A few days ago @build_on_bob completed its TGE. For many early users, it was one of the most underwhelming and confusing distributions we’ve seen. There’s a common thread that “airdrop farmers shouldn’t be rewarded.” Sure, but it’s worth examining what actually happened here... I came to BOB in early 2024 while looking for secure and trust-minimized ways to extend the functionality of my Bitcoin. Lightning and Liquid have their limitations, so an OP-stack environment with a long-term vision for BitVM bridging was compelling. I made my first transactions in May ‘24 and later that summer spoke in person with @alexeiZamyatin about the broader roadmap. From there, I explored the ecosystem, traded, lent, experimented with solvBTC, Segment lending, and even joined the Sovryn LP migration for a SPICE bonus which resulted in significant IL. Throughout all of this, BOB continued to see market growth, new integrations, and increased momentum. SPICE points accumulated, and my leaderboard ranking hovered between 300 and 600 out of hundreds of thousands of users. During this period, BOB raised roughly 21M, and later another 7M through their crowdsale. Nearly 30M in total. Plenty of capital to keep going. TGE was announced while at Devconnect, and I was at the Native BTCFi Summit that BOB hosted the same day. I spoke with team members, mentioned I had been an early participant, and looked forward to reviewing my allocation. When I finally checked, I learned I was eligible for ~29,000 tokens (about $650 at the time). With max lockup and staking for 18 months, that number could climb toward 100,000, but only if I committed to another year and a half of BOB staking...ruthless. After almost two years of activity, risk exposure, and consistent participation, it was an unexpected outcome. I had put tens of thousands of dollars at risk throughout that period. The effective yield from this entire effort was less than that of an average savings account. Even simple T-Bills would have produced more meaningful results, and supplying assets to Aave on mainnet would have been more competitive on a risk-adjusted basis. I bridged BTC to WBTC on BOB, accepted the custody and bridge risks, provided liquidity, tested protocols, and supplied assets to smart contracts. *** All the while contributing to metrics that helped secure funding and narrative momentum *** I'd seen enough and decided to exit, only to find that the liquidity for BOB’s own token wasn't on BOB. It wasn’t even on Ethereum. It was on BNB Chain. A hybrid Bitcoin L2 with its primary markets on BNB Chain is a bewildering choice. Yet that’s where users had to go to exit BOB. Meanwhile, unwinding WBTC positions on BOB requires rollup challenge periods if you missed the WBTC OFT migration windows, and solvBTC exiting needs liquidity through Ethereum mainnet. Even if I wanted to stay, the path forward required leaving. I see no reason for sticky liquidity and no clear incentive to return. The BOB token isn't even sticking around; it's headed to BNB... Another issue: many users with large SPICE balances accumulated through months of activity were entirely ineligible for any TGE distribution. The points system was heavily promoted for nearly two years. Using those metrics to grow TVL and community activity while excluding huge portions of those users at TGE sends a message, intentional or not. Where this leaves BOB today: • An OP-Stack Ethereum L2 Rollup • ETH as its gas token • WBTC as its BTC liquidity layer • A two-year points program that excluded major segments of its own leaderboard • Core token liquidity deployed on BNB instead of BOB • No meaningful incentive structure that keeps builders, liquidity, or users on the chain I had hoped to see a long-term plan toward Bitcoin alignment, particularly in light of Alexei's work on BitVM. Instead, the launch felt like a max extraction event, not the foundation of a sustainable ecosystem. Plus, it has no meaningful connection to Bitcoin and is rooted solely in BitGo's custody for WBTC after all this time. At this point, I have no plans to return to BOB. This is yet another reason why Bitcoin Maxi's keep shouting about shitcoiners. gg;wp Note: GPT helped refine this. After the level of extraction involved in the process, I wasn’t interested in drafting a long post from scratch. All participation described here is accurate.