How crypto’s evolving with fundamentals
SKALE’s Jack O’Holleran said that certain metrics are becoming more important to gauging the success of a project
SKALE co-founder Jack O’Holleran | Permissionless I by Blockworks
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The week between the Liberation Day announcement and the 90-day pause gave a good indication of where folks are at when it comes to huge news events that have potential impacts on crypto.
Everyone approaches sudden downturns differently. Some use it as a buy-the-dip moment, some hunker down and prepare for the worst, and others adopt a wait-and-see mindset that allows them to think an action through before an immediate reaction.
SKALE’s Jack O’Holleran would probably say he’s in the third camp, especially as an executive in the industry.
“If you’re working in the crypto space, you’re making decisions that are short term, that impact days and weeks, but you also have to make decisions that impact months and quarters, and so you have to be planning ahead,” he told me.
“And it frankly, makes things incredibly challenging, knowing that there are all these other variables outside of your control that you can’t accurately predict. You have to build volatility and variability into your plan.”
I asked O’Holleran what he thought about fundamentals in crypto, and if we’ve really started to see that shift play out as Blockworks Research’s Ryan Connor believes.
O’Holleran thinks we’re still on the path toward fundamentals. I know we’ve heard the 90s comparisons a couple of times here on Empire. But O’Holleran pointed out that at the beginning of the dot-com era (before it was a bubble), speculation swirled around the tech, even when the products weren’t live quite yet. Crypto’s operating similarly, he noted.
In crypto, the evolution toward fundamentals will shift into focusing more on project metrics. The industry is in what O’Holleran referred to as “loss leader” mode.
“People are less concerned about economic values than they are about TVL and trading volume,” he said.
“[In] March there was a strong indicator of success at the infrastructure level. Because I think there’s a general belief that as incumbents and new players gain market share and build moats, they’re going to be able to then increase their profitability, or token value capture.”
And one of the key things we’re building up right now is just how we value different segments in crypto. O’Holleran pointed out that folks are still gauging how something like DePIN or layer-2 projects should be weighted in their categories.
All of these things reaffirm what may be a bit obvious to us: The industry is really at a maturity inflection point. Prepare for some growing pains, but figuring out metrics to value a project will, in the long run, be a net positive for crypto.
Bring on the fundamentals.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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