Hyperstructures are a new type of public good – one which is truly public, and can’t be taken away.
They are built on blockchains, so they inherit blockchains’ properties, and then some.
Hyperstructures are protocols with the following attributes:
I am awed by ‘s Jacob’s articulation of these ideas; Hyperstructures is a masterpiece.
I have one caveat, and it’s about the biggest existential risk to crypto – lack of value capture.
Hyperstructure token value
Hyperstructures are only valuable when designed to capture value.
Almost none are.
Token prices are 99% speculation; their price floor, aka utility value – the price at which the market buys them up – is less than 1% of the price.
Many tokens have no price floor at all.
Most hyperstructures are valuable in the sense that they have utility, but they are not financially valuable – they lack ways to capture or accrue that value to a token.
High prices are temporary, fueled by speculation.
The UNI fee switch
Jacob says the right to turn on Uniswap’s fee switch gives Uniswap’s UNI value.
Not exactly.
If the fee switch is turned on, participants in the Uniswap protocol will leave.
To capture value, Uniswap need to make a v4 so good that it’s worth the fees.
Hyperstructure valuation
There are other reasons given for high prices of hyperstructure tokens:
- Governance
- Use of a token to pay fees
- Protocol use
- TVL
These features can be useful and necessary, but they still don’t capture value.
Governance tokens
Pure governance tokens are not valuable, for the reasons given about Uniswap above.
They fail to capture value, and the hyperstructures they govern are their own competition.
Fee tokens
Use of a token to pay fees within a protocol does not capture much value.
Fees are a small part of all value in a protocol.
Each token is used more than once – velocity – so all tokens together only capture an even smaller part of the total value in a protocol.
Protocol use
Just because a protocol is used does not mean its token will have a high price.
A token must be used in a protocol for it to capture value.
Supply and demand for the token must be aligned with protocol use.
Total Value Locked
Total value locked in a protocol, TVL does not merit a high price for the protocol token.
When TVL is not increasing demand for the token, there is no relationship between TVL and token value.
TVL does not capture value unless it is made to.
This is true for L1’s, including ETH.
Hyperstructure value capture
There are two basic ways for hyperstructures to capture value:
1. Charging fees and giving them to tokenholders
2. Requiring the native token as a medium of exchange within the protocol.
The first is a security, the second is a currency.
Charging fees
Charging fees to use a hyperstructure captures value.
Fees can be at a protocol level (SushiSwap), or on top of a protocol (OpenSea).
Note: it’s illegal to give token holders these fees in the US.
That said, hyperstructures are permissionless; this is not legal advice.
Equities vs currencies
Currencies and companies don’t capture value the same way.
Companies capture value by taking profits.
Currencies capture value through use as a medium of exchange.
Hyperstructures can capture value in either way, but the token and protocol must be designed to do so.
Conclusion
Building valuable hyperstructures is hard.
If you want to capture value, you need to include ways to do so from the beginning.
You can’t just do it later.
For this reason:
Crypto is the only industry where you can create a billion dollars of value from nothing and not see a penny.
Not because someone takes that value, but because you fail to monetize.
Without value capture, builders of hyperstructures will not be compensated.
If you need help with value capture or would like input on your project’s tokenomics, reach out to us for a free consult.