Toward a systematic framework for valuing digital assets
A research agenda for separating asset categories, economic claims, network activity, and investable signals.
Digital assets should not be forced into one universal valuation model. A useful framework begins by asking what economic claim each asset represents.
Taxonomy comes before valuation
A Layer 1 token, a stablecoin, an exchange token, and a tokenized real-world asset have different sources of utility, risk, and potential cash-flow linkage. Treating them as one asset class obscures the variables that matter.
Traditional and native factors
Liquidity, momentum, market beta, and macro conditions may explain part of returns. Blockchain-native measures—fees, active addresses, staking, supply concentration, and protocol economics—may add explanatory power, but only when their definitions are stable and economically grounded.
From explanation to advice
The end goal is not a collection of ratios. It is an advisory framework that links expected return, risk, regime sensitivity, and portfolio role to a transparent investment recommendation.