The deflationary wave has been causing a storm in the crypto world over the past two years, but different projects are taking completely opposite approaches. The two leading projects, ASTER and UNI, interpret what "token value" really means through entirely different logic.

ASTER is pursuing a long-term approach. This project not only conducts buybacks but also directly uses the protocol's real revenue to aggressively burn tokens. Even more interestingly, they have partnered with Japan's financial giant SBI to develop compliant stablecoins, with the clear ambition of building an ecosystem where the more diverse the applications, the scarcer the tokens become. They aim to create a so-called "value furnace" from scratch. This strategy requires time to accumulate, but the potential for growth is indeed significant.

On the other hand, UNI is quite different. As a top global DEX with daily trading volumes often exceeding 1.5 billion USD, it already commands enormous traffic and protocol value. UNI's new approach is straightforward—using the huge revenue generated from trading to burn governance tokens, thereby violently injecting protocol value into UNI's price logic. In other words, UNI has completely shed its previous "air vote" label and shifted toward real value distribution.

Which path to choose? One is a long-term story of building an ecosystem from zero, requiring patience; the other is a short-term narrative of leveraging mature infrastructure to immediately ignite value. Investors at different stages will naturally have their own perspectives. What do you think—are you more optimistic about ecosystem builders or value harvesters?