CT loves loud narratives. In fact, loud narrative = overpriced market. 4 lessons I wish I learned earlier ↓ 1. Attention lies. Usage compounds. TVL can spike overnight. Real usage doesn’t. If users, fees, and repeat behavior don’t grow together over time, demand is rented. 2. Emissions don’t equal adoption. Incentives are supposed to accelerate demand, not substitute for it. Easiest filter: look 60-90 days after rewards taper. If activity dies with emissions, there was never product pull. 3. Stress is the real audit. Anyone can look good in calm markets. Congestion, exploits, outages – that’s where truth shows up. Clear comms + fast recovery = trust. Silence or hard halts usually leave scars long after the incident. 4. Metrics only matter when they agree. TVL without fees = subsidies. Users without retention = churn. Strong systems show numbers reinforcing each other. When metrics disagree, the narrative eventually snaps. Don't confuse noise for momentum. The protocols that win are the ones still printing signals after everyone stops tweeting about them. Like @trondao. Like @SolvProtocol....