DeFi is renting its TVL and calling it growth.
Emissions start.
TVL rises.
Dashboards light up.
Rewards stop.
The capital leaves.
The protocol bought a spike, not a resident.
For teams allocating incentive budgets, the real scorecard begins after emissions:
→ Wallet quality
→ Position duration
→ 30/60/90-day survival
→ Source attribution
→ Cost per retained dollar
Our latest piece in The Defiant explains how targeting, campaign structure, caps and post-campaign measurement can turn incentives from rented liquidity into an accountable retention system.
You paid for TVL. Do you know what you bought?