Token Research

Token Research

When to use this skill

Use when the user asks about:

• Researching a specific token or project
• Evaluating whether a token is worth investing in
• Understanding a project's fundamentals
• Performing due diligence on a new crypto project
• Comparing token fundamentals across competing projects

Research Framework

1. Project Overview

Establish the basics:

• What does this project do? — one-paragraph summary in plain language
• Problem being solved — what specific pain point does it address?
• Solution approach — how does the technology solve it?
• Chain and ecosystem — which blockchain, L1/L2, and ecosystem position
• Stage — mainnet, testnet, concept? How long has it been live?
• Unique value proposition — what differentiates it from alternatives?

2. Team and Governance

Evaluate the people and organization:

• Core team — public identities, relevant experience, previous projects
• Advisors — notable advisors and their actual involvement level
• Development activity — GitHub commits, active contributors count (30d, 90d)
• Governance model — on-chain governance, multisig, foundation-controlled?
• Transparency — does the team communicate regularly? Public roadmap?
• Red flags — anonymous team with no track record, previous failed projects, legal issues

3. Technology Assessment

Analyze the technical architecture:

• Consensus mechanism or core technical innovation
• Scalability — throughput, latency, and roadmap for improvements
• Security — audit history, bug bounty program, incident history
• Composability — integrations with other protocols and ecosystem fit
• Technical differentiation — what is novel vs fork of existing tech?
• Open source — is code public and verifiable?

4. Tokenomics Deep Dive

Break down the token economy:

• Total supply and circulating supply
• Emission schedule — inflation rate over 1, 2, 5 years
• Distribution — team %, investors %, community %, treasury %
• Vesting schedules — when do large unlocks occur? (upcoming cliff dates)
• Utility — what does the token actually do? (governance, fees, staking, collateral)
• Value accrual — does protocol revenue flow to token holders? How?
• Buyback/burn mechanisms — any deflationary pressures?
• Fully diluted valuation vs current market cap — how much dilution ahead?

5. Market and Competitive Analysis

Position within the broader market:

• Market category — DeFi, L1, NFT infra, oracle, etc.
• Direct competitors — list 3-5 with brief comparison
• Market share — TVL, volume, users relative to competitors
• Competitive advantages — moats, network effects, switching costs
• Market cap ranking — within its category
• Growth trajectory — user growth, TVL growth, volume growth trends

6. On-Chain Metrics

Current health indicators:

• Active addresses (daily, weekly) and trend
• Transaction volume and fees generated
• TVL if applicable, and TVL/market cap ratio
• Holder distribution — concentration among top wallets
• Smart money activity — are prominent wallets accumulating or distributing?

7. Risk Assessment

Identify and rate key risks:

• Technical risk — unproven tech, single point of failure
• Market risk — category headwinds, competition pressure
• Regulatory risk — securities classification, jurisdiction issues
• Tokenomics risk — upcoming unlocks, high inflation, VC overhang
• Execution risk — can the team deliver on roadmap?
• Liquidity risk — thin order books, limited exchange listings

8. Output Format

• Project: Name and ticker
• Category: Market segment
• Summary: 2-3 sentence thesis
• Strengths: Top 3 positives
• Risks: Top 3 concerns
• Tokenomics verdict: Healthy / Concerning / Poor
• Valuation assessment: Undervalued / Fair / Overvalued (relative to peers)
• Conviction level: High / Medium / Low
• Suggested action: Research further / Small position / Conviction buy / Avoid