How Ethereum's Tokens Can Continue to Evolve
summary
Argues that token design has stalled since 2021—projects still use the Compound governor contract—while valuations surge and token prices fall year over year; notes 10x more tokens on Solana but far less value captured. Proposes three concrete paths: formalize institutional memory and contribution programs like ENS service provider, experiment with token-to-equity conversions as in Across bridge to C-corp, and launch new tokens with slow circulating supply and low-start clearing auctions like Uniswap CCAs.
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chapters (29)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:11Two Ethereum Universes: Making It Beautiful
- 1:12Tokens on Ethereum vs Solana by Count
- 2:23Why Ethereum Dominates by Value Despite Fewer Tokens
- 2:47Ten Years of Tokens: The Big Picture
- 3:05The Original DAO and Digix Model
- 3:30The Governance Token Era: Uniswap, Yearn, ENS
- 4:06How Tokens Became Disconnected From Protocols
- 4:23VCs Replacing Retail Contribution
- 4:57Rising Valuations, Declining Accountability
- 5:39Five Years of Technical Innovation Then Nothing
- 6:28Tokens Can Do Anything, But Mostly Bought Houses
- 7:47Regulatory Arbitrage and Extractive Design
- 8:26Three Paths to Token Evolution
- 9:00Path 1: Existing Large Tokens
- 9:27Institutional Memory in Big DAOs
- 9:58ENS Service Provider Program as a Model
- 10:15Parallel Governance Experimentation
- 10:52Path 2: Existing Small Tokens
- 11:17The Across Bridge Across Proposal
- 12:07Liquity and Infinex: Product Without Token Love
- 12:52Rethinking Buy and Burn Metas
- 13:17Path 3: New Tokens and Circulating Supply
- 14:12Ten Year Circulating Supply Experiments
- 14:48Uniswap's Clearing Auctions Starting Low
- 15:36Why the EF Cannot Lead on Token Innovation
- 15:54Investor Driven Design as the Real Bottleneck
- 16:40The Interplanetary Coordination Opportunity
- 17:19Closing Call to Experiment
