Bad Tokenomics Can Be Technically Correct
When I first saw the cover of Maximillian Saunaron’s book, I was under the belief that it was a handbook about how things could go sideways in the field of tokenomics, to the point that it could be considered Evil.
It was not the case.
Rather, all of it was specifically a series of murky tokenomics tips for exploiting and monetizing the blockchain.
Who is Max Saunaron?
Aside from a few details about his life scattered here and there throughout the book, the only information we have about Max not given by him was provided by Keir Finlow-Bates, his editor.
Keir was reached by phone by this person with a strong Eastern Europe accent, and “set up” by an agreement sealed without having been able to read a draft first.
After a moment of discouragement, Keir stoically managed to keep his word and honor the contract, including the clause where he pledged to promote it: it was, in fact, for his merit that I learned of the existence of this book.
A not-so-bad book
I admit, it has its flow.
I could guess that it is a debut work, probably largely translated with DeepL, but you can’t say it doesn’t stream.
After an initial introduction, where it is made clear how it is an evil book, the chapters are scrolling one after the other.
What was most surprising to me was that not a single formula was included: this is probably a stylistic choice: I do not agree with it but it is interesting.
Another excellent choice in all respects, but little adopted in books in the field, is that of the summary after each chapter, a TL DR by points that will surely make happy those who want to get rich with an evil tokenomics, but let us look at the chapters in detail.
Chapters ***Spoiler Alert***
- history lesson: the inevitable chapter devoted to a brief history of the crypto economy, moving from ICOs to GameFi
- investor classification: a roundup of various types of investors, from Venture Capitalists, to “Angels,” who will paradoxically see their savings disappear into an evil project
- token allocation: i.e. who gets them, how many, when and why? Spoiler: him, as much as possible, as soon as possible and because he want them
- levers of the economy: i.e. pre-mining, airdrops, vesting, burning, staking, and DAO
- security: i.e. how to make sure you bring home the bacon: well, for starters it’s good to oil the wheels of politics a bit (Sam Bankman, are your ears ringing?)
Murkynomics
I can’t deny it.
The first reaction I had while reading was one of shock.
Then I understood.
I understood that Tokenomics is a weapon that, like all weapons, can be used “well,” with group conscience, or “badly,” to do one’s own bidding.
The presence of Tokenomics itself is not an audit item, but an area that in itself needs to be checked according to a checklist as to whether it has been used “well” or “badly.”
Maximillian Saunaron, while unwilling, has done the crypto community a service.
With this book in mind, reviewing the next tokenomics , we will immediately see the red flags and possibly run for the hills, so thank you, Max!
