Metrics
Practical, decision-useful metrics for onchain businesses and protocols.
Guides
Onchain velocity of money: does MV=PQ work for token economies?
Apply the equation of exchange to crypto tokens. Understand why high-velocity tokens face structural price pressure and where the classical framework breaks down onchain.
Crypto as a parallel balance of payments: capital flows between chains
Treat each L1 and L2 as a small open economy. Map bridge flows, stablecoin migration, and TVL shifts using balance of payments accounting to identify surplus and deficit chains.
Onchain accounting: how blockchain changes financial record-keeping
Understand what onchain accounting means, how it differs from traditional bookkeeping, and why it matters for crypto businesses and potentially all of finance.
TVL explained: what it measures (and what it doesn't)
A practical guide to Total Value Locked, how it's calculated, and how to avoid common interpretation mistakes.
DeFi unit economics: LTV, CAC, and payback
Apply customer acquisition cost and lifetime value analysis to DeFi protocols for sustainable growth assessment.
Gross margin in DeFi protocols
Gross margin is retained revenue as a percentage of gross fees, measuring protocol efficiency at capturing value after pass-throughs.
Fees vs revenue vs profit: the DeFi accounting guide
Most crypto dashboards mislabel metrics. Learn the precise definitions of fees, revenue, and profit for accurate protocol analysis.
TVL vs revenue: why the balance sheet isn't the income statement
TVL measures locked capital at a point in time. Revenue measures value captured over time. Learn when each metric matters and when it misleads.
What is protocol revenue? The definitive guide
Protocol revenue is retained value after pass-throughs, not total fees. Learn the precise definition and how to measure it correctly.
Payback period for token incentives
How long until user-generated revenue exceeds acquisition cost? Most DeFi incentives have infinite payback because users leave when rewards end.
Take rate in crypto protocols
Take rate is the percentage of fees a protocol retains after pass-throughs. It reveals business quality that gross fee metrics hide.
Real users vs subsidized activity
How to distinguish genuine user demand from incentive-driven activity that collapses when emissions end.
Stablecoin supply and flows as a signal
Stablecoin supply changes and chain-level flows reveal capital deployment better than token prices driven by speculation.
Onchain cash flow: stablecoins as the unit of sustainability
Track protocol sustainability through stablecoin-denominated cash flows. Learn what counts as cash onchain and how to monitor treasury health.