How Does the Concept of an “Exit Multiple” Apply to a Decentralized, Non-Equity Asset?

An exit multiple is a valuation technique that estimates terminal value by applying a multiple (e.g. a multiple of revenue or users) derived from comparable assets to the protocol's projected final-year metric. For a decentralized, non-equity asset, the multiple is often based on network-specific metrics like a Market Cap-to-TVL ratio or a Price-to-Fees ratio from similar, mature protocols.

This method avoids the need for a perpetual growth assumption but relies heavily on finding truly comparable, publicly traded assets.