23 of 251 pass
Leads its category and can defend it
Which crypto protocols lead their category and can defend it?
Scoring pass 11 Jun 2026. Market snapshot 15 Aug 2026.
Pass
23
9% of 251
Median score
157/250
range 117 to 193
Best
193/250
HYPE
Smallest that passes
$7.61B
XMR
01
What this screen asks
Competitive Moat 7 or better and Market Share 7 or better.
In an industry where the source is open the moat is never the software. Share without a moat is a fork away from gone, and a moat without share is a claim nobody has tested.
02
The 23 that pass
Ranked by composite score, not by how far each one clears the filter. A token near the bottom of this table still passes, so read the score column rather than the order alone.
| # | Token | Score | Verdict | Market cap | Thesis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HYPEHyperliquid | 193 | HOLD CORE | $12.60B | 3 ETFs live (THYP, BHYP, HYPG, about $253M combined AUM). About $600M annualised revenue after four straight quarterly declines, with builder fees now taking 18% of gross before buybacks. about 32% to 37% DEX perps share, down from roughly 70% in 2025. But closed-source, FCA warning, 22% circ. |
| 2 | ETHEthereum | 187 | HOLD CORE | $227.25B | Institutional settlement layer. Commodity classification. Burn collapsed but moat intact. |
| 3 | WSTETHWrapped Lido Staked ETH | 185 | HOLD CORE | $8.72B | Lido's wrapped staked ETH, the DeFi collateral standard with about $17.7B TVL and native yield; dominant LST by every metric |
| 4 | BTCBitcoin | 183 | HOLD CORE | $1.27T | Digital gold with a large spot ETF complex and 94.5% supply mined. Store-of-value thesis intact, though ETF assets fell through 2026. |
| 5 | SOLSolana | 170 | HOLD | $44.02B | High-throughput L1 with dominant DEX volume and meme coin launchpad traction. Network reliability improved significantly post-2023. |
| 6 | GEODGEODNET | 169 | HOLD | $84.9M | Revenue not declining: Q2 2026 $2.59M (+48% QoQ). ARR $7.3-9.5M. 80% burn Foundation-controlled (governance, not smart contract). ATH $0.3746 not $0.43. 20K+ stations, 150+ countries. P/S 9.9-14.4x (expensive vs Helium 3.1x). Deflationary crossover approaching post-Jun 2026 halving. |
| 7 | SYRUPMaple Finance | 168 | HOLD | $177.2M | Institutional private-credit leader with a record ~$2B loan book, a Kraken on-chain warehouse (Jun 25) and a Revolut listing (Apr 30, UK/EU). But the 1.6x price-to-fees pitch uses gross fees; the token keeps ~$12-13M revenue, so it trades ~14x. Core Foundation dispute settled in May 2026. |
| 8 | UNIUniswap | 167 | HOLD | $2.05B | Fee switch live on 11+ chains. Protocol revenue $26-61M (P/S 57-73x). V4 on 18 chains, 2500+ hooks. 100M UNI burned but net inflationary (+1.43%/yr). BlackRock entered Feb 2026. a16z holds 41.5-55M UNI. $200M+ insider selling 2025. Unichain TVL $17.8-29.6M (not $532M). SEC safe harbor Apr 2026. |
| 9 | LINKChainlink | 165 | HOLD | $7.17B | 70% oracle dominance. DTCC Q4 2026. SOC 2 Type 2. $500M/yr treasury sell pressure. 2 ETFs live. |
| 10 | PENDLEPendle Finance | 160 | HOLD | $224.3M | DeFi's yield monopoly: 50-60% market share, $24.4M trailing rev, sPENDLE 80% buyback (9.3% yield). Fortune 2026 Innovators. Vietnam IFC w/ BlackRock/MS. 21Shares ETP live. Boros V3 $10B+ vol. All vesting complete. Net dollar-deflationary. |
| 11 | AEROAerodrome Finance | 157 | HOLD | $393.1M | Base's dominant DEX capturing ~60% of chain volume with real fee revenue and veAERO flywheel locking supply |
| 12 | MORPHOMorpho | 157 | HOLD | $1.27B | Infrastructure lending protocol with $6.4B TVL and $203M annualized fees but zero revenue to token holders, fee switch off, founder opposes activation |
| 13 | AAVEAave | 156 | HOLD | $1.34B | KelpDAO $190-230M bad debt, 3 core team departures (ACI/BGD/Chaos), buybacks paused. But $142M rev, 55-63% share, V4+Umbrella live, SEC cleared. |
| 14 | JUPJupiter | 151 | HOLD | $561.4M | S39 validated: Solana's DeFi superapp. 93.6% aggregator share, $2.9B TVL. Revenue declining -78% but net-zero emissions + vesting done. |
| 15 | CETUSCetus Protocol | 147 | HOLD | $19.5M | Leading CLMM DEX on Sui with near-monopoly status; strong TVL growth as Sui network expansion accelerates |
| 16 | LDOLido DAO | 146 | HOLD | $247.5M | Dominant LST protocol at $21B TVL with real staking revenue; fee switch vote pending but token accrual still weak. |
| 17 | FLUIDFluid (Instadapp) | 145 | CAUTIOUS HOLD | $94.8M | Unique Smart Collateral/Debt DeFi primitive (39x capital efficiency). $12.66M rev trailing but $5.6M current run rate (declining -63%). Buybacks halted post-Resolv ($21M bad debt). TVL -92% from peak. P/S 6.8x trailing / 15.4x current. Zero inflation, 78.7% circ. Top-tier VCs (Pantera, Naval, Coinbase). 55% stablecoin swap share. |
| 18 | PAXGPAX Gold | 141 | HOLD | $1.91B | 1:1 gold-backed token. Each PAXG = 1 troy oz London Good Delivery gold. |
| 19 | CRVCurve Finance | 140 | HOLD | $374.2M | 44% of ETH DEX fee revenue is extraordinary. veCRV/Convex lock-in. ATH -96% (not -99.6%, illiquid spike). |
| 20 | ENSEthereum Name Service | 137 | CAUTIOUS HOLD | $170.3M | Ethereum's dominant naming system with $2M+ monthly protocol revenue and a fee switch already enabled |
| 21 | SAFESafe (formerly Gnosis Safe) | 132 | CAUTIOUS HOLD | $67.1M | Token for the dominant smart-contract wallet securing $100B+ in assets, but governance token with minimal direct value accrual so far |
| 22 | CHZChiliz | 120 | CAUTIOUS HOLD | $132.4M | Sports fan token platform. Socios.com with 100+ sports teams. |
| 23 | XMRMonero | 117 | WATCH | $7.61B | Privacy-focused L1. Ring signatures + stealth addresses. Not on Binance/Coinbase. |
Scores come from the research pass dated 11 Jun 2026 and do not move with price. Market capitalisation is from the snapshot fetched 15 Aug 2026.
03
Common questions
- Which crypto protocols lead their category and can defend it?
- 23 of 251 rated tokens pass. Hyperliquid (HYPE), Ethereum (ETH), Wrapped Lido Staked ETH (WSTETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Solana (SOL) lead on composite score.
- How is this screen defined?
- Competitive Moat 7 or better and Market Share 7 or better. Every variable is scored 1 to 10 against the same definition applied to all 251 rated tokens, and higher is always better.
- Does passing this screen mean a token is a buy?
- No. It means the token clears one filter on fundamentals as recorded at the scoring pass on 11 Jun 2026. 23 tokens pass, which is 9% of the universe, and the range of composite scores inside the set runs from 117 to 193.
Keep reading
Research and analysis, not investment advice. A screen is one filter applied consistently, not a recommendation.