Two tokenomics experts, Yan Liberman, co-founder of Delphi Digital, and Viktor Bunin, protocol specialist at Coinbase Cloud, discuss their experiences building tokens, their thoughts on the recent ENS/PSP airdrops, and what “fair” token distribution looks like. Show highlights:
- the definition of tokenomics
- what factors (such as utility, fairness, liquidity, security, etc.) token designers are incentivizing for
- what Yan learned from helping design Astroport tokenomics
- what Vikor learned from helping design Threshold, the token that was built to facilitate the merge of NuCypher and Keep
- how the EIP 1559 burn has changed Ethereum’s tokenomics
- how EIP 1559 has improved investor outlook for Ethereum
- why Viktor is worried about people actually using Ethereum going forward
- what Viktor and Yan think about how the ENS airdrop farming issue was handled
- what Viktor and Yan think about ParaSwap’s PSP airdrop and why Viktor thinks ParaSwap made a “mistake”
- how Viktor and Yan would go about airdropping a token to good actors instead of bad actors
- how improvements in on-chain identity could help future airdrops
- fair launch tokens versus VC-backed tokens
- what the definition of fair is in terms of tokenomics
- why Viktor thinks a token’s distribution is more important than a token’s launch
- what could be the optimal way to distribute liquidity mining rewards
- how community affects tokenomics
- how to incentivize NFT-based tokens, like the forthcoming Bored Ape Yacht Club token, for the right goals
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Yan Liberman -- co founder at Delphi Digital
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanliberman
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/yanliberman
Viktor Bunin -- protocol specialist at Coinbase (Bison Trails)
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktorbunin
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ViktorBunin
Tokenomics 101 Primers:
- The Tie: https://research.thetie.io/token-economics/
- Smith and Crown: https://smithandcrown.com/research/issues-of-fairness-in-token-distribution/
- A Timeline of Token Distributions: https://blog.coinlist.co/the-evolution-of-token-distribution-models/
Recent Airdrops + Airdrop farming
- PSP:
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- https://medium.com/paraswap/introducing-the-psp-token-to-make-paraswap-even-more-efficient-and-decentralized-c4730e50be72
- ENS: https://twitter.com/ensdomains/status/1457862602239926274
-
- https://twitter.com/nicksdjohnson/status/1456424366850281488
Airdrop Farming
- Potential airdrops coming up:
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- https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/11/09/missed-the-ens-airdrop-here-are-the-crypto-projects-rumored-to-decentralize-next/
- https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-airdrops
- https://www.trustnodes.com/2021/11/14/ethereans-sneak-to-zksync-for-airdrop-farming
- PSP drop w/ heavy requirements
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- https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/11/15/dex-aggregator-paraswap-launches-psp-token-on-heels-of-ens-airdrop-excitement/
- ENS Blacklist
-
- https://twitter.com/nicksdjohnson/status/1456048492141441027
Topics Mentioned
- Astroport tokenomics
-
- https://astroport.medium.com/hello-astro-announcing-the-astroport-governance-token-drops-a07a1bf3ed94
- NuCypher + Keep merge
-
- https://decrypt.co/73800/forget-hard-fork-what-happens-after-kee-nucypher-hard-merge
- SushiSwap vampire attack
-
- https://finematics.com/vampire-attack-sushiswap-explained/
- Tokemak tokenomics
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- https://medium.com/the-capital/defi-2-0-is-it-the-next-wave-of-cryptocurrency-4499e838ea44
Miscellaneous
- What is liquidity mining?
-
- https://medium.com/coinmonks/what-is-liquidity-mining-and-how-does-it-work-d0ab491e607
- The Internet of Money (recommended by Viktor)
-
- https://theinternetofmoney.info/
Other Fun Topics
- How Token Governance Mechanisms can be implemented
- https://outlierventures.io/research/what-is-the-secret-to-building-valuable-tokens-part-2/
- Crypto Gaming economics
- https://outlierventures.io/research/p2e-2-0-a-new-economic-model-for-gaming-based-on-crypto-tokens/
- Does farming represent progress in token distribution?
- https://smithandcrown.com/research/adaptations-in-token-distribution-mechanisms-does-farming-represent-progress/
- Should treasuries hold native tokens?
- https://twitter.com/AntonioMJuliano/status/1460278949867442182