I’m more focused on whether the project is “really getting work done” than on what they’re promising on their PPTs. First, I look through the treasury spending: where the money is going, and whether the pace is steady. To put it simply, expenses like R&D, auditing, and infrastructure are slow but ongoing—at least it looks like they’re walking forward. If it’s just a scattered mess every few days or so, with one lump sum of “ecosystem incentives” and “market cooperation” thrown in after another, then I start to get suspicious… It’s not that subsidies can’t be given, but they need to match up with the milestones; otherwise it feels like they’re just buying attention.

Lately, I’ve seen even more clearly the Layer 2 back-and-forth compared by TPS, fees, and subsidies. People argue loudly on the surface, but the money on-chain is spent pretty loosely, which feels very mismatched. I’m a bit slow to catch on—I’d rather wait until they’ve delivered their milestones, aligned their spending accordingly, and the signals are more stable before I take action. If I miss out, then I miss out; at least I can sleep easy.