I have looked at many projects recently, probably dozens, and their performance during bull and bear cycles made me realize a problem—the vast majority of token economic models can only survive during an upward cycle.

What happens when the market cools down? Incentives become ineffective. People leave. The ecosystem stagnates. In the end, everything is gone.

But recently, I saw WAL's design approach, and it feels different. This might be the first token system I’ve seen that truly incorporates defensive measures for a bear market.

**Why is it considered anti-fragile?**

Traditional tokens tend to crash in a bear market with a familiar pattern: price drops → incentives become unattractive → participants leave → ecosystem becomes sluggish → price continues downward. That’s the classic death spiral.

WAL breaks this cycle mainly through three mechanisms:

**First move: Reward value anchoring**

This is clever. Instead of rewarding a fixed amount of WAL for tasks, the reward’s USD value is fixed. In other words, when WAL’s price drops, the same task yields more tokens. Participant incentives don’t weaken—in fact, they strengthen. The colder the market gets, the more attractive it becomes.

**Second move: Reverse adjustment of staking yields**

What happens in a bear market? People tend to stake more to seek yields. More WAL gets locked up → staking rate rises → the system automatically triggers a yield increase mechanism → higher yields attract more staking → circulating supply further decreases. What’s the result? Selling pressure is alleviated. Very smart.

**Third move: Re-evaluation of governance weight**

This is quite interesting. During downturns, the community is most active, brainstorming solutions. In WAL’s design, addresses that actively participate in governance see their WAL weight significantly increase. It’s like accumulating influence and voice for the upcoming bull market.

**Why is this so critical?**

The most severe losses in a bear market are often among light participants. They don’t participate deeply and leave as soon as the market cools. But WAL, through these designs, retains the core community. This stickiness is crucial for the long-term health of a project.

It reminds me of an observation: truly good token design isn’t just prepared for good times. It’s also about planning how to survive the worst. WAL’s design approach at least seems to consider this.