As part of the application to Blockworks, a leading financial media brand focused on digital assets, we were tasked with selecting four questions from a list of six that we find most compelling. This exercise not only allowed us to reflect on my deep-rooted curiosity about crypto protocols but also highlighted our ability to analyze and articulate the nuances of blockchain technology. By choosing the questions that resonate with our interests and expertise, we aimed to demonstrate our enthusiasm for contributing to a team that values collaboration and diverse perspectives.
What are the most underrated and overrated metrics used in crypto today, and why?
For the underrated category, developer activity stands out as a crucial yet overlooked signal. Watching how many people are actively building and improving a crypto project tells you far more about its future than price charts. Projects where teams keep building during market crashes typically survive and thrive long-term, while those that abandon development when prices fall often disappear entirely.
“Total Value Locked” (TVL) is arguably the most overrated metric. Frequently celebrated as a measure of success, TVL simply measures money sitting in a protocol, but doesn’t tell you why it’s there. Many projects artificially pump these numbers through temporary rewards programs, creating the illusion of adoption without actually solving real problems or creating sustainable value.
Fee generation deserves more attention as it shows people are willing to pay to use a service, the clearest sign of genuine value. Meanwhile, market cap can be misleading since it’s easily inflated through clever token distribution without reflecting whether anyone actually uses the project. The crypto world would benefit from focusing less on flashy numbers and more on metrics that reveal true utility and staying power.
Explain the crypto x AI landscape today. What is real, and what is hype? How do you see it evolving going forward?
In terms of actual innovation, AI systems working with blockchain data are demonstrating significant potential. Projects developing AI-powered trading strategies, risk assessment tools, and pattern recognition for blockchain activity are delivering actual value today. For example, platforms like Kaito use language models to analyze crypto data for trading signals, while security-focused AI systems can now detect unusual patterns that might indicate fraud or attacks before they cause major damage.
On the hype side, many projects are simply adding “AI” to their marketing without meaningful technological integration. These “AI tokens” often lack clear use cases beyond speculation and don’t demonstrate how artificial intelligence genuinely enhances their blockchain functionality. While projects like Fetch.ai and Bittensor (TAO) show some promise, many others are riding the AI buzzword wave without solid technological foundations behind their claims.
Looking forward, this landscape will likely evolve toward specialized AI systems that can interpret and act on real-time blockchain data with increasing sophistication. By 2030, AI-powered trading could dominate crypto markets, giving early adopters significant advantages. The projects that succeed will be those that solve specific problems with demonstrable improvements over traditional approaches, creating more efficient markets and reducing barriers to participation for average users.
Please explain the L1 and L2 landscape today and how you see it evolve going forward. What is the Solana bear case?
Today’s blockchain world shows Ethereum shifting from doing everything itself to being a secure foundation for faster, cheaper L2 networks built on top of it. Networks like Arbitrum and Optimism now handle more transactions than Ethereum itself, cutting fees by 10-100 times while still using Ethereum’s security.
In the future, we’ll see more specialized roles in the ecosystem. Ethereum will be the trusted foundation layer, with most users interacting through various L2 solutions built for specific purposes. Blockchains like Solana and Avalanche will focus on particular use cases where they excel. As bridges between chains improve, users won’t have to worry which blockchain they’re using for each task.
For Solana’s challenges, I’ll keep it brief but note that a full analysis would require more depth. Solana faces growing competition from Ethereum’s L2 solutions that might match its speed while offering better security. Its history of network outages raises reliability concerns for serious users. Also, if regulations tighten or Solana can’t keep its technological edge over competitors, its position in the market could weaken significantly.
Using any available on-chain financial primitive, how would you build a stablecoin yield farming strategy to deliver the highest absolute returns?
To construct a stablecoin yield farming strategy targeting maximum absolute returns, leverage a multi-layered approach combining yield aggregation, leveraged liquidity provisioning, and governance token incentives (of course, it’s a degen approach). First, deposit stablecoins into automated yield optimizers like Yearn Finance or Harvest Finance, which dynamically allocate funds across lending protocols (Aave, Compound) and decentralized exchanges (Curve, Balancer) to capture the highest available APYs while auto-compounding rewards. These platforms mitigate manual management overhead and exploit real-time rate arbitrage opportunities across chains like Ethereum L2s and Solana, where stablecoin yields frequently spike above 20% during periods of high borrowing demand.
Next, amplify returns by using deposited stablecoins as collateral to borrow additional assets on lending platforms like Aave, then deploy the leveraged capital into high-yield liquidity pools. For example, supply USDC to a Curve stablecoin pool to earn trading fees (3-7% APY), stake the LP tokens in Convex Finance to boost CRV rewards (adding 10-15% APY), and lock CRV to earn veCRV governance tokens—which further increase pool rewards and grant fee-sharing rights. This layered strategy compounds yields through protocol-native token appreciation and fee redistribution.
Finally, allocate a portion of capital to emerging chains and niche protocols offering short-term incentive programs (degen). Platforms like Aerodrome on Base Network or DeDust on TON currently provide 50-100+% APY on stablecoin pools through inflationary token emissions. While these opportunities carry higher smart contract and depeg risks, pairing them with decentralized insurance coverage (like Nexus Mutual) and rapid yield monitoring tools like DeFiLlama (defillama.com/yields) allows tactical participation in high-reward windows before market saturation reduces yields. DeFiLlama provides a comprehensive overview of yields across different protocols and chains, enabling informed decision-making and rapid identification of lucrative farming opportunities. Remember to always do your own research and assess the risks involved before deploying capital.
In conclusion, my exploration of these four key questions has sparked a deeper engagement with the complexities of the crypto landscape. Inspired by these insights, I am currently working on writing longer articles that delve further into these topics. I look forward to sharing my findings and perspectives with you soon, as I believe there is much more to uncover in the world of digital assets. Stay tuned for my upcoming publications!
Marc F.