Chainfeeds Summary:
"Encryption," as a self-consistent and closed world, is dying. And this death is precisely the gateway to something much larger than the industry we have been defending.
Article source:
https://x.com/DougieDeLuca/status/2000957512862884100
Article Author:
Dougie
Opinion:
Dougie: So when I say “crypto is dead,” I don’t mean the chain is shut down, the tokens are gone, or the technology has failed. I mean this: crypto as a self-contained industry is disintegrating. The boundaries between “crypto” and “fintech,” “AI infrastructure,” “payments,” “marketplaces,” and “gambling” are disappearing. “Crypto startups” are no longer a truly valid category; they’re just startups that happen to use blockchain. Most applications that only serve crypto natives either die or never grow big. If your TAM is “people who are on the chain every day,” you’re starting a business in a dead end. The crypto/Web3 label will become a liability. It will no longer be a plus for users, regulators, or investors. Ordinary entrepreneurs will use these tracks directly without identifying with this identity. Crypto doesn’t win by turning the whole world into crypto natives. Its victory is when anyone can benefit from it without needing to be a crypto native. What’s truly dead is the crypto world that expects the whole world to enter our universe, learn our language, and follow our rituals. It was eccentrics and believers in the early days. If technology is real, it will eventually disappear into everything. People will stop talking about the technology itself and only about what it can do. This is exactly the stage we are heading towards. We've already seen signs: people using Polymarket to check election probabilities have no idea they're using blockchain. Merchants in Lagos and Buenos Aires use USDT for settlement because it arrives in seconds. Depositors in high-inflation countries hold USDC not because they're "bullish on crypto," but because their own currencies are failing. These people are embedding crypto into their lives without needing to understand what a Rollup is. The issue isn't just "newbies vs. ordinary people." We've overlooked a huge middle layer: people who are tech-savvy, value privacy and control, want direct market access, but have no interest in mining and points. They want a better track, not a new identity. Today, for the first time, we are truly equipped to serve them: better UX, mobile, social login, Apple Pay, abstract wallets. The bottleneck is no longer the experience, but the intent. I see the future in a three-layer structure: 1) Infrastructure layer: quiet, boring, but massive. Blockchain has become the default track in certain fields: cross-border settlements, stablecoin payments, identity, collateral, and ownership records. Users don't care about the chain itself; they only experience faster speeds, lower prices, greater global reach, and greater programmability. 2) Product Layer: Not a "crypto product," just a product. It's only used when it's truly useful on the chain, with complexity deliberately hidden. The dimensions of competition are no different from other products: price, speed, experience, and trust. 3) Speculative Layer: It continues to exist, but is decentralized. Casinos won't disappear, but they are no longer the foundation of everything. It's just a vertical sector within a larger landscape.
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