Crypto research for people with a day job. I share the systems I use to find good bets early and skip the noise. Free weekly newsletter below.
Get an Edge →
Joined January 2022
- Tweets14.2K
- Following213
- Followers298K
- Likes4K
Revenue and buybacks are one of the biggest token narratives of the next cycle.
We've already seen the attention Hyperliquid, Pump. fun, and other protocols have attracted by connecting actual business revenue to their tokens.
If a protocol is generating millions in fees, why shouldn't some of that value flow back to its tokenholders instead of relying on endless emissions?
I expect more projects to move in this direction. One example is @katana, which is making some pretty significant changes to how $KAT works.
The biggest one is a shift toward revenue-funded buybacks.
• Katana has acquired three pieces of its DeFi infrastructure:
• Katana Swap (Sushi deployment) for spot trading
• Katana Perps (IDEX) for leveraged trading
• Vault Bridge for earning yield on bridged assets
Add sequencer fees, and that's four revenue streams feeding into the ecosystem.
Those fees help fund automatic $KAT buybacks, and 100% of the bought-back tokens go to avKAT stakers
The old voting and locking system is also being phased out. You simply stake $KAT, rewards compound automatically, and the unstaking cooldown drops from 45 days to 7.
Of course, buybacks alone don't make a token a good investment.
The real question is how much revenue these products can generate and how consistently that translates into buybacks.
But I do think the direction is worth watching.
The next cycle might put more weight on what protocols actually earn, and how much of it reaches tokenholders.
🤝 Paid partnership
RWA perps went from $18B to $2.23 TRILLION in one year.
That’s 122x.
Stocks and commodities are now 18% of all perp volume. A year ago it was basically zero.
Crypto feels dead right now, but charts like this say otherwise. Real usage is exploding.
I spent the weekend testing out a few Grokbot alternatives.
So far, @OpenBot_ has the most promise. Solid UI/UX, and feels better w/ Opus 5.5 powering everything. Slowly switching over.
@norbertbodziony cooked
Crypto’s revenue numbers look rough this year.
Look closer though. Up to 30% of it could come from institutions and wider economic use, not just traders flipping tokens.
That’s the adoption story the headline misses.
My top 7 reads this week:
7/ A weekend security check
@ahboyash's 27 checks cover accounts, Telegram, wallets and devices.
Set aside 2-3 hours.
I'd start with:
• Replace SMS login codes
• Check active sessions
• Remove old wallet approvals
nitter.gq/ahboyash/status/211612…
Spending 2-3 hours today on these could save your entire net worth
Accounts
1. Check if your emails have been leaked in a data breach haveibeenpwned.com. Change every leaked password first
2. Use a separate and non public email for CEXes, banks, social media. Don't open links on email
3. Use a password manager like @Bitwarden. Unique password for every account with 2FA and passkeys enabled (save passkeys in Bitwarden)
4. Stop using SMS 2FA. YubiKey or authenticator app only
5. Write down all your backup codes on paper, store it somewhere safe (fireproof and waterproof)
6. Bookmark every exchange and dApp websites. Never open them from Google or Telegram links
Telegram
9. Under Privacy, turn on Two-Step Verification (its a password), use Passkey and set Stars for Messages so random people cannot DM you
10. Check Active Sessions and delete anything you don't recognise
11. Set your phone number to Nobody
12. Never open files people send you, even from friends. Their account could be hacked
13. Ignore any "free to catch up" with Calendly links, you can catch up over Telegram message itself
14. Disable Auto-Download Media (under Data and Storage)
Wallets
15. Seed phrase on paper or metal. Never in a notes app or cloud or Notion
16. Cold wallets for large funds, best to use a multisig with cold wallets (p.s best to offramp more into your bank so you can sleep at night)
17. Split wallets to mitigate single attack vector: small hot wallet for dApps, cold wallet for the rest
19. Revoke old unlimited approvals (revoke.cash/)
Devices (Mac checklist mac.0xosprey.com by @0x_Osprey)
20. FileVault + firewall on, auto login off
21. Auto updates on
22. Delete browser extensions you don't use
23. Separate browser (or device) just for crypto
24. Never run a recruiter's "coding challenge" especially if its something to install
Misc
25. Don't use Zoom or Microsoft teams if you have to take a call
26. Remember you are not a VIP, no journalist is going to want to interview you for your takes nor will companies send you emails / letters to warn you of a compromised account
27. Some of the contacts that you saved on Telegram could be compromised, saving as contact doesn't do anything
28. Take note of some of the trading terminals that you have funds on, if the largest exchange can be compromised what more these smaller ones
29. Write a plan for if you get hacked, and leave one for your family
30. Remember to message @seal_911_bot if you have any emergencies @_SEAL_Org
Stay paranoid.
1
2
1,654
If you like reads like these, you'll love the free weekly newsletter.
Every Thursday, you get new strategies, narratives, and the latest in DeFi. No fluff or b.s.
thedefiedge.com/join/
1,595
Venice burned about $1.06M of $VVV in October, its biggest regular month so far.
The bad news is that total supply is still going up, because more new VVV came out in October than got burned.
However...
That math changes soon in January 2027.
Right now about 19K new VVV hits the market every day from staking rewards and unlocks.
Most of the scheduled unlocks end on January 1, so that drops to around 6K a day. If burns stay the same, they cover about a quarter of new supply instead of 7.5%, roughly 3x the impact.
Usage is growing fast too. Venice says @AskVenice went from about 250B to over 1T AI tokens (the small chunks of text AI reads and writes) a day in October.
There are two catches though, and both are bad for holders.
1, Usage isn't the same as paid revenue. Even after January, burns need to grow about 4x before supply really shrinks.
2. VVV holders don't own any of Venice's revenue. The company decides how much to burn, and it can change that.
So I'm cautiously bullish, but only for a window.
Investor tokens start unlocking in July 2027 and could add up to ~6K VVV a day, which is about as much as all the new supply after January.
So January to July is the six months where burns face the least new supply they'll see for years, and if they can't catch up to it then, I don't think they ever will.
Damn, I'm on the max $200 Grokbot plan, routing heavy work to Claude / Codex, optimized my routines, & still got fucked by the recent usage nerfs.
Gonna test some alternatives this weekend to see if anything's comparable.
Which protocols paid holders the most since 2021?
4 different ones held #1, then @HyperliquidX took it in July 2025 and pulled away.
It has paid holders $1.39B, more than @aeroxyz and @Pumpfun combined.
In an era of bs, I feel safest holding tokens that make money & pay me.
Hackers have stolen $8.68B from crypto this year, and the hacks keep getting bigger.
April: $295M
September: $387M
October: $6.36B
This isn't a good trend.
Hackers have the attacker’s advantage.
To rob a crypto protocol, they only need 1 unlocked door. The company has to lock every door (code, laptops, wallet keys), every day..forever.
Now AI finds those weaknesses faster than ever. That makes me nervous about crypto.