jakiro
Author: danny Source: X, @agintender
We live in a world composed of expectations and reality.What is the value of the assets in your hands, whether they are a string of code or a piece of cement?Is it its current ownership or its infinite possibilities in the future?
Most investments are used to sell “assets” and “time” into a ball.Pendle, like an accurate surgeon, cuts it open with a “scalpel of time”, allowing us to see the essence of value.The transaction of interest rate = the transaction of the time value of the asset.
This thinking framework will resonate with another seemingly unmatched field – the Hong Kong parking space market, which is worth every inch of land.You will find that many traditional financial operations are essentially the shadow of Pendle, but there was no clear and programmable language to describe it before.(This description is an exaggerated statement, don’t be too serious)
Together, they reveal a profound secret: the essence of any asset can be dismantled into two dimensions: “principal” and “return”, which is not only a financial operation, but also a social experiment on time, ownership and human desires.
1. Pendle’s space-time scalpel: the birth of PT and YT
First, let’s understand what Pendle is doing.It performs a spatiotemporal deconstruction surgery on any interest-bearing asset, such as stETH.One asset comes in, two things come out:
1. Principal Token (Principal Token – PT): This represents the “certainty” of the asset.It is a certificate that can be redeemed for the “principal capital” when it is due.You use today’s discount to buy a certain future.PT stripped away all floating gains, leaving only one promise: in the future, the things return to their original owners.
2. Yield Token (YT): This represents the “possibility” of an asset.It is a ticket that gives you the right to capture all future gains generated by the asset before its maturity date.These benefits are uncertain and floating.After expiration, the value of YT is zeroed.What you buy is not the asset itself, but the “output right” of the asset over a period of time, a bet on an uncertain future.
The core of this operation is to cut the ownership of assets in the time dimension.Intuitively speaking, their price relationship is approximately: PT price + YT price = current price of the underlying asset.The market uses real money to split, price and redistribute the “future time films” through real money.
2. Hong Kong parking space: an invisible PT/YT game
Now, let’s switch our perspective to Hong Kong.A parking space of HK$3 million has long surpassed its usage attributes and has become a pure financial game.When an investor buys it, he actually unconsciously completed the same split as Pendle in his mind:
·Parking space ownership = PT: The visible and tangible cement floor itself represents the “final realizable principal”.It is scarcity in this crowded city and a guarantee to resist the erosion of time.This is the future ownership of the parking space.
· Rental income rights = YT: “monthly rental cash flow” over a specific period (such as the next 36 months), and, more importantly, “speculative premium” for future price surges.This is the current ownership of the parking space.
When a Hong Kong man said that “buying a parking space is better than buying stocks”, what he trades mainly is the “YT attribute” of this parking space.In this way, the traditional vague mixed package of “buying parking spaces = buying assets + collecting rent” was split into two clear notes.
Three, three ways of playing, two kinds of mirror images of life
Pendle standardizes gameplay, and these gameplays have long been staged in real-world parking space trading.
1. Lock in fixed income (buy PT / sell YT)
· Pendle gameplay: deposit assets, sell YT immediately, and retain only PT.This is equivalent to “pre-discounting future returns” in exchange for today’s definite returns.
· How to play parking spaces: Developers or large owners will package and sell the rental income rights (YT) for the next 3 years to the operator, get back cash at one time, and lock in a certain internal rate of return (IRR) in advance.
·Who is suitable for: conservative investors or institutions who hate volatility and only want to earn “time value”.
2. Bet on future prosperity (buy YT)
· Pendle gameplay: Buy YT directly in the market and bet that the future yield will rise, thereby obtaining excess returns.
· How to play parking spaces: Professional operators take over the rental income rights, betting on the occupancy rate, rent bargaining power, and the operational increase (alpha) brought about by “transformation/joint operation/digital efficiency improvement”.
·Who is suitable for: enterprising players who have professional operational capabilities, can withstand risks, and pursue excess returns.
3. Become a market maker of time (providing PT/YT liquidity)
· Pendle gameplay: Provide liquidity for PT/YT trading pairs, earn fees and incentives, while managing the impermanent losses caused by time decay.
· How to play parking spaces: Developers or management companies become “matchers”, creating price differences between buyers and sellers with different periods and risk preferences through pre-sale rents, repurchase terms, packaged sales, etc., and earning liquidity premiums.
·Who is suitable for: professional financial institutions that can manage complex risks and are good at pricing and hedging.
IV. Isomorphism of risks: From smart contracts to legal documents
Pendle codes risks, and these risks, one-to-one to the real world, are surprisingly similar:
· Interest rate risk —— Macro financing environment: The Federal Reserve raises interest rates, the DeFi base interest rate rises, and PT discount deepens; in reality, mortgage interest rates rise, and asset valuations are also under pressure.
· The underlying risk of the subject matter – Legal and ownership risk: The loopholes in the smart contract may cause your assets to be wiped out; in reality, a flawed property rights document or management regulations can also turn your rental income (YT) into a piece of waste paper.
· Liquidity risk – Trading friction costs: On-chain assets can be traded 24/7, but when liquidity is exhausted, they will also face huge slippage; offline assets include high friction costs such as stamp duty, lawyer fees, and transfer time.One of the values of PT/YTization is that it greatly reduces this friction.
5. The moment of enlightenment: Three sentences of thinking impact
When we re-examine the world in PT/YT language, the impact arises:
1. Price is the shadow of time: you think you are buying assets, but you are actually buying “slicing of future time”.PT/YT just materializes this shadow.
2. Returns are not natural “accessories”, but independent assets: when you divest the right to return from assets, the market will cruelly tell you how much it is worth with the price.
3. Fluidity is a new moat: whoever can transform offline complex, non-standard rights into clear, standardized, and circulating rights can monetize the “invisible time dividend”.
6. The ultimate question: Is it the price dream rate?Or the price-to-earnings ratio?
This comparison that spans virtuality and reality ultimately leads to several fundamental problems:
· The essence of existence: Is the “existence” of an asset its physical entity (PT), or the utility and cash flow it can generate (YT)?When the speculative value of YT far exceeds PT, are we pursuing an asset itself or an illusion called “returns”?
· The cost of certainty: In order to obtain future certainty (holding PT), how many current possibilities are we willing to give up?On the contrary, in order to pursue infinite possibilities (hype YT), how much risk are we willing to take?
· The form of desire: Pendle and Hong Kong parking spaces are like a mirror, reflecting two of the most primitive desires of human beings: the desire for stability (PT) and the greed for getting rich (YT).The entire complexity of the financial market may be due to the eternal struggle and balance of these two forces.
From DeFi’s code to Hong Kong’s reinforced cement, we see the same story.Human beings have never stopped inventing new tools and contracts to cut, trade and gamble about the only asset we cannot regenerate – the future.
Next time, when you see an amazing asset price, you might as well ask yourself: How much is the principal and how much is the dream?
When assets are cut open by time, the transaction is no longer general good or bad, but clear choices and responsibilities.This is to let time tell the truth.But how much is it that you are willing to pay for time?
Know the truth and know the reason.
