We are talking about stock/option grants though. You have to factor in what you think the grant will be worth over the vesting period. A lot can happen to a public stock over 4 years and your grant can easily be worth an order of magnitude less once it vests.

Cash to a lesser extent has this problem as well that you don’t know how much a dollar will be worth in four years, but it most likely less volatile than the value of equity.

I would value a 4 year 500k grant in apple stock much higher than a 4 year 500k grant in a crypto company because I believe the apple grant will better hold it’s value over the vesting period.