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- 💸 Native Token Optional?
💸 Native Token Optional?
May 22nd, 2026
Good morning and happy Friday from Matt!
Does every distributed network need a token?
Some networks are finding that a mix of native token and stablecoin payments might be the best solution.
And with 375ai launching their Ego Scan app, Helium expanding in Mexico, and Silencio delivering new voice data, there’s no shortage of discussion topics this week.
Let's check it out. 🔍
📡 The Relay
Distributed networks with actual customers can use their revenue to pay hardware deployers or to pay out mission rewards in stablecoins.
That’s the thesis, and it’s a strong argument for predictable financials for deployers. However, the downside is that this removes the mechanism that helps many distributed networks bootstrap in their early days, and the prospect that the tokens earned today will be worth more in the future.
The core problem is that most early networks aren’t cash-heavy.
Sure, networks can validate demand for their prospective data through surveys, Letters of Intent (LOIs), or contractual buyer agreements.
But that data and those agreements don’t immediately provide the liquid capital needed to incentivize bootstrapping the network.
A native token as an endogenous financial incentive has so far proven to be the best mechanism for solving the cold-start problem in distributed infrastructure networks.
That fact doesn’t preclude the most successful networks from also rewarding network operators in stablecoins.
Here’s a real-world example: this week, Silencio delivered its first batch of voice data to a major AI lab.
Silencio pays contributors $10–20 per hour in USDC for high-quality voice recordings, sourced from nearly 800,000 members across 180+ countries. You record in a quiet environment, your submissions go through quality checks, and once the dataset is accepted by the client, valid recordings are paid out in stablecoins. Staking $SLC gives you higher payouts.
It’s active work, but the most essential part is that you only get paid when your voice data is used. Payments occur in stablecoins, but only because verified buyers pay in dollars for data provided by network participants.
Relay Takeaway: Stablecoin payments offer predictable economics for network operators, but present challenging economics for the networks themselves. A native token offers a speculative financial incentive that can partially solve the cold-start problem for distributed infrastructure networks.
Follow @silencioNetwork and @TheoMesserer on X.
🔊 Signal Boost
Here are two examples of companies blending stablecoin payments into their networks, and a small handful of exciting updates to boost your signal:
🚁 Spexi x LayerDrone — Both these networks pay drone operators a fixed amount of USDC for completed mapping missions. That predictability is the reason both are mapping well. Deployers can calculate exactly how long a mission will take and exactly what it will pay before they even take off.
🛸 Fractals × FliteGrid — A first-of-its-kind capital offering just took flight. Allocators commit USDC to a pool, which funds the deployment of SkySafe sensors at Tier 1 airspace sites. Think airports, stadiums, prisons, military bases, etc. The sensors earn $FLITE tokens and stream USDC back to allocators. It's a hybrid model in action, blending token rewards with stablecoin yield.
📳Acurast – Idle smartphones are now powering the global decentralized compute movement. Accurast allows phone owners to simply run an app in the background on spare Android or iOS devices and earn $ACU rewards while supplying secure TEE-based workloads for AI inference, DeFi keepers, and serverless tasks. With 258k+ phones already onboarded and the Cloud Rebellion promo heating up this week, developers get cheap, confidential compute with zero middlemen or cloud invoices.
👋 Signing Off
Active work wants stable pay, but rewarding in only stablecoins from the start doesn’t make economic sense for most fledgling networks.
Neither approach is objectively right or wrong, and token economics (tokenomics) will look different depending on the network's shape.
The entities figuring out the best combinations for their respective networks are:
validating demand for their network’s data
actively communicating with network operators on expectations and value
realistically addressing the long-term implications and sustainability of any incentive structures
The era of "token moons and network wins" is giving way to something more thoughtful. A blended incentive model predicated on validated demand and economic sustainability.
That’s all for this week.
Catch you next Friday! 👋