“Tokenomics Is Dead. Demand Wins.” — says Matt O'Connor
For years, crypto focused on tokenomics — vesting schedules, emissions, unlock charts.
But the real driver of price isn’t token design.
It’s demand.
📉 In 2025, 84.7% of tokens traded below their TGE price
📉 Median FDV fell ~71% from initial valuations
Carefully engineered tokenomics didn’t create real market demand.
⚙️What actually works:
• Product usage
• Narrative & attention
• Speculative demand
Take Hyperliquid:
👥 ~300k monthly users
💰 $800M+ revenue in 2025
And the token performance reflects that demand:
📊 HYPE Performance
• Listing price: $3.20
• Current price: $31.56 → 10×
• ATH price: $59.39 → ~19× from listing
Its success came from usage, not token structure.
Even memecoins prove the point.
Despite having the “worst” tokenomics (often 100% unlocked at launch), their market cap reached $150B+ in 2024 — driven purely by demand.
The takeaway:
The era of complex token mechanics and 1000% APY may be ending.
The next wave of crypto projects will win with real products, real users, and real revenue.
📌 Full article:
https://x.com/matty_/status/2029561148115124569?s=20