- gives ownership to users, incentivizes them to stay and invest moreCons of “social tokens”- puts pressure on creators to continue delivering value for token holders (akin to an “early IPO”)

There are two things I want to point out about this feedback loop. First is how much of the initial growth is driven by speculation. Because most tokens are programmed to be scarce, as interest in the protocol grows so does the price per token and thus the market cap of the network. Sometimes interest grows a lot faster than the supply of tokens an... See more

When a token appreciates in value, it draws the attention of early speculators, developers and entrepreneurs. They become stakeholders in the protocol itself and are financially invested in its success. Then some of these early adopters, perhaps financed in part by the profits of getting in at the start, build products and services around the proto... See more

As mentioned at the beginning of the essay, protocol tokens are financially valuable in large part because of the "threat of the fee." Taking this idea to its extreme, a token’s governance power is powerful because it gives you the ability to conserve the vibes. As a builder on the protocol, you hold to help ensure that you can’t get deplatformed. ... See more