The truly frightening thing is not that the technical narrative cannot deliver, but that everyone has directly given up on narrative packaging and fully embraced the MEME-driven casino culture.

Written by: Haotian

While traveling in Lijiang and Dali, I chatted with several frontline builders, and they all mentioned a shared feeling: the current primary market in Crypto seems to be trapped in a "dead end" of multiple crises:

1) Is the narrative completely meaningless, with casino culture taking over?

In fact, the truly frightening thing is not that the technical narrative cannot deliver, but that everyone has directly given up on narrative packaging and fully embraced the MEME-driven casino culture.

The slow delivery of the technical narrative is at least a matter of long-termism, with the initial VC round covering the innovation costs, and the project team going through the process of building, testing, and launching on the mainnet as per the roadmap. The transparency during this period can help ordinary users recognize the project's strength and form value judgments.

But what about now? Everything has turned into a game of pure community operation and the financial games behind it, with trading opportunities exaggerated to the point of being counted by the day or even by the minute. When the market no longer focuses on long-term construction around the technical narrative, the risks of pure MEME trading are magnified, making this market even more dangerous for the vast majority of people.

2) Are developers accelerating their exodus, with technological innovation stagnating?

Data does not lie. According to relevant data, the number of active Crypto developers on Github has dropped by nearly 30% from last year's peak, while the recruitment packages for engineers in AI and traditional tech companies have skyrocketed during the same period.

The logic is simple: when OpenAI, Google, and Meta are competing for talent in the AI arms race to build a silicon-based civilization, how many developers can the narrative of Crypto's "disruption of the internet" retain?

The key is that after two or three rounds of build cycles, developers in Crypto are now caught in a phase of rapidly declining innovative enthusiasm, with very few true breakthroughs from 0 to 1. Concepts like Restaking, Intent, and AI Agent have gone through rounds of hype, but what about practical applications? Where is the PMF? For some reason, everyone is busy reinventing the wheel, yet feels powerless and helpless about how far the wheel can go.

Originally, caught in market noise and wasted time, most people could still hold onto a belief that if they just held on, things would eventually get better. But now? Where are the holders?

3) Is the attraction of off-market incremental growth lacking, leading to Crypto's marginalization?

Crypto's attraction to off-market funds and talent is clearly insufficient. Just look at the current situation: the real secondary market for altcoins is in the US stock AI market, and the real primary innovation market is in the web2AI field. Crypto's appeal to traditional VCs and top talent is diminishing, and it even risks being labeled as "speculative trading," losing its dignity.

The reason is that apart from the "token issuance" as its golden signboard, Crypto cannot present any other solid trump cards. Although ETFs have brought in institutional funds, that is more about recognition at the financial instrument level. The inflow of Wall Street funds is merely for asset allocation and is tenuously linked to the altcoin market.

What scenarios are irreplaceable without Crypto? In the past, Crypto's value lay in providing a relatively free experimental space for financial innovation. But now that traditional financial institutions are starting to embrace this market through stablecoins, ETFs, and other means, what irreplaceable value can Crypto bring to users besides its technical characteristic of "decentralization"?

Note: This topic is raised for discussion. Despite the confusion, I still want to believe that a true way out may be just around the corner. Staying optimistic is the best support; otherwise, what else can we do!

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