🗡️ tokens are becoming equity?!!!
View Online Sponsored By Back in November, a reader asked my take on Ethena ($ENA). I said bearish. Since I published it, $ENA is down ~57%. (For comparison, BTC is down 17% during the same period.) What was the problem? The unlock schedule. Unlocks mean sell pressure, and no narrative can save you from VCs dumping on your head. Tokenomics is one of the first things I check on any project. Get it wrong, and nothing else matters. The best narrative can’t save you from VCs dumping on you. Next…
Sponsored By
Back in November, a reader asked my take on Ethena ($ENA).
I said bearish. Since I published it, $ENA is down ~57%. (For comparison, BTC is down 17% during the same period.)
What was the problem? The unlock schedule. Unlocks mean sell pressure, and no narrative can save you from VCs dumping on your head.
Tokenomics is one of the first things I check on any project. Get it wrong, and nothing else matters. The best narrative can’t save you from VCs dumping on you.
You’ll walk away knowing how to skim and read tokenomics in minutes.
Here’s what we got today:
- The Across proposal. They might convert $ACX into equity.
- Recent DeFi innovations. Futard.io, Mezzanine, and five more.
- Around the web. $BASED airdrop checker, Denara mainnet beta, Zora returns to Base, Nasdaq partners with Kraken, and more.
Today’s email is brought to you by Katana — the DeFi optimised chain.
Here’s your Edge 🗡️!
News
$ACX: The Reverse Tokenization Trend?
Across protocol is discussing a crazy proposal.
What’s crazy? Across is converting its token, $ACX, into equity.
- Holders can redeem $ACX for $0.04375 USDC per token, a 25% premium to the one-month average price.
- Or they can exchange tokens for equity. There are some legal nuances here. Read more about it here.
This is against what crypto bros have been preaching. We were imagining a world where all equities will be tokenized.
This is going the other way: Across is transitioning from a DAO to a U.S. C-Corp.
Why did the team propose this?
#1. Difficulties in doing BD.
Across is a cross-chain bridge.
But it also has a B2B aspect as a payment infrastructure. They enter into an agreement with stablecoin issuers to ensure that users will always will receive $1 when bridging. For example, they partnered with Native Markets to ensure 1 USDC = 1 USDH.
These off-chain agreements with stablecoin issuers have become central to Across’s roadmap.
But Across is a DAO, and it cannot directly enter into legal agreements. They used to route this legal stuff through the Foundation. But this has become increasingly difficult when they approach traditional institutions.
So, they want to convert themselves into a US C-corp.
#2. They believe the token is undervalued.
This is very rare. Most people say crypto tokens are overvalued. But the Across team is offered 25% premium to buy back the tokens.
Theoretically, tokens should have a premium over similar equity because tokens should have better liquidity and global market access. But the sentiment in crypto is so low that many projects are undervalued.
The market reaction to the proposal was very weird. Here’s the ACX price chart:
The team had said $ACX could be redeemed for $0.04375. But after the news, the token pumped to >$0.066. And now, it’s trading at >$0.054, higher than its redeemable value.
There’s no simple explanation for that behavior, except that it’s degen behavior.
How are people reacting to the proposal?
Some took victory laps, saying DAOs were never gonna work.
Others said this was against crypto ethos: investment access for everyone, anywhere, globally. ACX won’t be freely tradable on DEXs anymore.
Many also said that this is the path forward. Most protocol tokens should become equities. And crypto tokens trying to become equities are signs of maturation.
Personally, the best scenario will be a best of both worlds approach. We need both the legal clarity and the liquidity and access benefits of blockchain. In this world, equities will be directly issued onchain.
But it still wouldn’t have the permissionless and global access that tokens have. Ideally, we should have that as well. The current legal system wouldn’t support it.
Hopefully, the legal system can evolve to support the full potential of crypto.
Sponsored by Katana
$KAT Pre-Staking: The Conviction Opportunity
$KAT TGE is coming soon.
$vKAT tokenomics is a novel flywheel that boosts the Katana economy.
- $KAT holders can stake it to receive vKAT
- vKAT holders participate in weekly voting cycles
- The weekly voting will decide where the KAT incentives will go
- Voters earn a portion of the fees generated by the protocol pools they support.
Latest issue
Metric that drives winning tokens
Welcome to Black October. In under two weeks, an AI found a bug that exposes the PHP software running 70% of websites. Hackers used AI agents to break into 100+…
- Holder revenue is king. Lessons from last 2 months’ DeFi token market
- Trueo x DefiLlama partnership. You can now bet on onchain metrics.
Next issue:
Free · every Thursday
Get the next issue by email
Each Thursday Edgy explains what happened in DeFi and what it means for you. About 7 minutes. No shilling.
“No BS, solid analysis, not pressing me to buy.”
Reader survey
Written by Edgy · 15,000+ readers
$avCAT is the liquid version of $vKAT. If you want to learn tokenomics in detail, read this.
Since their launch <1 year ago, Katana has already generated >$3.4M in fees. Plus, there are no VCs & their dumping.
So it’s a solid token.
Still, many users have earned non-transferable $KAT from incentive programs. So when $KAT goes live, many would sell to take profit.
That’s natural. But it’ll create volatility early on.
Solution? Pre-staking campaign.
- 3x voting power
- 3x reward weight for 1-4 epochs (decays over time)
- Share of the exit fines from users who sell during the 60-day stabilization window.
- The first 350M KAT committed qualify for a guaranteed 35% return.
TLDR: Katana is rewarding the people who lock in and taxing the people who flip.
If you are bullish on $KAT, pre-staking is an opportunity.
Updates
Are DeFi Innovations Dead?
If you think DeFi isn’t innovating anymore, you haven’t been paying attention.
Granted, it’s not DeFi Summer of 2020. Still, many teams have been shipping innovative features.
Let’s look at a few of them.
#1. Futardio
It’s a new platform from MetaDAO, a futarchy platform. I’ve talked about it in a previous newsletter.
TLDR: they create DAOs where decisions are made via markets. You should learn more about it here.
Futardio is a permissionless token launchpad.
But the treasury is protected by onchain spending limits and market-based governance.
The fund doesn’t immediately go to project teams; instead, it goes to audited smart contracts. These funds are then released to the team based on spending limits. If the team wants more funds or issues more tokens, they’ll go through decision-markets. So, token holders won’t be ruined by inflation either.
There’s more nuances like Time-Weighted allocation for early investors. But won’t go into all the details here. Here’s the project website.
Futardio is a great model for investors to bet on founders.
#2. Mezzanine
Stephen is a well-known yield farmer. And he’s launching a “Tranche-based protocol”.
Tranches are portions of a structured financial product, like a bond or loan pool, divided by risk and return. Senior tranches have priority for payments and lower risk, while junior tranches absorb losses first but offer higher yields.
The image below is great for understanding the concept.
Mezzanine has a synthetic dollar and three stakable tranches.
- mzUSD is the normal stablecoin. It’ll always be $1.
- smzUSD is the staked senior tranche. It’s protected by both the mezzanine and junior tranche.
- Mezzanine Liquidity Tranche is a yield-bearing asset that acts as the main asset for DeFi composability.
- Junior Liquidity Tranche asset is the highest-risk/highest-return option in the protocol. It takes on first-loss exposure for a 15-20% risk premium.
Again, their infographic is great for understanding the protocol.
Initially, the protocol will focus on automated stablecoin peg arbitrage to earn yield. They’re also planning to deploy Syrup and Ethena leverage on Aave and short-dated PTs.
You can learn more about the project here.
These were just two of the recent DeFi innovations. If you like more content like this, check out the thread below. It lists seven that I found interesting.
 | Edgy – The DeFi Edge 🗡️ |
If you think DeFi isn’t innovating anymore, you haven’t been paying attention.
Here’s 7 interesting things I saw happen in DeFi this week: 12:22 PM • Mar 8, 2026
| 27 | Retweets | 368 | Likes |
🚀 DeFi Catalysts
Based, the trading application built on top of HyperLiquid, has released the $BASED airdrop checker.
Virtuals Protocol introduced ERC-8183, the Commerce Layer for AI Agents. It was built in partnership with EF’s dAI team.
Kamino Finance‘s PRIME market is now the single largest RWA market in DeFi. Across 3,653 active loans, $250M is borrowed.
xStocks introduced the xPoints Rewards Program. Users will earn points by holding xStocks, providing liquidity, and using the borrow/lend markets.
YieldNest has integrated with Cap Money. It’ll allow restaked ETH to back Australian mortgage credit via ynRWAx.
Denaria, a perps DEX native on Linea, has launched its Mainnet Beta and points program. You’ll need invite codes to participate.
Lido DAO has decided to allocate $5M worth of stETH equivalent from the DAO Treasury to Lido Earn ETH and USD Vaults.
Markets.xyz, the HIP-3 platform from Kinetiq, has launched 24/7/365 trading of commodities $USOIL, $USENERGY, $GOLD & $SILVER.
Zora has gone back to Base as their home chain. The new feature they launched on Solana, Trends, will be on Base.
HyperLiquid was used by Bloomberg as a source to price oil during the Iran attacks because it was the only thing open.
Curve Finance accused PancakeSwap of stealing Curve code without permission. They’re in talks now.
📰 Industry News
Nasdaq has partnered with Kraken for planning the 24/7 Tokenized Stock Trading.
Kraken announced Kraken CLI. It’ll give AI agents and developers direct, native access to Kraken crypto markets.
Aave user was a victim of a massive slippage issue on a swap.
Kaito launched Kaito Studio Beta. It’ll match crypto projects with influencers for their marketing campaigns.
🐦⬛ X Hits
- Poker skills for crypto.
- Onchain yield landscape.
- The best way to tokenize securities.
- Learn the top 5 models for decision-making.
- The problem with RWA Looping & the solution.
😂 Meme
Until next time,
Edgy
Today’s email was written by Edgy and Yayya.
DISCLAIMER: I’m NOT a financial advisor. This content is for education and information purposes only. Crypto and DeFi are risky and speculative. Please do your research before investing.
Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help you:
- 🚀 The DeFi Edge Ventures – We identify, invest, and help amplify DeFi Protocols that positively impact the Crypto space.
EdgyWrites The DeFi Edge every Thursday
Next issue ·
Get the next issue in your inbox
One short email a week: what happened in DeFi, what it means, and what Edgy is watching next. Free, about 7 minutes, no shilling.
Your inbox, every Thursday
15,000+ readers, including people at
“Very well curated, non chaotic.”
Reader survey
