When smart money no longer talks about "stories": where are they looking?

You may not have noticed, but Avalanche's C chain has been heating up lately.

While the TVL of most ecosystems is slowly declining and market discussions are dominated by AI, Restaking, and Memes, Chain C has quietly rebounded against the trend: active addresses have increased for three consecutive weeks, the TVL of mainstream protocols has risen again, and even the "forgotten" old project BENQI has made a strong comeback.

At the same time, Avalanche has launched the Visa virtual card, and the Core wallet supports gas-free transactions, while the on-chain infrastructure continues to upgrade—these signs all hint at one fact:

The value of infrastructure is being repriced.

Smart money has already quietly boarded. They don't tell stories or chase trends, but they are always ahead of others.

What is "smart money"? It's not the richest, but the longest lasting.

Many people think that smart money is just "whales," but in reality, "smart" ≠ biggest wallet, but rather the highest long-term winning rate.

Their three treasures:

Stay calm when placing bets, neither greedy nor fearful: be not aggressive in a bull market, and not pessimistic in a bear market. Only those who can survive three rounds of bull and bear markets are truly alive.

Risk control first, profits later: it's not about how explosive the APY is, but whether the protocol code has been audited.

On-chain transparency, controllable liquidity: not afraid of locked positions, just afraid of being locked without being informed; not afraid of a drop, just afraid of not having a place to check the data.

These people are more like a blend of fund managers and hackers in Web3: they understand financial modeling and can read smart contract code. They usually don't say much, but when they act, they often become the trendsetters of the ecosystem. For instance, the recent surge in liquidity of BENQI is one of the choices made by these "quiet smart people" on-chain.

The "hedging posture" of smart capital: not going crazy, just "Buddha-like".

In the second half of 2024, marked by market fluctuations and low sentiment, smart money is beginning to position itself in stable yield protocols.

For example, the old project BENQI in the Avalanche ecosystem: TVL soared to $520 million, with Liquid Staking's $sAVAX reaching nearly 10 million AVAX, hitting new highs almost every day.

What they chose was not the coin that "can rise tenfold", but:

APR Stability: Currently about 5.2%

Asset Reusability: sAVAX can participate in lending and staking without affecting liquidity.

Clear mechanism, transparent operation: no flashy locking terms.

User-friendly interface: Non-technical users can easily get started.

You may not have seen it, but on-chain data doesn’t lie: there are addresses that have been continuously converting AVAX to sAVAX for several days, then using it for lending loop operations, totaling over a million dollars. This combination strategy of "yield - collateral - compound interest" is a typical "fear of missing out but not idle" strategy for smart money.

is not an outcast, but a trump card

Many people mistakenly believe that Avalanche's launch of Subnet multi-chain means that the main chain C-Chain will be marginalized. But the reality is that the C-Chain is becoming the core of infrastructure development.

Look at these "silent big moves":

Avalanche Visa virtual card launched: USDT / USDC / AVAX can be spent directly, and even Alipay can be linked.

Core wallet supports gasless transactions: significantly lowering the entry barrier for new users.

On-chain data service upgrade: Developers and investors can query contract and asset data with one click.

The significance behind this is that the C chain is not about showing off skills, but about capturing real users and asset inflow.

For smart money, this is precisely their core logic in betting on Avalanche: while everyone tells stories, only infrastructure can serve as the true armor that withstands cycles. BENQI, as part of the early infrastructure, is gradually being reassessed and repriced.

Stable returns, not just a transitional solution to "waiting for a bull market".

By broadening your perspective, you will find that smart money is not investing in a specific project, but rather in a long-term logic:

Stable returns are a moat during market panic.

Whether it's BENQI's $sAVAX, Lido's $stETH, or Frax's sfrxETH, they are all finding new release paths for "non-tradable assets."

You will also find that they are continuously laying out plans:

Frax focuses on stable pools like sDAI to improve asset utilization;

Pendle's structured yield products continue to be popular, with various APR curve combinations sparking innovation in arbitrage strategies.

Maker launches SubDAO to decentralize governance pressure and enhance long-term stability;

EigenLayer leverages "Restaking" to unlock a new layer of yields, attracting a reaggregation of TVL.

These choices may seem conservative, but they are precisely the foundation for the next bull market—refined, transparent, and sustainable.

Don't ask about the story, ask about the underlying logic.

If you're still asking "which coin can rise 10 times," then smart money will tell you:

"What rises tenfold is emotion, not value."

What they really care about is:

Can the risk exposure of this agreement be controlled?

Is the source of income real and sustainable?

Is on-chain liquidity real? Is the TVL data solid?

Is the team continuously iterating? Is the community active and providing feedback?

They will only press that familiar "Confirm" button when the answers to these questions are all YES.

The starting point of the next bull market is not a certain divine chain, nor a certain divine narrative, but these quiet yet firm "smart choices."

Start being smart with these four things.

If you see this, congratulations, you are already "smarter" than 90% of the market. Here's another checklist to help you avoid pitfalls:

Audit and Open Source: Does the project have third-party audits, and are the contracts open source?

Check on-chain data: TVL, active wallets, asset structure, can it be verified on-chain?

Analyze asset availability: Can it be borrowed or used in combination after staking?

Assessing the team and community vitality: Are there ongoing product updates and community dialogues?

The bull market is not far away, but learn to be smart first.

Opportunities are promising, but the foundation must be stable.

Don't chase trends, be a smart person.

Source: 0xresearcher