CryptoNews Podcast #494: Santiago Roel Santos, CEO of Inversion, on Crypto’s Valuation Problem, Mental Models, and the Current State of Crypto
Nov 24, 2025
Santiago Roel Santos, CEO of Inversion and a veteran crypto investor, dives into the valuation challenges facing cryptocurrencies. He critiques overvalued blockchains and contrasts casino-like fee structures with sustainable revenue models. Santiago highlights how Layer 2 solutions better capture economic value compared to Layer 1s and stresses the importance of retrofitting traditional businesses with blockchain. He also envisions how prediction markets can improve media reliability and calls for a shift towards fostering real crypto users through integrated financial solutions.
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Crypto Valuation Disconnect
- Santiago argues many major blockchains lack coherent valuation given their fee revenue compared to market caps.
- He challenges why Ethereum or Solana trade at dozens to hundreds of times revenue without a fundamental earnings case.
Casino Revenue Is Cyclical
- Revenue on crypto protocols can be highly cyclical compared to contracted software revenue.
- Santiago warns comparing fee-driven protocols to enterprise software hides tail risk in bear markets.
L2s Capture The Fee Economy
- Ethereum should capture most fee "taxes" but L2s are capturing much of that value instead.
- He says L1s like Ethereum may not appropriate fee capture even as activity moves to L2s.
