Designing a Token

The article argues that token design in crypto is broken because poorly designed tokens still earn returns from speculative demand, which rewards short-term marketing and liquidity over long-term value capture. It says a well-designed token can capture the value of a product and make it accessible to anyone who derives value from it, rather than limiting access by jurisdiction. The authors state that tokens let a service remain accessible 24/7 and resist censorship, and they point to Bitcoin's explicit supply cap and predictable distribution schedule as a reason it succeeded where earlier digital tokens failed.