Bear Market Investment Guide: Besides BTC, these 45 "Cash Cows" are worth watching.

Author: Ignas | DeFi Research

Compiled by: Saoirse, Foresight News

CoinGecko tracks 17,148 tokens.

But in the current crypto market environment, how many truly qualify as "investable assets"?

1. It can bring benefits to the holder;
2. There is agreed-upon income, even if it has not yet been distributed;
3. With a strong narrative and market acceptance, it can survive a bear market.

I'm trying to figure this out.

Most of the data comes from DefiLlama, CoinMarketCap, and some protocols that reflect market activity (Dexu, Moni, Lunarcrush, etc.).

I used Claude Code to process the data to minimize personal bias.

I would have excluded some tokens (such as XRP, ADA, BCH, etc.), but they have gone through multiple cycles and have sustained vitality due to their ample liquidity.

Claude still had quite a few bugs, and debugging took 10 times longer than writing the article, so the data in the table is for reference only (link at the end of the article).

Final result:

• A total of 12 categories and 132 investable tokens were selected.
• Of these, 45 will distribute dividends to holders (excluding those with extremely low returns);
• Annualized return to holders: $1.8 billion.

These classifications are entirely based on my subjective judgment of "survival and future potential," which you may not agree with.

The first key finding: the truly investable crypto market is pitifully small.

The tokens that truly generate profits for holders are almost entirely monopolized by two projects. We'll discuss this in detail below.

Ironically, in compiling this list and checking each token one by one, I came to this conclusion:

After repeatedly considering how to proceed in the crypto space, examining new and old tokens, and researching new narratives, I believe the optimal risk-reward ratio (R/R) in the crypto world is:

Buy Bitcoin (BTC) directly.

Then, using the "hobby funds," they continuously experimented with new encryption protocols while simultaneously learning to use AI tools.

New opportunities will always arise.

The most worthwhile tokens to invest in: Revenue-sharing tokens

The current mainstream narrative in the market is:

Projects that generate no revenue will eventually die!

Even Ethereum (ETH) struggles to escape this narrative of "value based on revenue".

Therefore, the most valuable tokens for investment are those that can distribute profits to holders through buybacks, burns, and fee sharing.

I've lowered the threshold to: DefiLlama holders with ≥ $50,000 in earnings over 30 days.

These 45 tokens generate $153 million in monthly returns for their holders.

The annualized total is US$1.8 billion.

Top 10 Revenue Sharing:

Note: Revenue sharing ≠ holder earnings on DefiLlama.

For example, EtherFi did not appear on the list of holder returns, but it does have buybacks.

L1 public chains like Tron have been categorized separately.

After the top five, monthly earnings quickly fell below $3 million.

If the crypto market continues to follow the logic of "token = stock",

Therefore, the P/S (price-to-sales ratio, market capitalization/revenue) ratio will become increasingly important.

• Pump.fun: 1.4x
• Aerodrome: 3.4x

By traditional financial standards, these are extremely cheap.

At the current rate of revenue growth, the entire market value can be recouped in less than 3 years.

and:

• Uniswap: P/S up to 121 times
• Aave: P/S is 341 times higher.

Because the market values ​​them at a much higher level than their "current earnings".

Aave recently initiated buybacks, but is only distributing $412,000 per month, while the protocol generates $10 million in monthly revenue. Subsequent governance changes may alter this situation.

The token with the lowest P/S (price-to-sales ratio):

• Farcaster's Clanker: 0.9x
• ORE: 0.9 times
• Yield Basis: 0.8 times
• Pump.fun: 1.4x
• QuickSwap: 1.4x

They can all recoup their market value through profits within 3 years.

The most important conclusion:

Hyperliquid + Pump.fun = 69% of the total returns for all holders!

Of the 45 tokens, just two projects contributed more than two-thirds of the cash flow.

This level of concentration is very worthy of consideration.

Ansem's tweet perfectly summarizes HYPE's investment philosophy:

HYPE:

• The business continues to grow, and the token is highly tied to revenue;
• It possesses diversified growth levers;
• Existing comparable projects are performing well;
• Benefiting from the market environment of scarcity of high-quality tokens and concentration of funds in leading projects;
• The team has strong execution capabilities, a steady pace, and an impressive track record.

There is agreed-upon income, but dividends have not yet been distributed.

There are 16 tokens in total, with monthly protocol revenue of ≥ $100,000, which remains in the treasury.

Top projects:

• Lido: $4.3 million per month, $32 billion in TVL (staking dividends were proposed last year);
• CoW Protocol: $3 million per month;
• Meteora (Solana): $2 million per month;
• Virtuals Protocol: $1.4 million per month;
• Drift: $868,000 per month.

Lido vs ether.fi is a very interesting comparison:

• Lido TVL is 10 times higher and the income is 3 times higher, but LDO holders don't receive a single penny;
• ether.fi distributes $1.5 million to its holders monthly through buybacks.

If you're going to get through a bear market, you'll want the one that can give you a share of the profits.

The investment logic for this type of target is:

These agreements will eventually trigger the "dividend payout switch".

Lido has been saying this for many years.

Jito generates $5.3 million in monthly fees, but only $544,000 goes into the treasury.

The gap between total transaction fees and the holder's returns represents both an opportunity and a risk.

Other sections overview

Exchange tokens (7 tokens, total market capitalization of $99 billion, including BNB)

You can make money regardless of whether it's a bull or bear market. CEX trading volume may decrease, but it won't go to zero.

• BNB: $85 billion;
• LEO and OKB barely fell during the bear markets of 2022 and 2024.

Many have buyback plans, but they are not reflected in the DefiLlama data.

The high circulating supply of CEX tokens further reduces downside risk.

L1 public blockchains (19 in total, with a total market capitalization of $1.8 trillion)

L1 is the base layer.

• BTC: $1.36 trillion
• ETH: $245 billion

I've relaxed my standards for XRP, ADA, and especially Cosmos because they've survived multiple cycles, have believers and liquidity, and have sustained vitality.

You may hate TRON (TRX), but it generates $26 million in transaction fees every month—more than Solana and Ethereum.

This cycle has also performed very well; you can check the candlestick chart yourself.

The L1 public chain will not disappear, but its valuation will fluctuate greatly. Invest at your own risk.

AI & Computing (8 companies, total market capitalization of $5.1 billion)

Most of them have no actual income, with only one exception:

Venice (VVV): The only AI token supported by subscription and API revenue through buybacks and burns, with 43% of its supply already burned.

• Bittensor: $1.9 billion market capitalization, 128 subnets, no protocol revenue;
• Render and Akash: They sell GPU computing power, which is cheaper than centralized platforms;
• Grass: Provides decentralized network data for AI training.

Note: Some AI tokens that are not on the list are currently experiencing a surge in price, which may be suitable for short-term trading, but it is hard to say whether they can be considered "investable".

RWA asset tokenization (7 tokens, total market capitalization of $13.5 billion)

While it's growing quietly, I don't think the real RWA bull market has arrived yet.

Canton Network controls 88.57% of on-chain RWA, approximately $372 billion in tokenized assets. However, real-world assets are not as simple as they appear.

Chainlink is the key oracle underlying RWA, but LINK's staking rewards come from inflation and a fixed reward pool, not from protocol revenue sharing.

Chainlink generates decent revenue, but it goes to node operators and the treasury, not directly to holders.

Privacy tokens (2 tokens, total market capitalization of $9.7 billion)

High-risk sectors: They will either become increasingly important as regulations tighten, or they will be banned outright.

But regardless of whether it's a bull or bear market, demand has remained stable.

• Monero: $6.2 billion
• Zcash (Big Zcash): $3.6 billion

Meme Coin (6 coins, total market capitalization of $20.8 billion)

Classifying them as "investable" may be controversial.

But like Bitcoin, they rely on the community to survive.

• DOGE: Market capitalization of $15.2 billion, existing for over a decade;
• SHIB, PEPE, BONK, FLOKI, and WIF are also on the list.

If the market rebounds, they may outperform high-yield tokens.

Because there is no income cap, there is no ceiling.

Moreover, they are almost entirely in circulation, resulting in low selling pressure.

Other Categories

• L2 public blockchains (7 in total, with a total market capitalization of $3.7 billion);
• DePIN (5 companies, total market capitalization of $500 million): decentralized storage and data collection;
• Oracles/Infrastructure (7 companies, total market capitalization of $1.8 billion);
• Stablecoin infrastructure (4 companies, total market capitalization of $1.1 billion): Ethena leads.

Super profitable projects without tokens

Some of the most profitable crypto businesses don't have any tokens to invest in at all.

• Tether: Annual revenue of over $6 billion, more than the total revenue of those 45 yield tokens, all of which goes to shareholders;
• Polymarket: Monthly revenue of $3.8 million, no token;
• Base: Revenue goes to Coinbase shareholders; a cryptocurrency may be issued in the future.
• Phantom: Millions of users, extremely high transaction fees;
• Circle: Issuer of USDC; profits are realized in the IPO.
• Kalshi: regulated by the CFTC, no token;
• Farcaster: It has been acquired, and airdrops are expected to decrease significantly, but it may still issue tokens.

So, how should we use this information?

The ideal holdings during a bear market should meet four criteria:

1. Holders benefit
2. Low P/S ratio (market capitalization/revenue)
3. High MC/FDV (Floating Market Cap/Fully Diluted Market Cap)
4. Demand remains stable

Very few tokens can satisfy all of these requirements.

The closest target:

• PUMP: 1.4 times P/S, 33% MC/FDV
• AERO: 3.4x, 50%
• JUP: 7.3 times, 51%
• SKY: 16 times, 98%
• CAKE: 15.1 times, 96%

Low-risk options:

Exchange tokens: LEO, OKB, GT

With almost full circulation and support from exchange profit buybacks, it performs the most stably in bear markets.

High risk, high reward:

HYPE: Profits far exceed expectations, but MC/FDV is only 25%.

Coingecko's new statistics, which exclude tokens that have been out of circulation for a long time and those that have been burned, show a drop to 41%.

Tradeable opportunities:

Pay attention to changes in governance:

Bet on projects that generate revenue but haven't yet started distributing dividends, and turn on the "dividend switch".

Key areas of focus:

Lido、Meteora、Drift、CoW Protocol

Everything else depends on faith.

Do you believe that AI computing will be implemented on the blockchain?

Do you believe that RWA tokenization will continue to grow?

I believe so, but are these tokens the right betting targets?