R/Research
The work behind the number
Everything I learned building a real valuation and tax tool for CS2 skins, written in public. Valuation method, tax mechanics, the algorithms behind the oracle, and the strategy calls, including the lucrative one I deliberately said no to.
$7.29BCS2 skin economy, total asset value
20-30%the real haircut between paper value and cash
$2-3Berased in roughly two days, October 2025
- Honest takesWhy I'm building fy_nance while the skin casinos shut downRegulators are closing in on skin gambling. I went the other direction on purpose: a deterministic valuation and tax tool with no randomness and no house. Here is the bet.8 min · 2026-06-14
- TaxWhat CS2 tax season looks like for a $50k inventoryA narrative walk-through of a real tax year on a five-figure skin inventory, from messy trade history to a filed Form 8949.8 min · 2026-06-14
- StrategyThe Doppler tier guide: Ruby, Sapphire, Black Pearl, and the phasesDoppler knives are priced by a pattern index, not just float. Here is how the tiers break down and why two Factory New Dopplers can differ by thousands.8 min · 2026-06-14
- TaxWhen to use FIFO, LIFO, or HIFO for CS2 tradingThree cost-basis methods, three different tax bills on the same trades. A plain-language comparison with real numbers.8 min · 2026-06-14
- ValuationHow float values move skin pricesA technical primer on the float value, the wear tiers it maps to, and why the top quartile of a float band commands a real premium.7 min · 2026-06-14
- Honest takesWhat I learned saying no to skin lendingSkin-backed lending looked like the obvious next business. Here is the full reasoning for why I will not custody collateral, and what I will build instead.9 min · 2026-06-14
- ValuationWhy I picked volume-weighted median over a simple averageThe fair-value oracle has to turn five disagreeing venue prices into one number. Here is the algorithm I chose, and the ones I rejected.7 min · 2026-06-14
- ValuationHow I value a skin: paper, realizable, and the cuts between themThe realizable-value method in full: fees, the liquidity discount, and float repricing.9 min · 2026-06-12
- Honest takesThe honest cuts: what a cash-out really costsWhy paper value lies, and the three haircuts that stand between a screenshot and your bank.7 min · 2026-06-12
- Honest takesSkin lending: the verdictThe one-page version of why custodial skin lending is a NO-GO for fy_nance.3 min · 2026-06-12