Written by: Haotian
Although this round of Crypto bull market is still in its prime, looking at the distorted values of "innovation is useless" in the primary market and "MEME everything" in the secondary market, I feel like it's the "darkest moment". Why?
1) Originally, I was immersed in the big and small things in the industry all day long, fearing to miss any technological innovation. However, in the past two months, under the influence of garbage market sentiment, there are very few updates from project parties, new narrative hotspots, etc. that can make people excited.
Maybe it's because of the lack of innovation, maybe it's because the repetitive narratives have numbed people, or maybe it's because the disconnect between the primary and secondary markets makes people feel indifferent. In short, being in the Crypto industry recently, I feel powerless to talk about technology, narratives, business and other valuable things.
Despite this, I still have to force myself to be energetic, keep paying attention to hot topics and technologies, have technical exchanges with front-line developers, hold meetings and have in-depth communication with founders of some projects, etc. Doing so can not only avoid the troubles of the secondary market, but most importantly, it can clearly touch the innovative "vitality" flowing through the industry base.
Of course, some people view all this negatively, thinking that they are still here to issue coins and “cut leeks”. Well, I can’t refute this statement, but it must be more uncomfortable to be a salted fish without a dream.
2) For a time, the arguments of "high FDV", "VC gathering", "no mutual takeover", and "MEME everything" became the main theme of the crypto. To be honest, from the perspective of pure cryptocurrency speculation, all virtual currencies are MEME, which is nothing more than VC coins packaged with narratives. In the long run, it is easier to find value traces, while pure MEME coins have lost their gorgeous packaging, and are just a game of emotions of either rising or falling, which is easier to generate wealth stories in the short term.
I will not judge the right or wrong of the two paths. I can only say that in any investment market, there are two groups of people with completely different concepts of long-term and short-term cycles. If you choose VC coins, you have to endure the torment of slow growth. If you choose MEME coins, you have to bear the risk of All In in loss. There is no need to call each other idiots. It's really just a different route.
Fortunately, most of the builders I know can stick to their beliefs when MEME is flying all over the place. After all, for developers, whether to choose the ETH ecosystem, the TON ecosystem, or the Solana ecosystem, or of course the Cosmos ecosystem that cannot be supported, the cost and price of the choice itself and the potential return are all uncertain. Although this process is painful, every step is an accumulation, unlike MEME, once the gambling nature gets out of control, a big bet may lead to an irreversible end.
3) Objectively speaking, both BTC and ETH spot ETFs have been approved. Trump, an old politician who once disdained Crypto, has called for the United States to become a BTC superpower. The overall industry funds, talents, projects, etc. have reached an unprecedented stage of prosperity.
As long as you don’t get too addicted to trading itself and get swept up by the ups and downs of the market, to be honest, I can’t find any reason to be negative about the current industry. It should be said that from the overall environment, the Crypto industry is gradually breaking the niche feeling of the past few cycles, and is rapidly integrating with web2 as a large industry of web3.
During this process, more developers have flocked in, more narratives have been created, more project tokens have been created, more ways to play and more choices have been created, more valuable projects have been created, and more scams have been created. This situation has led to a slower growth in the wealth of Diamond holders, an increase in the risk of frequent swaps, and it has become increasingly difficult to get rich by speculating in cryptocurrencies. In particular, using the experience gained from the past few rounds of speculating in cryptocurrencies to cope with the current environment is becoming increasingly ineffective.
To put it negatively, the early dividends from cryptocurrency trading are disappearing, but to look at it positively, the web3 industry is actually becoming more inward-looking and mature.
This is a process that every growing industry must go through. For developers, they have to face the impact of the industry's internal competition. For individual investors, they still have to strengthen their learning to find more opportunities. In this process, it will become more difficult to start a business, invest, and make money.
We must not let our values get so confused that we think the industry is failing and return to the so-called casino nature. At least for most people, this is not the original intention of joining the Cryoto industry.
