TL;DR:
- CoinFund is a Web3 venture capital firm founded in 2015.
- David Pakman, managing partner of the firm, shared his statements on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, on The Block’s “The Starting Block” podcast.
- The investment entity maintains active equity positions in decentralized protocols such as Ether.fi, World, Superstate, and Ondo.
David Pakman, managing partner of CoinFund, stated that the digital asset industry has yet to solve the design of its tokenomics. The executive added that the sector lacks efficient mechanisms to link the value of native tokens with the financial success of their underlying networks.
Most crypto assets in the current market continue to trade under the influence of short-term narratives and digital speculation on social communication platforms. According to Pakman, this disconnection from actual business fundamentals creates uncertainty for developers and technical contributors building new protocols. These participants must decide between immediate economic compensation in fiat currency or long-term exposure to a highly volatile asset.
Facing this scenario, Pakman suggested that emerging projects compensate their contributors using stablecoins.
The Compensation and Regulation Dilemma
This approach with stablecoins would allow early-stage networks to attract professionals who do not wish to speculate with the volatility of native assets. Market trends analyzed by the fund indicate that younger creators prefer to liquidate their financial incentives more quickly.
The investor recalled his personal experience mining Ethereum, a time when he accumulated ether anticipating long-term appreciation. However, data from CoinFund suggests that most modern protocols fail to replicate this behavior of sustainable returns.
The executive pointed to the liquid restaking protocol Ether.fi as an example of development with real traction. The firm’s report estimates that governance investors demand that the token’s value reflect the platform’s financial flow. The US SEC has maintained rigorous regulatory actions that prevent directly linking these elements.
The national and international crypto ecosystem keeps its attention fixed on the upcoming legislative progress of the Clarity Act in the United States Congress. This bill is projected to define the necessary rules of the game to boost institutional investment in the coming months.
