Recently, some friends asked me how to tell if a new project is genuinely doing something or just making empty promises. Honestly, I’ve fallen for this before, but over time, I’ve figured out some tricks. Now, when I look at projects, I keep it simple and straightforward: I don’t bother with promo videos or whitepapers. Instead, I check if they actually have something functional—even if it’s just a prototype, it’s better than a bunch of lofty visions. You should also try comparing it with other projects in the same field. For example, if they claim to improve performance, compare their TPS, confirmation speed, and validator setup with similar chains. If they say they’re innovating, see if they’re taking a completely new approach to architecture like SOL or SUI, rather than just rebranding an old concept. From my experience, if you dig a little deeper, it’s hard for a project to hide whether it’s legit or not. Projects that are genuinely working on something leave traces everywhere: usable products, updated documentation, active code commits, ecosystem progress, and even the vibe in their community. The ones just hyping things up? You can tell they’re all talk within ten minutes. Evaluating projects isn’t rocket science. If it runs, works, can be compared, and can be explained, you’ve already covered 80%. The remaining 20% is your own intuition: the better you understand real value, the less likely you’ll fall for emotional hype.