Nick Tomaino argues that 2025 marks the end of the easy money era in cryptocurrency; for superior returns, the market needs products that don't rely on Token speculation.
He noted that the current cryptocurrency market Capital is approximately $3.1 trillion, down 14% from the same period last year, but in 2009 this figure was zero. According to him, the pump-and- Dump schemes of Venture Capital, Memecoin , and DAT have failed.
- Cryptocurrency market Capital is $3.1 trillion, down 14% in one year.
- 2025: The era of easy wins is over; pump-and-dump, Memecoin, and DAT have failed.
- Superior products that don't rely on Token speculation: Polymarket , stablecoin.
The market and the end of easy wins.
1confirmation assesses that cryptocurrencies are entering a more challenging phase: quick profit strategies based on Token price manipulation are no longer effective.
Nick Tomaino wrote on X that the total cryptocurrency market Capital is currently at $3.1 trillion, down 14% in 12 months. He contrasted this with 2009, when the entire industry's market Capital was zero, to emphasize that cryptocurrencies have matured and are entering a product-based competition cycle.
According to him, 2025 marks the end of the easy-win era, as venture capital pump-and-dump models like Memecoin and DAT have all failed. The implication is that profits based on Token crazes are increasingly difficult to replicate, and the focus needs to shift to utility value.
The product is not based on Token speculation and this is constant.
To generate excess returns, it is necessary to develop and utilize cryptocurrency products that are not dependent on Token speculation, such as Polymarket and stablecoins.
Tomaino argues that last year, for the first time in cryptocurrency history, products not based on Token speculation outperformed others; he cites Polymarket and stablecoins as examples. His argument is that the market will reward real utility, rather than just price stories.
He listed three constants of the industry: the need to see through the nature of scammers; the macroeconomic trend of declining trust in institutions and the increasingly important Vai of the internet are real, so reliable neutral cryptocurrencies create investment opportunities; and only two cryptocurrencies are reliably neutral: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
