W4-008 · Condition 03 — Redeemable value
Redemption path
A redemption path is the route by which a unit converts into real-world value, goods, services or experiences — the property that gives it a floor set by something other than the next buyer.
A unit that redeems only for itself is a loyalty scheme with a chart attached.
Redemption is the single distinction that separates the units that survived the last cycle from the units that did not. It is not sophistication, or tokenomics, or distribution. It is whether the holder can convert into something they wanted anyway.
A redemption path has to be available to ordinary holders rather than to insiders, priced in a way that does not collapse under use, and backed by supply the operator can actually deliver. A redemption that exists in principle and fails in practice is worse than none, because it converts disappointment into a support queue.
Play-to-earn is the clearest natural experiment the category produced: the earning was real, the players were real, and the collapse was total — because the unit converted into nothing except the next entrant.