Introducing RSOV: A Better L1 Valuation Metric than REV | Jonah Weinstein

Valuing Layer 1 (L1) blockchains has long been a fundamental challenge in crypto. Is ETH like a company share? Is SOL like a commodity? Is BTC just digital gold? Analysts and investors have struggled to apply traditional valuation models—like discounted cash flows (DCF) or REV (a proxy for network revenue)—to these new forms of digital assets. These methods work for DeFi protocols and equity-style tokens. But for L1 tokens that behave more like money than stock, they often fall short.

Enter RSOV: Realized Store of Value

On this episode of Bankless, we’re joined by Jonah Weinstein of Skycatcher, who introduces RSOV (Realized Store of Value)—a new framework for understanding the value of L1s as monetary assets rather than equity-like assets.

RSOV is inspired by the concept of realized cap in Bitcoin, but adapted for smart contract platforms like Ethereum and Solana. It measures the realized dollar value of L1 tokens used in staking and DeFi, capturing when people buy the asset and hold it in smart contracts. In short, RSOV tracks actual on-chain inflows of capital used to store value—not just speculate or transact.

Why RSOV Matters

According to Jonah, L1s aren’t companies—they're monetary networks. They don't generate external cash flows like Apple or Aave. Instead, they accrue value when people buy and hold their native token as a store of value. REV, which tracks fees paid to validators, only tells part of the story—and often leads to circular reasoning when used as input for a DCF.

RSOV solves this by measuring usage in terms of actual monetary demand. It’s a bottom-up view of how much value is being stored in the network in a durable way. This also makes RSOV more predictive: rising RSOV suggests long-term conviction in the token’s monetary role, whereas short-term REV spikes might be ephemeral.

Key Takeaways

• RSOV > REV for L1s: REV measures short-term usage; RSOV captures long-term value accumulation.
• L1s are money, not stocks: Treating them as commodities or monetary assets yields better insights than traditional finance models.
• Valuation through a monetary lens: Assets like ETH and SOL should be measured by their role in storing value, not just their fee revenue.

The Bigger Picture

This shift has massive implications for how analysts, investors, and even protocols think about token value. It suggests that assets like ETH may be significantly undervalued compared to their long-term RSOV potential—and that Layer 1 networks should focus on increasing monetary demand, not just transactional throughput.

Jonah’s framework offers a powerful new tool for crypto analysts—and perhaps a more honest way to assess what crypto L1s are truly worth.