gh-tenequm-claude-plugins-founder-playbook/skills/skill/references/crypto-web3-guide.md

Crypto/Web3 Founder Guide

Specific considerations for crypto founders, with focus on Solana ecosystem (November 2025).

Market Context (November 2025)

Crypto Adoption (a16z State of Crypto 2025)

Market Size (a16z State of Crypto 2025)

• Total market cap: Crossed $4 trillion (first time)
• Crypto owners globally: 716 million (+16% YoY)
• Active onchain users: 40-70 million
• Mobile wallet users: All-time highs (+20% YoY)
• Only 5.6-9.8% of owners actively transact onchain—massive builder opportunity

Infrastructure Readiness

• 3,400+ TPS aggregate across major networks (100x growth in 5 years)
• L2 fees dropped: ~$24 (2021) → <$0.01 (2025)
• Blockspace: Now "cheap and abundant" per a16z

Current Conditions

Market State

• Correction phase: BTC from $111K peak to sub-$100K
• "Extreme Fear" on sentiment indicators
• $340B market cap wipeout
• $19B in liquidations

The Opportunity

• Historic precedent: Extreme fear precedes major recoveries
• Companies building through volatility dominate next cycle
• Hiring strategy should be tied to execution milestones, not prices
• Your strategy should not change based on daily price action

Funding Reality

Q1-Q3 2025: $22.8B Total (Sources: Galaxy Digital Q3 2025, CryptoRank Q3 2025)

• Q1 2025: $4.8B (incl. $2B Binance/MGX—largest crypto VC deal ever)
• Q2 2025: $10B+—first quarter exceeding $10B in 3 years
• Q3 2025: $4.65B across 415 deals (7 deals = 50% of capital)
• Median deal size: $4.5M (all-time high) (Galaxy Q3 2025)
• US dominance: 40-47% of all deals and capital
• IPOs replacing tokens: Circle IPO (5x return), Strategy $2.47B IPO, Bullish $1.11B IPO
• GENIUS Act passed (Jul 2025)—first federal stablecoin framework
• Seed→Series A graduation: Only 17% of seed-funded crypto companies reach Series A (funding.decentralised.co)

Priority Sectors by VC Evidence (Sources: Galaxy Digital, a16z State of Crypto 2025, CryptoRank)

Sector	Signal
Stablecoins/Payments	$46T transaction volume (106% YoY); $300B+ supply; #17 US Treasury holder – a16z
CeFi + Infrastructure	>60% of Q3 2025 funding; IPO exits proving business models – CryptoRank
DeFi (Solana-focused)	~20% of spot trading on DEXs; Hyperliquid $1B+ annualized revenue – a16z
Crypto-AI Integration	$30T agent economy by 2030 (Gartner via a16z); top thesis for Pantera
DePIN	$3.5T projected by 2028 (WEF); Helium 1.4M daily users, 111K hotspots
RWAs/Tokenization	$30B tokenized on-chain; 4x growth in 2 years – a16z

What's Declining: Security tooling, generic interoperability, NFT speculation, enterprise blockchain.

What VCs Want

• Revenue-generating models over speculation
• Regulatory compliance as competitive advantage
• Sustainable unit economics
• Infrastructure plays > consumer apps

Rob Hadick (Dragonfly): "Don't see funding levels reaching 2021-2022 highs for a very long time." Established companies (founded ~2018) getting majority of capital; newer companies get deal count but smaller checks.

Global Developer Landscape (Electric Capital 2024)

Geographic Shift (Electric Capital Developer Report 2024)

• Asia overtook North America as #1 region for crypto developers (32% vs 24%)
• India: Rose from 10th to 2nd globally, contributing 17% of new developers
• US share dropped: From 38% (2015) to 19% (2024)—81% of crypto devs now outside US
• 34% of developers now work on multiple chains (up from <10% in 2015)

Developer Quality vs. Quantity

• Total monthly active devs: 23,613 (-7% YoY)
• BUT established developers (2+ years): +27% YoY (all-time high)
• 70% of all code commits from 2+ year developers
• 80% of developer losses from part-time/one-time contributors

Ecosystem Rankings

Ecosystem	Monthly Active Devs	New Devs (2024)	YoY Growth
Ethereum (+ L2s)	31,869	16,181	-
Solana	17,708	7,625	+83%
Bitcoin	~1,200	7,400+	Stable

Solana Ecosystem

Network Performance (Q3 2025)

Source: Messari State of Solana Q3 2025

• Avg Daily Non-Vote Txs: 95.9M — real user activity (excludes validator votes)
• Avg Daily Fee Payers: 2.8M unique addresses
• Avg Tx Fee: $0.012 (0.000061 SOL)
• Median Tx Fee: $0.0012 (0.000006 SOL) — local fee markets keep costs low even during spikes
• Active Validators: 963 across 38 countries, 208 data centers
• Nakamoto Coefficient: 20 — above median of other networks
• Uptime: 16+ months continuous (longest since launch)
• Peak TPS: Briefly hit 100,000 TPS under stress test

Economic Strength (Q3 2025)

Source: Messari State of Solana Q3 2025

• DeFi TVL: $11.5B (+32.7% QoQ) — #2 among all networks after surpassing TRON
• Stablecoin Market Cap: $14.1B (+36.5% QoQ, ATH) — USDC $10B (71%), USDT $2.4B (17%)
• Chain GDP (App Revenue): $584.3M — PumpFun $118M, Jupiter $93M, Axiom $85M
• App Revenue Capture Ratio: 262.8% — apps earn $2.63 for every $1 in tx fees
• Q3 REV: $222.3M — highest of all blockchains (base fees + priority fees + MEV tips)
• Avg Daily DEX Volume: $4B spot (+17% QoQ), $1.6B perps (+93% QoQ)
• RWA Value: $682.2M (+41.9% QoQ) — USDY, BUIDL, ONyc leading
• Developer Growth: #1 for new developers globally with 7,625 new devs in 2024 (+83% YoY); 17,708 active total (Electric Capital 2024)
• Only country where Solana is #1: India (27% of new Indian devs chose Solana)

Institutional Adoption

Source: Messari State of Solana Q3 2025

• Rex Osprey Solana Staking ETF (SSK): First US staking crypto ETF, launched July 2, 2025 — $330.2M flows since inception
• 9 additional SOL ETF filings pending approval (VanEck, Invesco, Galaxy, others)
• Digital Asset Treasury Companies (DATs): 20 companies hold 18.9M SOL ($3.9B)
  • Forward Industries: 6.8M SOL (largest) — $1.65B raise led by Galaxy, Jump, Multicoin
  • Solana Company: 2.2M SOL (backed by Pantera, Summer Capital)
• Total Staked: 409.6M SOL ($85.5B) — 67.1% of circulating supply

Why Solana Wins for Payments/Infrastructure

• Sub-200ms payments match x402 speed requirements
• Sub-penny fees enable true micropayments
• Proven scale (162M+ daily transactions)
• Existing payment infrastructure (USDC, Jupiter, Drift)
• Institutional validation (Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, Pantera)

Grants & Funding Sources

Solana Foundation Grants

Program Overview

• Total deployed: $100M+ across 500+ projects
• Grant types: Milestone-based, convertible, RFPs

How to Apply

1. Fill application at Solana Foundation portal
2. Project overview + public good justification
3. Structured budget + milestones
4. ~1 week review process

Recent RFPs

• $400K for Solana Actions/Blinks open-source dev
• $275K for open-source data tooling
• Solana Mobile Builder Grants

Superteam Grants

Fast Track for Emerging Markets

• Funding: $200 - $10,000 (equity-free)
• Application: <15 minutes
• Decision: 48 hours
• Contact: grants@superteam.fun

What Gets Funded

• Public goods for Solana community
• Decentralization/censorship resistance tools
• Technical contributions + dApps
• Content creation/community initiatives

What Doesn't Get Funded

• Projects unrelated to Solana
• Purely commercial without community benefit
• No clear implementation plan

Colosseum Accelerator

Program Details

• Investment: $250K pre-seed per team
• Acceptance rate: ~0.68% (highly competitive)
• Major hackathons: Renaissance, Radar, Breakout (2x/year)
• Eternal Challenge: Perpetual 4-week sprints (submit anytime)
• Eternal Award: $25K USDC semi-annually

What They Look For

• Technical excellence
• Clear problem/solution fit
• Strong team execution
• Ecosystem integration potential

Other Funding Sources

Ecosystem VCs

• RockawayX: $125M Fund II (Solana focus)
• Solana Ventures: Active ecosystem support
• Multicoin Capital: Internet Capital Markets thesis
• Galaxy Digital: Deep Solana research

Regional Programs

• Solana x Cal Grants: Up to $10K USDC (USA)
• Superteam country chapters

Regulatory Environment

Project Crypto (SEC, November 2025)

Major Shift

• Chair Paul Atkins: Comprehensive regulatory modernization
• Token Taxonomy: Clear Howey analysis framework coming
• Multi-Function Platforms: Enabling crypto "super-apps"
• Goal: Position U.S. as global leader in digital finance

What This Means

• End of "regulation by enforcement"
• Clear rules for custody, trading, exchanges
• Path for crypto businesses to return to U.S.
• Compliance = competitive advantage

Solana ETFs

Breaking Development (June 2025)

• SEC requested updated filings for Solana ETFs
• Approval expected within 4 months
• Will unlock institutional capital similar to BTC/ETH ETFs

Practical Implications

• Budget for legal from day one ($25K-50K)
• Engage crypto-specialized lawyers
• Consider jurisdiction strategy
• Document compliance efforts
• Join industry groups (Blockchain Association)

Go-to-Market for Crypto

Building in Public vs. Stealth

Community-First (Recommended for Most)

• Build community BEFORE product launch
• Attract 100 "true fans" as foundation
• Authenticity >> marketing budget
• High-quality content + ecosystem participation

When to Go Stealth

• Highly competitive market with copycat risk
• Novel technology requiring IP protection
• Need quiet cycles to fix unit economics

Hybrid (Popular)

• Stealth dev + selective community building
• Share progress with early believers
• Launch to existing community

Distribution Channels

Developer Relations (Critical for Infrastructure)

• Build tools that make developers successful
• Documentation >>> marketing
• Hackathons, workshops, tutorials
• DevRel = your growth engine

X (Twitter) as Primary Channel

• Founder-led narrative building
• Technical deep dives + progress updates
• Engage in ecosystem discussions
• Founder faces beat brand pages

Progressive Disclosure

• Don't announce until you have something to show
• Ship features, then market them
• Let users discover and evangelize

Community as Product

Core Principle: Your community IS the product, not a marketing channel.

Pre-Launch

• Build small, dedicated group (100 true fans)
• Shared mission, not speculation
• Active ecosystem participation

Launch

• Reward true believers (not farmers)
• Design launch FOR your community
• Community becomes distribution

Post-Launch

• Turn users into owners
• Governance participation
• Co-creation of roadmap

Revenue Models That Work

DeFi Infrastructure

• Transaction fees: % of volume (DEXs, lending)
• Spread/slippage: Market making revenue
• Staking fees: 5-10% of staking rewards
• MEV capture: Via Jito or similar

Payments Infrastructure

• x402 Protocol: Agent-to-agent payments
• Payment rails: Crypto-native settlement
• B2B payments: Stablecoin invoicing
• Subscription models: Recurring crypto payments

Platform/Network Effects

• Marketplaces (take rate on transactions)
• Aggregators (fee per API call)
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (RPC, indexing)
• Data/Analytics (subscription + API)

What to Avoid

• Token-only value capture (no cash flow)
• Mercenary liquidity mining
• Ponzi-nomics (unsustainable yields)
• Grant-dependent (no path to sustainability)

Key Principle: Show path to real revenue within 12 months.

Security & Audits

Why Audits Are Non-Negotiable

Historical Context

• 2021: ~$2B lost to DeFi vulnerabilities
• 2022: Ronin ($600M), Euler ($197M)
• One exploit destroys project overnight

What One Hack Costs

• User funds (and trust) destroyed
• Project death
• Legal liability
• Blacklisted from future funding

Audit Cost Breakdown

Project Type	Cost Range	Timeline
Simple Token	$8K - $15K	1-2 weeks
DEX/AMM (Basic)	$25K - $50K	2-4 weeks
Lending Protocol	$50K - $100K	4-6 weeks
Complex DeFi	$100K - $150K+	6-8 weeks

Cost Factors

• Code complexity (LOC, architecture)
• Novel mechanisms vs. battle-tested
• Firm reputation (Tier 1 = premium)
• Documentation quality
• Timeline (rush = 20-50% more)

Top Audit Firms (Solana)

Tier 1 ($$$)

• Trail of Bits
• OpenZeppelin
• Halborn

Tier 2 ($$)

• OtterSec (Solana-native)
• Neodyme (Solana-focused)
• Sec3
• Zellic

Cost-Saving Strategies

1. Clean code first: Internal review reduces scope
2. Clear documentation: Saves auditor time
3. Battle-tested libraries: Anchor, SPL standards
4. Start small: Audit MVP, iterate
5. Multiple audits: 2 smaller audits vs. 1 expensive

Pre-Audit Checklist

• Comprehensive test suite (>80% coverage)
• Internal security review
• Clear architecture documentation
• Threat model documented
• Known issues/assumptions listed
• Testnet deployment + stress testing

Budget Rule: 5-10% of development budget for audits.

Crypto-Specific Death Patterns

Pattern 1: Building Tech Without a Problem (~30% of failures)

"Cool tech but without ever thinking if it's solving a real problem."

Death signal: Can't answer "Why does this need to be on-chain?" simply Coaching question: "If blockchain didn't exist, how would you solve this problem?"

Pattern 2: Token Before Product

Large premines, no economic flywheel, speculation-driven.

Death signal: TGE announcement before product traction metrics Coaching question: "What would your product look like if you never launched a token?"

Pattern 3: Regulatory Naïveté

No legal counsel, no token classification analysis.

Death signal: Launching in jurisdiction you don't understand Coaching question: "Have you had a securities lawyer review your token structure?"

Pattern 4: Ecosystem Protocol Dependency

Building on experimental chains without escape plan.

Death signal: Core infrastructure depends on unproven L2/protocol Coaching question: "What happens if [dependency] fails or pivots? What's your exit plan?"

Pattern 5: VC Capital Without PMF

VCs now "laser-focused on fundamentals"—funding without product-market fit is increasingly rare.

Death signal: Spending VC money on growth before retention metrics work Coaching question: "If you couldn't raise more money, how would you get to profitability?"

Pattern 6: The 53% Failure Rate

1.8M tokens failed in Q1 2025 alone; 52.7% of all cryptos since 2021 are "dead" (CoinGecko Research, April 2025).

Death signal: No differentiation from existing solutions Coaching question: "What's different about your approach that would make you survive when half of projects fail?"

Pattern 7: Ignoring Sybil-Proofing

zkSync, Starknet heavily criticized for airdrop farmer capture.

Death signal: Airdrop strategy without anti-sybil measures Coaching question: "How do you ensure your token distribution rewards real users, not farmers?"

Pattern 8: Hype > Delivery

Marketing roadmap commitments you can't ship.

Death signal: Public promises with no technical execution plan Coaching question: "Can you ship what you've promised in the next 90 days? What's blocking you?"

Note: The following percentages are estimates based on industry post-mortems and VC analysis, not a single comprehensive study.

Weak Security (~25% of failures)

• Rushed smart contracts
• Skipped audits
• Result: Hacks, drained treasuries

Overhyped Fundraising (~20% of failures)

• Raise millions without sustainable product
• Burn > runway before PMF

Poor Community Trust (~15% of failures)

• Broken promises
• Anonymous teams that rug
• Ignored feedback

Ignoring Compliance (~10% of failures)

• "Move fast and break things" doesn't work
• Regulatory enforcement kills projects

Pre-Revenue Specific

• Burning cash on marketing too early
• Wrong team composition (too much biz/ops before PMF)
• Chasing hype cycles (pivoting to whatever's hot)
• Neglecting audits

Successful Project Patterns

Jupiter (DEX Aggregator)

• Technical excellence first
• Best execution for traders
• Clean UX rivaling CEXs
• Built reputation before token
• Community-first governance

Drift Protocol (Perpetuals)

• First-mover advantage
• Strong technical documentation
• Active community
• Continuous iteration

Jito (Liquid Staking + MEV)

• Solved real problem (MEV redistribution)
• Built infrastructure others depend on
• Technical credibility first
• Open-source + transparent

Common Patterns

1. Technical Excellence First: Product works reliably at scale
2. Solve Real Problem: "Must have" not "nice to have"
3. Community-Driven: Users become evangelists
4. Transparent Operations: Regular updates, public roadmap
5. Ecosystem Integration: Composability with other protocols
6. Sustainable Economics: Real revenue, not speculation

Treasury Management

The Challenge

• Token-based treasuries lose value in downturns
• Fundraising dries up in bear markets
• User acquisition costs rise

Recommended Allocation

• 50%+ Stables (USDC): Operational runway
• 30% Blue Chips (SOL, BTC, ETH): Moderate exposure
• 20% Native Token: If applicable

Runway Discipline

• 24-month minimum runway at all times
• Burn rate tied to milestones, not price
• Monthly financial reviews
• Scenario planning (bull/bear cases)

Hiring Strategy

• Hire for execution milestones, not market conditions
• Pay market rates (don't "time" with low salaries)
• Equity/tokens + stables (not just tokens)

18-Month Path to Seed

Phase 1: Grants (Month 1-6)

• Apply: Solana Foundation, Superteam
• Target: $10K-50K initial capital
• Build MVP + core community (100 people)

Phase 2: Accelerator (Month 4-9)

• Colosseum Eternal (anytime submission)
• Major hackathon participation
• Target: $250K pre-seed

Phase 3: Launch + Traction (Month 6-12)

• Mainnet launch with audits
• Ecosystem partnerships
• First $10K revenue month
• Revenue model validation

Phase 4: Seed Round (Month 12-18)

• Show revenue + community traction
• Target Solana-focused VCs
• Target: $1M-3M seed

Budget Framework

Capital Sources

• Grants: $50K-100K
• Accelerator: $250K
• Early Revenue: $25K-100K
• Seed: $1M-3M

Burn Rate

• Pre-Accelerator: $15K-25K/month
• Post-Accelerator: $40K-60K/month
• Post-Seed: $100K-150K/month

Key Milestones

• Month 3: First grant received
• Month 6: Accelerator acceptance
• Month 9: MVP on mainnet
• Month 12: First $10K revenue month
• Month 18: Seed round closed

Resources

Communities

• Solana Discord
• Superteam (regional chapters)
• Colosseum Discord
• Helius Dev Community

Tools

• RPC: Helius, Triton, QuickNode
• Analytics: Dune, Flipside
• Testing: Bankrun, Devnet

Content & Research (Free)

• Galaxy Digital Research - Quarterly VC reports, institutional grade
• a16z State of Crypto - Annual comprehensive report
• Electric Capital Developer Report - Developer ecosystem data
• CryptoRank Reports - Quarterly funding analysis
• funding.decentralised.co - 15K+ funding rounds database (free)
• Helius Blog - Solana ecosystem reports
• Messari - Some free reports, enterprise paywalled

Events

• Breakpoint (annual conference)
• Solana Hacker House (global)
• Colosseum Hackathons