I used to be a bit paranoid—I always said, “I only look at on-chain data,” and I thought that if an address moved, that was the truth. Later, I got slapped: some projects spend money on-chain in a very impressive way, but in reality all their milestones are empty; and some progress is slow, yet the treasury spending is very restrained. Most of the money goes to things like audits, development, and infrastructure—actually, it feels more like they’re genuinely doing real work.

Now when I look at the treasury, I focus on just two things: where the money comes from, and where it goes. After it’s spent, does it line up with a specific deliverable (even if it’s just a contract upgrade, documentation being filled in, or bugs being fixed)? Especially during this airdrop season—task platforms are cracking down on sybils, and with the points system, the “farm the airdrops” crowd is getting worked over like it’s a job… If project teams really want to do this long-term, they should be more willing to spend money on reducing the cost of “getting phished/getting drained,” instead of constantly coming up with gimmicks. Anyway, I’d rather deal with the hassle, look at addresses slowly, and not get so excited that I start treating myself as a milestone.