Against buy-and-burn: A better mechanism for token design paper

Paper · PageRank 0.0015

Also known as: against-buy-and-burn-token-design

Overview

"Against buy-and-burn" is an article by Guy Wuollet, a general partner on a16z's crypto team, published on 23 April 2026. It argues that buy-and-burn has become crypto's default capital-return strategy and that this is a mistake for protocols that are still early, still competing and still have room to grow: profitable protocols should not shrink their balance sheets when they could deploy the cash productively. Wuollet contends that projects are inappropriately copying Bitcoin's fixed-supply framing despite very different use cases, and that markets reward burns mainly because of weak fundamentals and a shortage of credible trust signals. His proposed alternative is to treat network treasuries the way growth-stage companies treat capital — reinvesting in growth, extending runway and building competitive advantage, with programmatic rather than discretionary cash-flow mechanisms.

Within the DeFi Intel graph, Against buy-and-burn: A better mechanism for token design connects to 2 tracked entities, most strongly to a16z Crypto, a16z crypto research.

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Frequently asked questions

Who wrote the article and when?

Guy Wuollet, a general partner at a16z crypto, published it on 23 April 2026.

What is the core argument against buy-and-burn?

That profitable protocols shouldn't shrink their balance sheets when they can do productive things instead — burning treasury value makes little sense for protocols that are still early, still competing and still have room to expand.

What does the article propose instead?

Reinvesting in growth and development, extending operational runway, building competitive advantages, and establishing programmatic rather than discretionary cash-flow mechanisms — treating network tokens the way growth-stage startups treat capital.