Written by: TechFlow
On August 5, the crypto market plummeted. Amid the plunge, the words of Péter Szilágyi, a member of the Ethereum Foundation and head of Geth development, were particularly distressing.
He posted an article on X questioning the actual value of the crypto industry, saying that he often wondered if he had chosen the wrong industry.
“Take SpaceX. They send a rocket to Mars? Humanity advances. They fail to launch a rocket and it blows up? Humanity learns a lesson and still advances. All outcomes lead to progress.
Crypto is a casino for fools by comparison (apologies to the few exceptions). Prices go up? Great, buy a sports car sometime. Prices go down? Lives ruined. What's the contribution to humanity?
Yes, building a new monetary system does take time. Of course... but can we do something useful in the process? Everyone wants to be the next Vitalik, no one wants to build useful things, everyone just wants to extract value.
I really don’t see why the system shouldn’t collapse? In the macro sense, what do we have to lose? All the crypto industry has done so far is just a huge value transfer, and I haven’t seen any substantial value creation.
Please note that getting rich through luck and then moving the money to some non-crypto projects does not count as a crypto success story. It is at best a success story of a lucky philanthropist, and more likely just a simple diversification of one's investments.
In my opinion, it's time for this industry to start creating something truly useful that people want to use, or it should shut down.
At least Bitcoin is trying (and failing) to be a safe haven asset. But the others are selling shovels, and there is no sign of a gold rush at all.”
This kind of "industry nihilism" and "lack of sense of value" is not unique to Péter Szilágyi, but is the hidden voice of many industry practitioners today.
Three months ago, I conducted a small-scale survey and found that many practitioners around me were considering "retirement" and gradually fading out of the industry. Some entrepreneurs were actively looking for buyers, while most of the industry veterans were lying flat...
When asked about the reasons, on the one hand, they feel that the industry has reached a mature stage, with the entry of institutions such as BlackRock, and the Alpha and opportunities for ordinary people are becoming increasingly scarce; on the other hand, they are becoming increasingly "tired" of the industry and lack a sense of value in their work.
After several years of hard work, many practitioners have expressed that they have become disenchanted with the industry. They have long lost their idealism, strictly distinguished between work and life, and focused all their attention on making money itself. They believe that the essence of the industry is a huge transfer of wealth, and the best strategy is to run away after making money.
The customer manager of the trading platform said that in her opinion, most investors are gamblers. They become arrogant when they make money and threaten to defend their rights when they lose money. Gamblers do not deserve sympathy.
The founder of a project said that when he first entered the industry, he had thought about making a product that would stand out from the crowd, but later found that this was a naive idea. At this stage, narrative is more important than community, more important than flattery, and more important than product. Even products are "forced" to integrate the Ponzi mechanism. Even Paradigm, the top crypto VC that once led the industry narrative, has become a master of creating a market. There is a long way to go to find PMF (products that match the market) in this industry. Before that, you have to survive first.
Speculating to make money is still the primary driving force of this industry. The K-line is the pulse of the crypto industry, and everything else is just a disguise to rationalize trading behavior.
This reminds me of a recent hot word: financial shame.
Recently, at the graduation ceremony of the School of Advanced Finance of Jiaotong University, Li Feng, Vice Dean of the School of Advanced Finance, said in his speech:
“Some people began to think that the financial industry was worthless because it did not seem to be a hard-core technology and that it was an unnecessary transaction cost. Some financial practitioners, including some of our classmates and alumni, even developed a sense of professional shame.”
At the height of financial sector rectification, this new term exposes the collective uneasiness of the financial industry.
Little do people know that such anxiety and "crypto shame" have existed in the crypto industry for many years.
Many practitioners usually deliberately hide their identities when communicating with others. First of all, it is a form of self-protection. In addition, it is also to avoid the biased discussions and scrutiny from others. In the public eye, the label of this industry is still "cutting leeks". Therefore, many people in the industry usually use vests in external communication: bar owners, US stock investors, financial practitioners...
There are only two situations in which crypto investors can hold their heads high in their circle of friends. One is when the market surges. After all, the confidence is gained by the surge, and the surge convinces people. The other is when it is recognized by mainstream individuals and the market, such as the SEC passing the Bitcoin spot ETF, Musk and Trump recognizing Bitcoin...
To this day, crypto assets and the industry are still eager for more support and recognition.
Crypto shame, lack of sense of value, how to break the deadlock?
First of all, this "sentiment" is not new. FUD about the value of the industry has existed since the birth of Bitcoin.
Babbitt co-founder Lao Duan was a Bitcoin evangelist in 2011, but two years later, he turned into a "critic," saying, "The greatest value of Bitcoin at present is that it satisfies the Chinese people's fantasy of getting rich overnight."
Whether it is 2011 or 2024 today, we can still say that sentence, "We are still early" when the timeline is extended. Compared with the Internet and other industries, the encryption industry is still in its early stages and will still experience the lows and darkness outlined by the technology maturity curve, the bursting of bubbles, being questioned by the public, and then rebirth from the ashes... There are too many unknowns that are worth exploring.
We must first acknowledge the current crux of this industry, which is the focus on infrastructure, the neglect of applications, and the lack of real PMF. Except for Bitcoin and stablecoins, most projects are still stuck in the castles in the air of technical narratives, and are not even as down-to-earth as MEME.
Knowing is easy, but doing is difficult. It is always easy to raise questions, but the difficult part is to face challenges and make achievements. This can give entrepreneurs, especially application entrepreneurs, more tolerance and support.
Some time ago, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik also put forward a similar view in his latest speech "The Next Decade of Ethereum": "Developers should be brave enough to explore and build applications that have an impact on the world. They should not just copy Web2, but take the lead. In 2034, there will not only be desktops and mobile devices, but also wearable devices, locally run AI, AR..."
The development of blockchain and cryptocurrency is not a change in productivity, but an improvement in production relations. Therefore, it will not give positive feedback as quickly as the advent of ChatGPT. In the future, Crypto may also need to actively integrate with emerging productivity such as AI and AR.
Recently, a group of industry professionals signed up for an African Safari hunting group and needed to settle in U.S. dollars. The lengthy bank payment procedures, contract review, high Swift fees, and bank handling fees made the African guy and the participants miserable. In the end, the African guy was recommended the stablecoin USDT/USDC... In comparison, the traditional Swift system is like an antique from the Paleolithic Age.
From Russia to the African continent, the US dollar stablecoin is quietly bringing about a revolution around the world, and Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia are also actively joining the mBridge project led by the People's Bank of China to realize CBDC cross-border payments...
It’s a long journey that requires a lot of patience, but just a little progress can make a world of difference.
Finally, I want to say:
Some people are "crypto-shamed" because they feel spiritually deficient because they have not created actual value; some people are crypto-shamed because they have suffered losses year after year and have collected various ways of losing money, and they are embarrassed to say that they are old leeks...
After all, in today's cruel market, for most people, making money but feeling a lack of sense of value is already a happy trouble.
