Clever folks at Citrini say: don’t bet on gold—bet on shovels 🪙⛏️
Remember the gold rush? The biggest earners weren’t the prospectors, but the people selling them shovels and jeans. Research firm Citrini Research (the same one that recently alarmed everyone with its “AI apocalypse” report) applied that logic to crypto.
In a new 79-page report, they say that if Wall Street starts moving stocks, bonds, and loans onto tokens, the biggest winners won’t necessarily be Bitcoin or Ether. The ones who could make money are those who charge a fee for every transaction — the “picks and shovels” and “pipes” of this system.
Who they singled out:
Aave (AAVE) — a crypto bank: some lend, others borrow, and the protocol takes its cut.
Uniswap (UNI) — an ownerless exchange where everything is swapped automatically.
ether.fi (ETHFI) — financial services built around staking ether.
Pendle (PENDLE) — a market for future interest, where you can trade income an asset has yet to generate.
Ondo (ONDO) — tokenized US government bonds, or “Treasuries” in token form.
What’s actually in the portfolio: the top three are Derive, Lighter, and ether.fi, at 10% each. Aave gets 9%, Uniswap 4%, while Pendle and Ondo get a modest 3% each. So take the “favorites” label with a grain of salt: some are favorites, while others are more like “well, let’s have them on the team”
The key caveat from the authors themselves: even if the blockchain reaches full capacity, the token’s price may not rise. A business can grow while token holders are left with nothing.
This is a summary of a news story, not investment advice. Crypto is volatile, and you could lose everything you invest.
