I helped a friend build a crypto portfolio he can buy and hold on Coinbase. Figured I'd share it here too. Prices may be abysmal, but the tech is better than ever. Don't get sidelined! **Core Allocation** 35% cbETH | 13% HYPE | 10% BTC | 10% JitoSOL | 8% TAO | 6% AAVE | 4% MORPHO | 4% VIRTUAL | 4% MANTLE | 3% ZRO | 3% NEAR Ethereum is where most DeFi and most onchain AI is actually happening. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! I personally dislike BTC, but it's Lindy enough that I felt obligated to include it for a friend's portfolio. Same logic with SOL, just make sure you're holding a liquid staked token so you're not getting diluted. 13% in HYPE is probably the most controversial call here, but a bootstrapped team with no VCs beating Coinbase and Binance in volume speaks for itself. **Thesis: what I'm looking for right now** 1. Projects generating real revenue and best positioned to leverage institutional distribution 2. Projects positioned to capture sustained revenue from agentic activity **How each position fits:** - **TAO** — Bittensor is the frontrunner in AI crypto, though still early enough to warrant caution. Some subnets like Ridges are becoming competitive with centralized alternatives. If the market priced them as such… - **AAVE** — King of DeFi lending, though governance drama gives me pause. - **VIRTUAL** — Leading AI agent launchpad and infrastructure layer for autonomous onchain commerce. MCP has processed over $400M. - **MANTLE** — Institutional bridge between TradFi and DeFi. - **MORPHO** — Institutional backbone of onchain credit markets. - **ZRO** — LayerZero connects 168 chains with 700+ integrated apps and has settled over $200B in total value, with $50B in quarterly transfer volume alone. Unlock schedule is significant, however. - **NEAR** — Positioning as the "blockchain for AI" and a "universal liquidity layer." Worth a small allocation. **Moonshots** (too early-stage to recommend to a friend, but my personal favorites): REI, BNKR **Honorable Mentions:** JUP, PENDLE, ETHERFI, AERO, SYRUP — and eagerly awaiting TGE for VEDA. A note on LINK. Some may protest the exclusion of oracles, specifically Chainlink. Let's just say I find their architecture overly convoluted, and I'm not convinced it scales in an agentic web, would be open to changing my mind. Crypto changes rapidly, but this is a portfolio I'd be comfortable recommending for the rest of 2026. The space is maturing, and projects that become financial plumbing for institutions are poised to be rerated accordingly. There are growing rumblings that we're approaching the event horizon of the singularity, and if that's the case, you should probably be rethinking your life and priorities first. But at least for now, these projects are well positioned to ride that wave.
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https://open.substack.com/pub/tetsu/p/the-crust-protocol-why-the-first?r=4mxip&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
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Read my essay on trust, liability, and the coming market for friction. The unbundling of bureaucracy. https://tetsu.substack.com/p/after-bureaucracy
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