Founders

Points are the new meta in crypto. 

I looked at the most used mechanisms in points programs and suggested emerging best practices here: 

https://mirror.xyz/veryearly.eth/n7i4f62CnvlPW7icpWkBwwAAlRjK213xgXuYNGGcM_I

Points: A Mechanism Design Guide

Key insights and highlights below

Investor. Philosophy nerd and consciousness explorer

There are 3 key benefits of launching points programs before tokens:

1) Bootstrapping adoption

2) Flexibility & experimentation

3) Speed

I break down each of these advantages over token-based incentives in the article.

I compared points programs of major projects from the OG Blur to restaking projects (e.g. Eigenlayer & EtherFi), wallets (Rainbow & Rabby) L2s (Blast & Manta), and Solana Defi (e.g. MarginFi & Tensor).

The mechanisms used can be categorized into 3 major buckets: 𝗨𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲, 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆

We then identified the 3 most relevant mechanisms within each category (see the table below). 

There are a few innovations in there, for example, VAMPIRE POINTS.

After describing each of the mechanisms and illustrating with examples, trade-offs, etc. 

I arrive at the best practices for designing point programs:

Creating incentives around core usage patterns, encouraging organic growth, and clarity in communication is crucial.