Deep Dive: Token Design | Guy Young & Kain Warwick

In this episode, Guy Young, Founder of Ethena Labs, and Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex, joined us to discuss token design! Are tokens the product? When does it make sense to return capital to holders? Is regulatory scrutiny keeping founders out of the US? They answered all of these questions, and also dove into topics such as utility tokens vs pure plays, methods of returning value to holders, BNB’s token design, and the impact regulations have on token design. Finally, they closed out the episode by giving their thoughts on token supply dynamics and how they impact price discovery. Thanks for tuning in! -- L2s and L3s are history. Supra Containers give you dedicated, customizable AppSpace on Supra’s Layer-1 to rescue you from the costs, complexities, and fragmentation of L2s and L3s. Containers help you build with better customization and control than appchains at a fraction of the cost. Use your own token as the gas token, create local fee markets with custom gas amounts or just go gasless, and scale on demand whenever you need to. Supra Containers are secured by Supra’s L1 nodes and get access to Supra’s 500k TPS throughput, sub-second consensus latency, and all their built-in services like oracle price feeds and onchain randomness without any overhead. Supra is also MultiVM compatible so you can easily deploy your EVM, Move, and SVM smart contracts here. Get all the freedom, control, and tools you need to build super dApps and bring the world onchain. To learn more, visit www.supra.com/blockworks -- Index Coop's Leverage Suite provides streamlined access to leverage, with built-in liquidation protection and low fees. Non-US users can now trade 2x, 3x and inverse leverage tokens for ETH and BTC on Arbitrum, Base, and Ethereum Mainnet. Stop overpaying for leverage. Save up to 6x in fees compared to perps: https://indexcoop.com/blockworks-leverage -- Follow Kain: https://x.com/kaiynne Follow Guy: https://x.com/leptokurtic_ Follow Mike: https://x.com/MikeIppolito_ Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9 Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH -- Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:26 Are Tokens the Product? 7:45 Utility Tokens vs Pure Plays 13:09 The Line Between Protocols and Apps 19:51 When Does it Make Sense to Return Capital to Holders? 27:26 Changing Token Supply 30:03 Supra Ad 31:00 Index Coop Ad 32:06 Methods of Returning Value to Holders 36:58 Regulations and Their Impact on Token Structures 43:47 Is Regulatory Scrutiny Keeping Founders Out of the US? 48:40 BNB's Token Design 55:39 Token Supply Dynamics 1:17:56 Apps vs Infrastructure -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.