Before @MarkHelfman retired from crypto in 2025, Mark published his “Top 10 Protocol” report in his Crypto is Easy newsletter.

Mark left to pursue other adventures. After being an analyst and then striking out on his own with his subscription service Crypto is Easy. 

Mark was also an author of:

• Consensusland: A Cryptocurrency Utopia (2018)
• Bitcoin or Bust: Wall Street’s Entry Into Cryptocurrency (2019)
• From Bust to Boom: Ten Months Through the Eyes of a Bitcoiner (2020)

Note: the names may have changed but the 2019 Wall Street playbook Mark described has been playing out before our eyes

Only 94 pages, worth a read if you are interested in crypto history in the making.

SOLANA

Disclaimer: Despite being included in the “Top 10 Protocol”report. We still sold all our SOL in 2025, including the grandsons.

2026 is a different beast.

We took positions in 7 of the 10 earlier in the year, with the plan of possibly selling in a couple of years to hopefully generate some funn money. (Plus my own pick, bringing it to 8 protocol tokens).

To date the alt portfolio is up 22% thanks to a couple doing the heavy lifting. Picking the bottom is near impossible. As Mark kept reminding us ”close enough is near enough”

The idea was to capture at least 80% of the value not 100%. This applies equally to buying as well as selling. We have been in the buy zone for a few months now.

The Grandson’s portfolio

The portfolio is now all safely and securely back in Bitcoin. (As securely as QC will allow).

What to do with all the new crypto dust?

Convert it to 2 of the Top 10. Once we have enough then start on the next 2 protocol tokens.

As we are already collecting SOL from 2 sites, that was a no-brainer. Added bonus it can easily be staked on his Ledger. Don’t believe SOL has massive upside, it has had its moment in the sun, but a discount can’t be sneezed at. And it is a Top 10 and not going anywhere in a hurry.

Dust Convertors

MexC was our go to but recently went all mandatory KYC. Thanks MICA.

We are now trialling LBank and WEEX.

• only WEEX has USDC on OP chain deposits so that where all the PB0x tips are now going
• SOL goes direct to Ledger
• all other dust goes to LBank to be converted to another yet to be decided Top Top 10. 

solpick.io

Been using this site for a couple of years. Got to level Silver easily by doing surveys. Unfortunately got geo-blocked by the main third party survey site, they didn’t like me being overseas and when I tried the VPN. Bingo.

Alot of sites will still allow access if you turn off the VPN. Not this one. Then a couple weeks back I got access reinstated. Your guess is as good as anyones.

So back to making a SOL withdrawal almost every day. And steadily progressing to level Gold.

Warning: the casino always wins, so don’t be tempted to wager on solpick.io

DISCLAIMER: I promise no AI was harmed in the researching, editing and publishing of this.

Support Your Local Bloggers Grandson Stacking Sats

Solpick.io offers their faucet, surveys and gaming. You can level up by earning from surveys or wagering. Been using for over a year and had no problem withdrawing to exchanges or wallet. Be vary of using VPN if you want to use surveys, as the third party survey site may permanently block access.

https://solpick.io/?ref=VEH2024

The other Solana faucet we use daily is

https://solfaucet.togatech.org/   

This the “first-ever Solana mainnet faucet”. 0.00001 SOL paid each day to your wallet, no strings attached