Richard Luftig’s Post

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Managing Partner - Castle Placement - Private Equity/Debt Capital

Just in case you don’t understand some of the crypto lingo, we’re going to translate a big news story for you into another language called REALITY. “EigenLayer created a huge buzz in the crypto community after it had to restructure the airdrop of its tokens to points holders just days after announcing it. The Ethereum restaking protocol initially announced it would allocate a much smaller-than-expected percentage of the community allocation to points holder. The airdrop also excluded points holders in a long list of countries, including the US, Canada and VPN users and token recipients were restricted from selling their tokens until an undisclosed date. The Eigen Foundation announced it will airdrop additional tokens to wallets of early users. Founders and private investors will be subject to a one-year lock-up after the token becomes transferable to the community.” TRANSLATION: EigenLayer - a crypto platform. Crypto community - a loose term with no meaning to describe everyone involved in crypto (also a loose term with no meaning). Restructure - the founders made a boo boo and are trying to fix it ASAP. Airdrop - a marketing tactic used by blockchain projects to distribute free tokens to people, creating a marketplace so the founders can eventually sell their tokens (here 55% of all the tokens they created) to get rich while attempting to avoid securities laws. Tokens - digital assets built on top of a blockchain (often giving the holder nothing, a chance to vote about nothing, some other meaningless nothingness, or rarely something meaningful like ownership or revenue sharing). Points - reward programs offered by crypto projects to hide the fact that they are selling securities without registering them. Staking - locking up tokens to support a blockchain’s operations in exchange for fees and rewards. Restaking - automatically reinvesting rewards back into the staking pool to compound earnings over time, helping to incentivize long-term participation and stability in the network. Community allocation – tokens given to points holders in exchange for supporting the ecosystem (or more likely pretending to support it through bots or fraud). Excluded - the founders did not want to go to jail for violating securities laws, so they made believe that people in these countries were not involved in this scheme. Foundation: a group formed to pretend that a blockchain platform is decentralized. Additional tokens: after many points holders complained, the founders and VC investors (oops, meant the Eigen Foundation) changed the policy so that the value of their tokens wouldn’t crash before they had an opportunity to sell out. Lock-up - nobody trusts the founders and VC investors, so they are required to hold their tokens for a year to prevent them from immediately selling out, running away, and leaving everyone else holding the bag. #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

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Richard Luftig

Managing Partner - Castle Placement - Private Equity/Debt Capital

2mo

Some fantastic insights in the comments so far. We are thrilled about the potential of blockchains, digital assets and tokenization. The benefits and innovation that this technology will bring to finance are extremely exciting. However, the proliferation of illegal fundraising activities, flood of worthless meme coins, and illegal issuance and trading on exchanges of tokens lacking any real utility or value are impeding growth, progress, and innovation in this space. This is why we get frustrated. Digital assets hold tremendous potential. Let's seize on it - the right way.

Jeannette Spaulding

CEO and Co-Founder, Tokenwise | Unlocking private capital markets for CRE and other alternative assets | Ex-BlackRock, Bank of America, BNY Mellon

2mo

Great breakdown, Richard! According to a Blockworks article, the estimated math suggests that "the top ~2% of EigenLayer stakers will receive ~90% of the EIGEN stakedrop."   I’d like to know more about this alleged 2% and where they are claiming their stakedrop rewards from.   Are they project insiders? Are they claiming rewards from non-geo-blocked locations? If so, what might that suggest about the early internal conversations regarding geo-blocking for the stakedrop while no geo-blocking was in place for depositors?   This is why regulations exist. This is also why so many people distrust the digital asset industry. What is most frustrating is that there are compliant, ethical ways to launch projects like these. We need more visibility for the industry participants who are doing things the right way.

Jose Maria Carretero Tomas

Investment Banking | Equity & Debt | Managing Director @ Castle Placement | Raising Capital, Innovative Solutions

2mo

Great post Richard Luftig. Thank you for sharing.

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Ken Margolis

Managing Partner, Castle Placement

2mo

Nice image Richard Luftig

Richard McCay

Managing Director at Castle Placement

2mo

Thanks for sharing. Not sure I agree but will think about it.

John Haltmaier

Managing Director at Castle Placement

2mo

Thanks for clarifying Richard Luftig! They left out the word "scheme", which needs to clarification.

Sean S.

Investment Banking Analyst | BSIE - MBA | Philanthropist

2mo

Appreciate your insight on this Richard Luftig.

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William Ruh

President of Cairn Capital Management

2mo

Well done! Thanks for sharing your insights.

Dominic Cipollone

Managing Director at Castle Placement

2mo

Quite the vocabulary lesson Richard Luftig. It's all about context.

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