Exploring the Future of DeFi: Launching a Token on PONS
Updated: Sep 9
I started this experiment thinking I was going to create a meme token. About 15 minutes later, I found myself looking at something much more intriguing.
Launch a Token on PONS
The idea is to route trading fees into an automated treasury through Indices. This allows us to accumulate tokenized assets, buy and burn tokens, and build liquidity. Then, we can take the ecosystem a step further and explore farming some of that liquidity through MAXFi.
That's when this shifted from just another meme coin story. It became an experiment to see what happens when several pieces of Robinhood Chain's emerging DeFi infrastructure connect. This is precisely what I'm testing with SPY v. SPY ($SPYVSPY). The token itself is almost beside the point.
I'm using it as a live laboratory to answer a much bigger question:
How much economic infrastructure can you actually build around a simple token using tools that already exist on-chain?
PONS Makes Launching the Token the Easy Part
One of the reasons I started exploring PONS is how accessible the token-creation process has become. Here’s how it works:
Connect a wallet.
Choose a name and ticker.
Upload an image.
Add your community links.
Choose the asset you're pairing against.
Configure your initial purchase and creator fees.
Deploy.
For my experiment, I'm building SPY v. SPY — $SPYVSPY, with the tagline: The Meme vs. The Market.
But PONS isn't interesting to me simply because I can create another token. There are already plenty of ways to do that. What really caught my attention is what I can potentially connect to that token after it starts trading. That's where Indices changes the experiment.
Indices Turns Creator Fees Into Infrastructure
Normally, when we hear "creator fee," the assumption is pretty straightforward: People trade the token, and the creator collects fees. I wanted to try something different. Instead of simply routing those fees into my wallet, I'm experimenting with sending them into an Indices treasury.
Now, trading activity can potentially become an input into an automated economic system. For SPY v. SPY, the concept I'm testing is:
70% → Buy Tokenized SPY
Use the majority of the treasury allocation to accumulate tokenized SPY for eligible holder distributions according to the treasury mechanics.
20% → Buy + Burn $SPYVSPY
Use part of the fees to market-buy the project's own token and permanently remove those tokens from supply.
10% → Add + Lock Liquidity
Use the remaining allocation to progressively deepen liquidity. This gives us a simple experimental flywheel:
TRADE → FEES → SPY + BURNS + LIQUIDITY → REPEAT
And this is the part of the experiment that deserves more attention than the meme token itself.
PONS provides the launch infrastructure.
Indices provides the programmable treasury infrastructure.
And the token becomes the vehicle connecting the two.
Why This Is More Interesting Than Simply Launching a Meme Coin
Anyone can write tokenomics on a website. Actually executing those tokenomics transparently on-chain is different. That’s what I’m trying to explore. Instead of saying:
"We're eventually going to use some revenue to buy assets,"
the question becomes:
Can the trading activity itself automatically feed the system designed to do it?
That’s a fundamentally more interesting experiment. It opens the door to ideas extending well beyond SPY v. SPY. Imagine community tokens where trading activity feeds treasuries accumulating tokenized equities. Or creator projects where fees automatically strengthen liquidity. Or tokens where economic activity funds transparent buybacks, burns, or distributions without someone manually moving everything around behind the scenes.
I don’t know which of these models will ultimately work. But infrastructure like PONS and Indices makes them much easier to test.
SPY v. SPY Is My Test Case
That’s why I’m deliberately keeping SPY v. SPY relatively simple. The Meme vs. The Market. The concept gives me an easy framework for testing the infrastructure. Trading generates creator fees. Those fees enter the treasury.
The treasury is designed around:
70% SPY
20% $SPYVSPY buy-and-burn
10% locked liquidity
The tagline basically explains the experiment:
Hold the meme. Accumulate the market.
There is no guarantee this works. There is no guarantee people trade the token. There is no guarantee the treasury generates meaningful distributions. And there is certainly no guarantee the token appreciates. That’s exactly why I’m doing this as a small experiment before considering anything larger. I’m trying to learn about the infrastructure.
Then PONS Creates Another DeFi Opportunity
There was another rabbit hole waiting for me. PONS has its own token. And that token has liquidity pools available through MAXFi on Robinhood Chain. So while building a token through PONS, I could also turn around and examine the PONS ecosystem itself as a liquidity provider.
That gave me another experiment: PONS/WETH. Instead of looking at PONS strictly as a token-launching platform, I wanted to see what the actual trading activity could generate for a liquidity provider. So I established a small test position. Not because the displayed APR looked enormous, but to answer a much better question:
Is there enough real trading volume to produce meaningful fees relative to the risks I’m taking?
And that distinction matters.
PONS → Indices → MAXFi
This is the bigger Robinhood Chain story I’m watching. These protocols don’t necessarily have to exist as isolated applications. They can start functioning as pieces of a larger on-chain financial stack.
PONS
Launch the asset and create the market.
↓
Indices
Program where economic activity from that asset goes.
↓
Tokenized Assets
Allow the treasury to interact with assets such as tokenized SPY.
↓
MAXFi
Create another layer where liquidity around these assets can potentially be actively managed and farmed.
That’s considerably more interesting to me than simply asking:
"What’s the next meme coin?"
I’m interested in the infrastructure underneath it.
What I Learned Farming PONS/WETH
For the PONS/WETH experiment, I started small. PONS had already experienced a significant move, so I wasn’t comfortable blindly assuming the price would continue higher. That meant thinking carefully about the LP range.
A very wide range gives the position more room to absorb volatility but reduces capital concentration. A narrow range concentrates liquidity around the current price and can potentially capture more fees while active, but it also increases the likelihood that price moves outside the range. I ultimately tested a relatively aggressive MAXFi setting around a 30% range.
That’s a very different decision from:
"APR high. Deposit money."
And it’s an important lesson for anyone exploring these pools.
APR Is Not the Opportunity
New pools can produce some ridiculous-looking APR numbers. But APR isn’t where I begin anymore. I ask:
Where is the volume coming from?
How much liquidity is competing for those fees?
How volatile are the assets?
How likely am I to leave the range?
What happens if I end up holding substantially more of one asset?
A small pool experiencing intense trading activity can generate significant fees relative to its liquidity. Annualize that activity, and the dashboard can suddenly display an enormous APR. That does not mean the rate will continue. More liquidity can arrive. Volume can disappear. Price can move outside your range. The token can collapse. The position can rebalance. Conditions change.
That’s why one of my basic LP rules remains:
PAIR FIRST. APR SECOND.
Why PONS and Indices Are Worth Watching
This experiment has actually made me more interested in both protocols than I was when I started. PONS lowers the barrier to creating and launching an asset. But launching tokens isn’t particularly revolutionary by itself anymore.
What becomes interesting is what those tokens can connect to. Indices introduces another layer by allowing economic activity to interact with treasury infrastructure. Now I can start thinking beyond:
Create token → hope number goes up.
And instead experiment with:
Create token → generate activity → route fees → accumulate assets → modify supply → deepen liquidity.
That’s a much richer design space. And when tokenized equities are added to the equation, it becomes even more interesting.
Tokenized Assets Could Change What On-chain Treasuries Look Like
The piece I keep coming back to is tokenized SPY. We’re increasingly able to experiment with traditional financial exposure inside DeFi infrastructure. That potentially gives on-chain treasuries a much broader universe of assets.
Instead of a treasury consisting entirely of:
ETH + stablecoins + the project’s own token,
we can begin asking whether tokenized equities, ETFs, commodities, and other real-world assets eventually become normal components of on-chain treasury design.
SPY v. SPY is a tiny experiment. But the underlying idea is much larger:
What happens when crypto-native economic systems can automatically interact with tokenized traditional markets?
That’s something I’m going to keep exploring.
Build → Farm → Learn
This is increasingly how I approach DeFi. I’m not trying to pretend I know which protocol, token, or model eventually wins. I’d rather experiment. Build something small. Deploy limited capital. Watch what happens. Measure the results. Find the weaknesses. Learn. Then build the next experiment with better information.
For this one:
PONS lets me build.
Indices lets me experiment with the treasury.
Tokenized SPY gives that treasury an external asset to accumulate.
MAXFi gives me another laboratory for studying liquidity.
And SPY v. SPY connects all of it into one live case study. That’s the story I’ll be documenting. Not:
"I launched a meme coin."
But:
"Let’s see what happens when we connect these pieces of on-chain infrastructure together."
Follow the Experiment
I’ll continue documenting the SPY v. SPY build, my Robinhood Chain experiments, concentrated-liquidity positions, and the lessons that come from actually putting these strategies to work.
If you’re still learning DeFi, you can start with my free DADS DeFi Space course, where I cover wallets, risk management, liquidity pools, and the foundations you need before experimenting with strategies like these.
Free DeFi Course: https://www.dadsdefispace.org/challenges
For the platform I’m currently using to manage many of these liquidity positions:
I’m an active MAXFi user, and that is my referral link. If you choose to use it, it helps support DADS DeFi Space at no additional cost to you.
And if you want to follow my thinking and experiments between articles:
Free DADS DeFi Space Telegram: https://t.me/DADSDefiSpace
Disclaimer
This article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Crypto and DeFi involve substantial risk, including loss of capital. SPY v. SPY is an experimental project that I am involved in developing, and I have a direct interest in the project. Nothing discussed here should be interpreted as a promise of price appreciation, yield, distributions, or returns. Displayed DeFi APRs are variable and can change rapidly. Always do your own research and make decisions based on your own risk tolerance. Some links above are referral links that help support DADS DeFi Space at no additional cost to you.
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