Fun fact: Most L2s are built to extract. Use them, and someone else earns. Usually a sequencer (often centralized). Always… not you. I’ve been spending time looking into @tenprotocol, and the more I dig, the more it feels like they’re trying to flip that model on its head. Not with slogans. With actual architecture. Here’s what stood out: The tokenomics are unusually restrained. Only 13.87% of $TEN is unlocked at launch. The rest (86%+) is locked and released over time. You don’t do that if you’re trying to create a fast exit. You do that if you want time to build trust. Then there’s how the supply is allocated. Over 43% is reserved for the community and ecosystem. Not in a vague “ecosystem growth” line item either. It’s broken down, clearly: – 22% treasury – 20% community programs – 1.25% for funding new ideas You can argue about whether that’s enough. But you can’t say it’s not intentional. 6% of supply is earmarked as direct community rewards. Half unlocked at launch. The rest vests over time. That kind of split says a lot: “We’ll reward early adopters… but only if they stick around.” It’s a small psychological shift. But it’s the kind that builds alignment. Vesting schedules tell you everything about a project’s incentives. Here’s how TEN approaches it: – Investors: 6-month cliff + 2-year unlock – Team: 1-year cliff + 3-year unlock – Community funds: 30% upfront, rest metered out VC in shambles… It reads like a team that isn’t just confident… but patient. Now here’s where things get more interesting. Most L2s collect massive fees. Arbitrum, Optimism, Base… they’ve pulled in $587m+ from sequencer revenue. That value doesn’t reach users..it goes upstream. TEN is one of the first I’ve seen that shares sequencer rewards with the people actually using the network. No staking, lockups or “defi games.” You transact, you earn tickets, tickets convert to $eth. That’s it. Feels like how it should work. They’ve already run 24m+ testnet transactions. Over 600k wallets and it’s not even mainnet yet. So this isn’t just a good idea. It’s a working system. But what really made me pause is what they’re doing with AI. Encrypted agents. Live, on-chain (not whitepaper ideas). Real components like: – Gaia (creator tools) – Griffin (DeFi bots) – Omo (encrypted coordination) – Warden (logic protection) – Janction (decentralized compute) Each one does something specific. Each one is already live or moving. And they’re all building on TEN. What TEN is building isn’t “AI hype” with a coat of crypto paint. It’s a new design space: Encrypted AI agents that reason, act, and transact on-chain (privately, transparently & autonomously). Where the value doesn’t just come from using the system…It comes from being part of it. That’s the shift. I don’t know where all this leads. No one does. But it’s rare to see an L2 this early that feels both grounded and ambitious. Token design that respects time. Infra that shares upside. AI that’s not a gimmick. TEN feels like one of those projects that’s building… not for today’s market, but for the world that comes after it. Might be worth paying attention.