AboutNew York
Alina Schanz
Alina Schanz is an independent researcher and investor in New York, working across crypto infrastructure, onchain markets and AI systems.
In practice
In practice, I look for early-stage teams in crypto and AI, read their contracts, code and onchain data before the first call, and talk to the founders and the engineers who build the system. Then I write down what I think, the evidence for it and what would change my mind. The work ends in an investment, a pass with the reasons written down, or a special project with the team.
Worked with
I have worked with 12 teams across crypto, AI and robotics. Each page describes the work in my own words, with the public sources around it.
- EthenaMarket structure and risk behind USDe
- ArbitrumWhat ARB incentives bought, and what stayed
- Offchain LabsA defined problem in Arbitrum infrastructure
- PendleYield tokenization and exit capacity
- DeribitOptions, volatility and portfolio margin
- pump.funBonding curves, graduation and creator fees
- defi.appCross-chain execution and liquidity routing
- NansenWallet attribution and onchain signal
- Prime IntellectEnvironments and verifiers for agentic RL
- FigureFrom a demo to a full shift
- ApptronikHumanoids outside the demo
- EndiatxNavigating a robot inside the stomach
How I work
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Start at the source
I read the contracts, the code and the data before anyone’s summary of them. Most of my good questions for a founder come from there.
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Check the numbers myself
If a figure matters to a decision, I check it against public data before it goes into a memo. A dashboard is where I start, never where I stop.
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Talk to the people who build it
Founders explain why a system is built the way it is, and engineers show me where it breaks. Neither fits in a deck, so I try to get to both early.
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Write the position down
Every look ends in a written view: what I think, the evidence for it and what would change my mind.
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Keep the record honest
When something I wrote turns out wrong, the correction goes next to it with a date, and a position gets revisited when the facts move.
Where I have a view
- Crypto infrastructureBlock space is getting cheap. The value is moving to whoever decides what goes into a block, and in what order.
- Autonomous systemsAgents become interesting once they can keep state, hold narrow permissions and pay for things without a person approving each step.
- AI infrastructureCompute is turning into a market, and a market needs settlement, verification and a shared record of who did what.
- Identity & privacyIdentity is still the least finished layer in crypto. Wallets are useful accounts and poor representations of people.
- Markets & coordinationMost onchain markets are coordination problems with a price attached. The incentive design shows up in how a market is used long before anyone writes about it.
Research notes
Outside work
I walk a lot and look at old paintings. The bull is a detail from Paulus Potter’s The Bull (1647), which hangs in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. I use it as my avatar.
Contact
Telegram@AlinaSchanz
- Founders
- A few lines on what you are building and why now, with a link to the code, the docs or a demo. A deck is welcome, not required.
- Engineers
- If you work on a system in one of my five areas and think I have something wrong, tell me what and why. I want to hear about it.
- Investors
- If you are looking at a company in one of my five areas, I am glad to compare notes.
- What I don’t do
- I don’t take payment for coverage, and I don’t trade around anything I am about to publish.
- Replies
- I read everything and reply to most.