Leverage vs Structural Scarcity: TUT and AlphaPepe Clash

Tutorial (TUT) was one of August's most spectacular movers, surging over 1,100% in two days to a new all-time high.

However, its price increase was largely driven by leverage and thin market depth, with futures volume surpassing twenty times its own market cap. This manufactured scarcity eventually evaporated, leaving TUT as the most-liquidated token in crypto after reversing sharply from its peak.

On the other hand, AlphaPepe's 50% fee burn is a structurally different approach to scarcity. By permanently removing tokens from a fixed one-billion supply, it offers durable scarcity that compounds quietly rather than exploding and collapsing like leverage-driven events.

However, even this mechanism relies on sustained volume to be effective, as a small trickle of fees would only shrink the supply by a corresponding amount. The surrounding case for AlphaPepe is solid, with thousands of demo users, past $2.29 million raised at $0.02551 in Stage 20, and two audits backing its project.