Token Research

---
name: token-research
description: Conduct comprehensive fundamental analysis on crypto tokens covering team, technology, tokenomics, competitive landscape, and investment thesis evaluation.
license: MIT
metadata:
  category: analysis
  difficulty: intermediate
  author: sperax-team
  tags: [analysis, research, fundamentals, due-diligence, tokens]
---

# Token Research

## When to use this skill

Use when the user asks about:
- Researching a specific token or project
- Evaluating whether a token is worth investing in
- Understanding a project's fundamentals
- Performing due diligence on a new crypto project
- Comparing token fundamentals across competing projects

## Research Framework

### 1. Project Overview

Establish the basics:
- **What does this project do?** — one-paragraph summary in plain language
- **Problem being solved** — what specific pain point does it address?
- **Solution approach** — how does the technology solve it?
- **Chain and ecosystem** — which blockchain, L1/L2, and ecosystem position
- **Stage** — mainnet, testnet, concept? How long has it been live?
- **Unique value proposition** — what differentiates it from alternatives?

### 2. Team and Governance

Evaluate the people and organization:
- **Core team** — public identities, relevant experience, previous projects
- **Advisors** — notable advisors and their actual involvement level
- **Development activity** — GitHub commits, active contributors count (30d, 90d)
- **Governance model** — on-chain governance, multisig, foundation-controlled?
- **Transparency** — does the team communicate regularly? Public roadmap?
- **Red flags** — anonymous team with no track record, previous failed projects, legal issues

### 3. Technology Assessment

Analyze the technical architecture:
- **Consensus mechanism** or core technical innovation
- **Scalability** — throughput, latency, and roadmap for improvements
- **Security** — audit history, bug bounty program, incident history
- **Composability** — integrations with other protocols and ecosystem fit
- **Technical differentiation** — what is novel vs fork of existing tech?
- **Open source** — is code public and verifiable?

### 4. Tokenomics Deep Dive

Break down the token economy:
- **Total supply** and circulating supply
- **Emission schedule** — inflation rate over 1, 2, 5 years
- **Distribution** — team %, investors %, community %, treasury %
- **Vesting schedules** — when do large unlocks occur? (upcoming cliff dates)
- **Utility** — what does the token actually do? (governance, fees, staking, collateral)
- **Value accrual** — does protocol revenue flow to token holders? How?
- **Buyback/burn mechanisms** — any deflationary pressures?
- **Fully diluted valuation** vs current market cap — how much dilution ahead?

### 5. Market and Competitive Analysis

Position within the broader market:
- **Market category** — DeFi, L1, NFT infra, oracle, etc.
- **Direct competitors** — list 3-5 with brief comparison
- **Market share** — TVL, volume, users relative to competitors
- **Competitive advantages** — moats, network effects, switching costs
- **Market cap ranking** — within its category
- **Growth trajectory** — user growth, TVL growth, volume growth trends

### 6. On-Chain Metrics

Current health indicators:
- **Active addresses** (daily, weekly) and trend
- **Transaction volume** and fees generated
- **TVL** if applicable, and TVL/market cap ratio
- **Holder distribution** — concentration among top wallets
- **Smart money activity** — are prominent wallets accumulating or distributing?

### 7. Risk Assessment

Identify and rate key risks:
- **Technical risk** — unproven tech, single point of failure
- **Market risk** — category headwinds, competition pressure
- **Regulatory risk** — securities classification, jurisdiction issues
- **Tokenomics risk** — upcoming unlocks, high inflation, VC overhang
- **Execution risk** — can the team deliver on roadmap?
- **Liquidity risk** — thin order books, limited exchange listings

### 8. Output Format

- **Project**: Name and ticker
- **Category**: Market segment
- **Summary**: 2-3 sentence thesis
- **Strengths**: Top 3 positives
- **Risks**: Top 3 concerns
- **Tokenomics verdict**: Healthy / Concerning / Poor
- **Valuation assessment**: Undervalued / Fair / Overvalued (relative to peers)
- **Conviction level**: High / Medium / Low
- **Suggested action**: Research further / Small position / Conviction buy / Avoid