PANews Editor's Note: Jocy, the founder of IOSG, shared his thoughts on Twitter about the core developers of his investment projects leaving the Crypto industry to join the AI industry, as follows:

I have received news that another core developer from my portfolio has left the industry to start a business in AI applications. The most reputable individuals and organizations in the industry are all turning their attention to meme. To be honest, even if we win this battle, what's the point? AGI is the grandest narrative in history, and all the best talents, as long as they observe carefully, will definitely be attracted. If the goal of the crypto community is to let more outstanding talents leave, and eventually turn web3 into a big casino, is their success still worth shining so brightly? Many entrepreneurs and developers' goals are not just to get rich, they want to create applications that change the world, and leave a mark in history. When the entire environment has everyone not pursuing true ideals and values, these people will leave. I really hope that everyone can be more responsible. Outstanding people will shine in any industry, and when they shine in the AI field, they will not come back to the crypto circle. At that time, we will lose not only talent, but also a lost era of the crypto circle.

As soon as this tweet was released, it sparked heated discussions in the community. Here are some of the insightful comments from KOLs and netizens:

Crypto Weiduo

I think this "outstanding" is relative. It's true that AGI can change the world, but you can't say that only those suitable for AGI are outstanding. The Hayden who created AMM was just a second-rate Siemens engineer, but AMM is definitely a creation that has changed the history of finance. Generally speaking, outstanding people can shine in various industries, but they will be brighter in some industries than others. Rather than looking for outstanding people, it's better to find the right people.

0xBai

The current situation is the result of joint efforts. In the beginning, people believed that crypto would change the world, believed in the future, but the result was being poured cold water by VCs/projects, and after the narrative was falsified, everyone also became smarter, it's better to just bet on the casino directly. Many who have achieved big results will not return to the crypto industry to give back to the industry. If it ultimately becomes just a big casino, only suitable for payments, pvp, that's also normal. Let the market decide, and there will naturally be a proper positioning.

Cat

Crypto players and real blockchain builders, I think they are not the same group of people. Before the builders have done something, it's normal for the attention to be diverted. The development of technology has always been like this. In the history of AI development, after AlphaGo came out, there was VC FOMO, until the domestic AI four little dragons couldn't live well, a large number of AI practitioners left, and fresh graduates couldn't find jobs in algorithm. It wasn't until the transformer architecture came out that AI exploded again. What's more pessimistic is that I found that many investment institutions in the "crypto circle" are just concerned about issuing tokens and making money.

Jason

After this article was released, some people may say again "See, the VCs didn't make money this round, and they are jealous and resentful again". The fundamental difference between this industry and the traditional tech industry is: the background of the participants is very diverse (because the early threshold was too low), ignoring the core driving force of technology for economic development, and also lacking real venture capital values. The core value of VCs is to help drive technological innovation while striving to achieve financial returns. Although memecoins do have value attributes and PMF in the industry, and I also think there's nothing wrong with the community participating in memecoin PVP, if the largest and (externally) influential institutions in the industry are devoting themselves to promoting the digital casino culture, it will only drive professional capital away and make tech-focused entrepreneurs fail, leaving only the casino operators, gamblers and dealers on the table.

Dana (Yzi Labs)

- AGI is a beautiful grand narrative, but the reality is trivial and complex. Looking closely at this grand narrative, every company, every product, every startup team has its own struggles and anxieties. AI has indeed improved efficiency, but it has also lowered the threshold. Not to mention the long term, just looking at the medium and short term, what is the moat of an AI application company, or even a large model company? These questions are right in front of us, and they are equally sleepless.

- A person's growth has never been a straight line. Going to different industries to wander and try, slowly finding the path closest to one's inner heart. In the short term, it may be opportunistic, but in the long run, it may be able to connect the dots. After all, who you are and what you want to achieve, you decide; when time is stretched, you can see it clearly.

- In a rapidly developing industry like Web3/Crypto, being able to stay on the table and keep up with the industry's beta is actually very critical. But every passionate entrepreneur who wants to create alpha, will often become discouraged because they can't see their own brilliance in the short term or don't have strong positive feedback. This mood, those who understand it all understand (here omits a ten thousand word description of the various mental journeys and processes of investors longing to find alpha, and they are still on the way...) But it's worth reminding that don't forget why you came to this industry just because you don't see alpha in front of you.

Don't forget why you set out.

Stay on the table, stay relevant, don't die.

Every time I see Pendle's TN, I have to ask him what makes you persist for so long? TN said that after the Pendle team left Kyber, they went to explore other industries for a while, missed the DeFi summer, "so we made a promise to ourselves: we'll never leave." Pendle issued tokens in the first half of 2021, persisting and persevering, until the first quarter of 2024 finally saw the dawn of PMF. Pendle's token price, like the team's heroic journey, has experienced a long quest (the pain in the middle, those who understand it all understand), and their own level has risen a notch. And TN wrote in an article a few days ago "the job's not done."

- "Borrowing a false to cultivate the true". Bubble, is it a lively illusion, or a huge opportunity? The bubble of huge financing and subsidies is not unique to the crypto circle. Luckin Coffee went public at lightning speed, and was then shorted and delisted due to data fraud, but eventually turned the table by "coconut milk latte yyds". Again, who you are, how you walk the path, and what kind of thing you want to achieve, you decide.

The reality we each see is largely a reflection of our own inner selves. What you believe in, what you are anxious about, how you interpret, and how you act, are all your own choices.

Lurpis (Bifrost)

After seven years in the industry, I feel that the positive feedback for developers with ideals in this industry is getting less and less. To make an excellent product in web3 is far less acclaimed and focused than pumping and dumping to get attention, plus "making products is useless, just learn how to do marketing is enough", "as long as it doesn't go up, it's trash", "a meme coin can surpass your market cap just by shouting, why don't you go issue a meme coin", hearing these things over and over, the naive idea of "making an excellent product" should not even appear in the crypto circle, in this environment, it is difficult not to discourage those developers who, with a passion, save and scrimp to polish the details, hoping to change the world through good products and good technology.

Be kinder to them, after all, they are the ones who will ultimately drive this industry forward.

Oar (lmk.fun)

Blockchain is a "revolution" of production relations, and revolutions are inevitably dark, long-term depressed, and chaotic. AI and robots are the enhancement of productivity, in line with the interests of the general public, and the short-term effects can be seen.

Just like me in the past three years, the biggest mistake was to try to chase the hot spots, only to find in the end that if I had thoroughly executed the day 1 idea, the result might have been better.

Only long-term thinking can survive in a highly volatile market.

Keer

It is a terrifying thing that a bunch of people who can only see the surface are constantly "entrepreneuring".

These people were attracted to the crypto circle by the concept of the metaverse when NFT was hot, and then FOMO All in AI after the release of ChatGPT, leaving behind a sentence "the crypto circle is a casino". Who knows, when the bull market comes, they will be attracted by some new narrative and want to come back to issue tokens. In the end, it will be a waste of effort.

Meme is a necessary path for the denationalization of currency.

I don't think the so-called AGI narrative is more "grand" than the denationalization of currency, the former changes the productive forces, the latter changes the production relations, do we have to distinguish which one is lighter or heavier?

What is happening in the crypto world now is that the price discovery of this non-sovereign token has shifted from the primary market to on-chain. Since blockchain has given everyone the ability to issue currency, price discovery should follow free market competition. This is the essence of MEME - mocking the existing order.

Why should the price decided by a small group of people be paid for by the market? Because you are the Celestial Dragons who graduated from Stanford? If VCs and "excellent entrepreneurs" really dominate the market, then the crypto world is the true road to slavery!