Another core developer of a Portfolio has left the industry to start an AI application venture. Currently, the most reputable individuals and organizations in the industry are focusing on meme. Honestly, how significant is winning this battle?
AGI is the most massive narrative in history. All the most outstanding talents, if they observe carefully, will definitely be attracted. If the goal of the crypto world is to make more excellent people leave and turn web3 into a big casino, is their success still worth celebrating?
Many entrepreneurs and developers' goals are not just to get rich, but to create world-changing applications and leave a mark in history. When the entire environment stops pursuing genuine ideals and values, these people will leave. I truly hope everyone can be more responsible. Excellent people will shine in any industry. When they shine in the AI field, they won't return to the crypto space, and by then, we'll lose not just talent, but an entire era of crypto's decline.
This article originated from a tweet by IOSG founder Jocy about core developers of their portfolio companies leaving Crypto to venture into AI, which sparked intense community discussion. Here are some notable comments from KOLs and netizens:
Crypto Guardian
I think excellence is relative. It's true that AGI will change the world, but we can't say only those suitable for AGI are excellent. Hayden, who created AMM, was just an average Siemens engineer, but AMM definitely changed financial history. Generally speaking, excellent people can indeed shine in various industries, but they might be brighter in some industries than others.
Instead of finding excellent people, find suitable people.
0xBai
The current situation is a collaborative result. Initially, people believed crypto would change the world and the future, but after being repeatedly disillusioned by VCs and projects, everyone became smarter. A casino seems more direct. Many who achieved significant results won't return to the crypto industry to give back. If it ultimately becomes just a big casino suitable only for payments and PVP, that's normal.
Let the market decide; it will naturally find its proper positioning.
Cat
Crypto players and true blockchain builders are not the same group. It's normal for attention to shift before builders create something. Technology develops this way. Look at AI's history: after AlphaGo, VCs were FOMO, then AI's four dragons in China struggled, many AI professionals left, new graduates couldn't find algorithm jobs, and nobody studied machine learning until the Transformer architecture emerged and AI resurged. Pessimistically, I've noticed many crypto investment institutions only care about issuing tokens and making money.
Jason
When this article comes out, some might say, "See, VCs didn't make money this round, so they're jealous and resentful." A key difference between this industry and traditional tech is participants' diverse backgrounds due to low early barriers, neglecting technology's core economic driver and lacking genuine venture capital values.
VCs' core value is supporting technological innovation while achieving financial returns. While memecoin indeed has value attributes and product-market fit, and I believe community participation in memecoin PVP is fine, if the most influential institutions are promoting a digital casino culture, it will only drive professional capital away and cause technical product entrepreneurs to fail, ultimately leaving only casino operators, gambling agents, and gamblers at the table.
Dana（Yzi Labs）
– AGI is a beautiful grand narrative, but reality is fragmented and complex. Looking closely at this grand narrative, every company, product, and startup team has its own struggles and anxieties. AI has indeed improved efficiency but also lowered barriers. Even in the short to medium term, where is an AI application company's, or even a large model company's, moat?
– Personal growth is never linear. Exploring different industries, trying things out, gradually finding the path closest to one's heart. Short-term it might seem speculative, but long-term it might connect the dots. Ultimately, who you are and what you want to achieve is your own decision; only time will reveal clarity.
– In a rapidly developing industry like Web3/Crypto, staying at the table and riding the industry's beta is already crucial. Yet every passionate entrepreneur wanting to create alpha will become disheartened by not seeing their own light or lacking high-intensity positive feedback. This feeling is understood by those who know. (Omitting ten thousand words about an investor's journey seeking alpha, still ongoing...) But it's worth reminding: don't forget why you entered this industry because you can't see alpha right now.
Don't forget why you started.
Stay at the table, stay relevant, don't die.
Every time I meet Pendle's TN, I ask what keeps them going? TN said the Pendle team explored other industries after leaving Kyber, missing DeFi summer, "so we made a promise to ourselves: we'll never leave." Pendle issued tokens in early 2021, persevering, and finally saw the dawn of product-market fit in Q1 2024.
Pendle's token price is like the team's heroic journey, experiencing a long search (the pain is understood by those who know), upgrading their own level. And TN wrote in a recent article, "job's not done."
- "Borrowing to Modify Reality". Is the bubble a lively illusion or a huge opportunity? Massive financing and cash-burning subsidies are not unique to the crypto market. Luckin Coffee went public at lightning speed and was shorted and delisted due to data fraud, but ultimately turned the tables with "Coconut Milk Latte yyds". Again, who you are, how you walk your path, and what you want to achieve are up to you.
The reality we each see is largely a reflection of our inner selves. What you believe, what you worry about, how you interpret things, and how you act are all your own choices.
Lurpis（Bifrost）
After seven years in the industry, I've felt that the positive feedback for idealistic developers is becoming less and less. Creating an excellent product in web3 receives far less applause and attention than pumping the market. With comments like "product development is useless, learn market-making instead", "anything that doesn't rise is garbage", "a meme can shout its market cap higher than yours, why don't you create a meme coin", hearing these repeatedly makes the naive idea of "creating an excellent product" seem impossible. In such an environment, it's hard not to discourage those developers who scrimp and save, polish details, and hope to change the world through good products and technology.
Be kind to them, as they are the ones ultimately driving this industry forward.
Oar（lmk.fun）
Blockchain is a "revolution" in production relations, which is inevitably dark, long-term depressed, and chaotic. AI and robots are productivity improvements that serve public interests and can show short-term effects.
Just like myself three years ago, my biggest mistake was chasing hot trends, only to realize that thoroughly executing the day-1 idea might have yielded better results.
Only long-termism can survive in a highly volatile market.
Keer
It's terrifying that many people who can only see the surface keep "starting businesses".
These people were drawn into the crypto market by the metaverse concept during the NFT boom, then FOMO'd all-in on AI after ChatGPT's release, leaving with a parting shot that "crypto is a casino". They might be attracted back by another narrative when the bull market arrives. In the end, it's all for nothing.
MEME is an inevitable path to the de-nationalization of currency. I don't believe the AGI narrative is more "macro" than currency de-nationalization. One transforms productivity, the other changes production relations - why compare their weight?
What's happening in the crypto market is that the value discovery of non-sovereign tokens has shifted from the primary market to the chain. Since blockchain gives everyone the ability to issue currency, price discovery should follow free market competition. This is the essence of MEME - mocking existing order.
Why should a price determined by a small group be borne by the market? Because you're Stanford graduates and elites? If VCs and "excellent entrepreneurs" truly controlled the market, then the crypto world would be a path to slavery!
