Your token compensation is part of your financial life. Plan it that way.
Whether your first vesting event is ahead, your tokens are already unlocked, or you receive tokens as ongoing compensation, the decisions do not stop with the token.
Your award terms, taxes, usable liquidity, custody, retained exposure, and long-term financial goals need to work together.
Already referred to Protocol Wealth? Request a private conversation.
Does this sound like your situation?
- You have a vesting, claim, unlock, or transfer event approaching.
- Some or all of your tokens are already unlocked, but there is no coordinated plan.
- You receive tokens regularly as part of your compensation.
- You want to retain meaningful token exposure while creating liquidity for taxes, spending, or other investments.
- Your tokens involve multiple wallets, entities, jurisdictions, providers, or advisers.
- Your CPA, attorney, investment adviser, and custody providers each address part of the situation, but no one connects the entire plan.
A token balance is not the same as usable wealth.
A quoted token price does not tell you:
- — When your personal rights vest or when the tokens can transfer
- — When income may be recognized or how much cash should be reserved
- — How much liquidity the market can support
- — Which wallet, custody, recovery, and approval structure fits the situation
- — How much exposure you want to retain
- — What the tokens need to support outside the protocol
The objective is not automatically to sell or diversify everything. It is to decide what you want the position to do and establish a process for taxes, liquidity, custody, and the rest of your financial life.
Seven questions. No documents or wallet details.
The Token Compensation Planning Assessment helps you identify which parts of your situation may need attention.
- — Takes approximately three minutes
- — Uses high-level ranges rather than exact balances
- — Does not request grant documents, wallet addresses, tax returns, private keys, or account statements
- — Produces an educational planning result
- — Does not create an advisory relationship
One plan for decisions that affect one another.
Your personal timeline
Grant terms, vesting, claims, unlocks, transfer restrictions, employment conditions, and recurring compensation.
Taxes and cash reserves
Potential reporting events, withholding, estimated payments, basis records, and the cash available to meet obligations.
Usable liquidity
Transferability, venues, market depth, slippage, OTC availability, settlement, and transaction privacy.
Custody and control
Wallets, qualified custody, MPC infrastructure, withdrawal authority, recovery, signer policies, and estate access.
Retained exposure and broader wealth
How much exposure you want to maintain and how future vesting interacts with cash, traditional investments, private assets, estate planning, and family goals.
How a private planning conversation works
- 1.
Start with a short introductory conversation.
We discuss your approximate timeline, the decisions you are facing, and whether Protocol Wealth is an appropriate fit.
- 2.
Define the work before collecting sensitive information.
Grant documents, tax records, statements, and wallet information are collected only through an approved secure process if you decide to continue.
- 3.
Build and coordinate the plan.
Protocol Wealth works with you and, where appropriate, your CPA, attorney, custody providers, and other professionals.
Financial planning built for people whose wealth includes tokens.
Adam Blumberg
Managing Partner, Chief Compliance Officer
CFP®
Leads compliance review and helps connect technology-native execution with fiduciary obligations.
Jason Leupold
Managing Partner, Chief Investment Officer
CAIA · MBA
Leads investment strategy and translates research frameworks into documented portfolio review.
Nick Rygiel
Managing Partner, CTO & CISO
CFP® · CRPC® · MBA
Leads technology, security architecture, and systems that make research, documentation, and review workflows more consistent.
- — SEC-registered investment adviser
- — Experience across financial planning, digital assets, and trading, including systematic futures desks
- — Coordination with CPAs, attorneys, custodians, and execution providers
- — Protocol Wealth is not a qualified custodian. It is deemed to have custody because it is authorized to deduct its advisory fees from many client accounts, as Form ADV Part 2A, Item 15 states.
- — Protocol Wealth is authorized to trade in client accounts at qualified custodians and is not authorized to move assets out of them to third parties. From a Fordefi wallet, assets can be sent only to addresses the client has approved.
- — Protocol Wealth advisory fees are client-paid. Certain associated persons are also registered representatives of Finalis Securities LLC and may receive commission-based compensation when acting in that separate capacity, as disclosed in Form ADV and our disclosures.
The Token Compensation Planning Guide.
The guide, in preparation, is intended to help you organize:
- — The documents and dates controlling your personal timeline
- — Tax and cash-reserve questions
- — Paper value versus usable liquidity
- — Custody, access, authority, and recovery
- — Retained exposure and diversification decisions
- — Ongoing planning for future vesting or recurring compensation
Frequently asked questions
Is this only for people preparing for a future unlock?
No. Planning can begin before vesting, while tokens are vesting, after they have unlocked, or when tokens arrive regularly as part of ongoing compensation. The work changes with the timing, but the need to coordinate taxes, liquidity, custody, retained exposure, and long-term goals remains.
Will Protocol Wealth tell me to sell all of my tokens?
No. The planning process does not assume that selling or diversifying everything is the right answer. It helps you decide how much exposure you want to retain and how the position should support taxes, spending, investing, and long-term goals. Individual circumstances vary.
Can my employer or the person who referred me see my information?
No personal financial information should be shared with an employer or referral partner. A company presentation or introduction does not mean the employer or partner endorses Protocol Wealth or receives information about your financial situation.
Does Protocol Wealth take custody of my assets?
Protocol Wealth is not a qualified custodian. It is deemed to have custody because it is authorized to deduct its advisory fees from many client accounts, as Form ADV Part 2A, Item 15 states. Assets held in custody are at qualified custodians, in accounts in the client’s name; Protocol Wealth is authorized to trade in those accounts and is not authorized to move assets out of them to third parties.
Where digital assets are held onchain in a Fordefi multi-party computation (MPC) wallet, there is no single private key. Signing authority is divided into cryptographic shards: Fordefi holds one shard and Protocol Wealth holds one shard. The client holds the ultimate backup, and Protocol Wealth cannot recover the wallet on its own. Assets can be sent only to addresses the client has approved. Fordefi is not a qualified custodian. Protocol Wealth does not believe that arrangement gives it custody under Rule 206(4)-2; regulators have not issued guidance on it, and a regulator could reach a different conclusion.
Protocol Wealth does not ask clients for seed phrases or private keys. Where relevant, Protocol Wealth can help evaluate and coordinate custody and wallet arrangements.
Does Protocol Wealth provide tax or legal advice?
No. Protocol Wealth coordinates the financial and investment planning with qualified tax and legal professionals where those questions are involved.
How is Protocol Wealth paid?
Protocol Wealth advisory fees are client-paid. Engagement terms and the applicable retainer or assets-under-management fee are explained before a client signs an advisory agreement.
Certain associated persons of Protocol Wealth, including Jason Leupold and Nick Rygiel, are registered representatives of Finalis Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Finalis Securities LLC and Protocol Wealth, LLC are separate and unaffiliated entities. When acting as registered representatives of Finalis, these individuals may effect securities transactions and receive commission-based compensation separate from Protocol Wealth advisory fees. This creates a conflict of interest because it may create a financial incentive to recommend commissionable products or implementation through a broker-dealer channel. Protocol Wealth is a fiduciary and does not require you to implement any recommendation through Finalis or any other particular channel.
Fees, services and conflicts of interest are described in the Form ADV Part 2A Brochure, on Pricing, and in our disclosures.
If your tokens could materially change your financial life, the decisions deserve one coordinated plan.
You do not need to wait for the next unlock. Start by identifying what is known, what still needs confirmation, and which decisions need to work together.
This page and assessment are for informational and educational purposes only. They are not investment, tax, legal, custody, or estate advice or a recommendation regarding any token, strategy, custodian, or transaction. Individual circumstances vary. Digital assets involve substantial market, liquidity, custody, cybersecurity, smart-contract, counterparty, regulatory, and loss risks. Protocol Wealth LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser; registration does not imply a particular level of skill or training. Advisory services are provided only under a signed advisory agreement. Protocol Wealth is not a qualified custodian; it is deemed to have custody because it is authorized to deduct its advisory fees. Protocol Wealth advisory fees are client-paid; certain associated persons are also registered representatives of Finalis Securities LLC, an unaffiliated broker-dealer, and may receive commission-based compensation when acting in that separate capacity, as disclosed in Form ADV and our disclosures. Protocol Wealth coordinates with qualified tax and legal professionals where those questions are involved.