and how to evaluate whether self-custody fits your needs.
Dec 31, 2025
Onchain auditability: why verifiable revenue changes everything
Public ledgers enable continuous verification of protocol claims. Learn how auditability creates market premiums and enables citizen-detected fraud.