With the overall market plummeting, the Meme frenzy that had been ongoing for the past week has abruptly come to a halt, and the noise is gradually dissipating. Retail sentiment is returning to rationality, and it is time to calm down and discuss the recent clashes of ideas and differing viewpoints in the industry.
Perhaps due to lingering idealism, I personally find myself unconsciously leaning towards the "Build" faction in the debate between Meme and Build. While I do not oppose the Meme concept and acknowledge that Meme can serve as a collective spiritual symbol in the post-Internet era with its objective significance, I do not believe that many of the so-called "Meme" projects that have recently emerged, which clearly exhibit sycophantic tendencies and blatant profit motives, align with the core definition of Meme. Furthermore, I do not think these "Meme" projects possess sustainable value expectations—because the maintenance of such sentiment relies on continuous positive feedback from sycophantic targets and position gains, rather than on the spontaneous emotional expression of the community as classic Memes do. This inherently makes such "Meme" projects vulnerable in terms of value.
Disguised as innovation, speculative behavior has been mixed into the popular narratives of the times, and similar stories have played out multiple times in the industry’s development over the past decade. 
Speculation diverts attention, but industry development relies on builders
From the Bitcoin white paper to Ethereum introducing smart contracts, to various Layer 1 + Layer 2 solutions breaking performance constraints, and then to DeFi, NFT, GameFi, Meme, and other use cases unlocking the application layer… different forms of speculative stories have never been absent in the evolution and iteration of the cryptocurrency industry.
In the Bitcoin era, there were all sorts of bizarre mining coins; while the ICO boom in the Ethereum era birthed some future seed projects, it also created more "air coins"; the explosion of DeFi made free and permissionless finance a reality, but it also made it difficult to escape the fact that Rug pulls were rampant; NFTs need not be elaborated on, as many people still have numerous worthless small images in their wallets; Meme is the latest case, where although some Memes have proven their consensus resilience through market trials, many more "Meme" projects are essentially just short-term harvesting tools…
Sadly, similar speculative activities often end with the success of conspiracy groups and the losses of retail investors, even leading the industry to bear the stigma of "wild fluctuations" and "widespread fraud," which objectively hinders the expansion of cryptocurrency and the popularization of decentralization concepts.
Fortunately, such speculative behavior has never been the "cause" driving industry development, but rather a "result" accompanying technological breakthroughs and narrative upgrades—Bitcoin has made the concept of decentralization deeply ingrained; Ethereum and Solana have made on-chain programmability a reality, gradually enhancing the application capacity of blockchain; protocols like Aave, Uniswap, and Hyperliquid have eliminated boundaries in the financial world; OKX Wallet, MetaMask, and Phantom have broken down barriers in the on-chain world; Tether and Circle have gradually popularized stablecoins, bringing them into mainstream view…
While speculative fervor attracts more attention and recklessly damages the industry's reputation, a group of visionary platforms and builders are quietly reversing biases and rebuilding trust through continuous building, driving the ongoing iteration of underlying technologies and continuous innovation in the ecosystem.
What did the industry breakthrough year reveal to the mainstream world?
The year 2025 is destined to be a memorable one in the history of cryptocurrency. During this year, the cryptocurrency industry has achieved breakthroughs in both regulatory compliance and mainstream acceptance—BTC and ETH ETF products have become new stars in the traditional financial market; DAT has attracted a flurry of capital; stablecoins have received legislative support for the first time; and "coin stocks" and "stock coins" are heading in both directions.
The reason the mainstream world is gradually beginning to pay attention to and is willing to accept the cryptocurrency industry is clearly not due to the loud hype and speculation, but because they see the value of cryptocurrency and blockchain in reshaping the future of finance: DeFi brings unparalleled transparency and freedom compared to traditional finance, while significantly reducing intermediary costs and improving system efficiency; stablecoins have demonstrated their enormous potential to become the global payment and settlement infrastructure, potentially altering the competitive landscape of currency sovereignty; RWA has opened up channels between real-world assets and the on-chain world, unlocking new value circulation scenarios.
It is these technological breakthroughs and use case innovations that are pushing the cryptocurrency industry closer to the mainstream world, making more funds willing, even eager, to allocate to cryptocurrency. This may be the underlying logic behind the continuous new highs in the total market capitalization of cryptocurrency this year.
Long-termism is not easy; please give builders more patience
True innovation never relies on short-term noise but requires patience and the accumulation of time. From technological research and development, compliance construction, to user education and scenario implementation, every step requires time and effort to refine.
Although in shorter cycles, the speculative frenzy disguised as Meme may present an overwhelming advantage in momentum, its so-called wealth effect temporarily captures the attention of all users. However, when the tide recedes, people will eventually realize that the vast majority of "Meme" projects often exist only for a moment from birth to demise, and the so-called wealth effect is essentially volatility, which just hasn't had the chance to unfold its downward story.
As OKX CEO Star stated on X, guiding a small number of "early birds" to mass-produce Memecoins is a shortsighted behavior akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, which will harm the long-term health of the entire industry and may even touch the bottom line of compliance and legality. The responsibility of the platform is to create a fair and transparent market environment.
Looking back at the stories of multiple rounds of speculative disillusionment, whenever this "dream-like prosperity" shatters, it is always those teams that adhere to long-termism and continue to cultivate that come to "clean up" for the entire industry, gradually repairing the wounds caused by speculative behavior, and one day in the future, using new technological achievements and innovative narratives to rejuvenate the industry, thereby attracting a new batch of speculators… This cycle continues, and the cryptocurrency industry relies on these true builders to navigate its way to today, with twists and turns yet resilience.
Perhaps these builders cannot provide you with a hundredfold thrill in a day, but as vested interests in the industry's development, we at least should not hold them to mismatched standards.
The crash has come, but the industry's future remains bright
Following the events of March 12 and May 19, the cryptocurrency market has once again experienced a historic plunge today, with nearly $20 billion evaporating in the contract trading market within 24 hours due to liquidations.
However, even amidst such severe market fluctuations, we can clearly see the comprehensive upgrade of the entire industry infrastructure. From underlying networks to DeFi protocols, to CeFi services, all fronts have performed far better than in the past when faced with extreme volatility—Solana achieved 6,000 to 8,000 transactions per second during the most volatile hour of the market, with gas fees consistently maintaining historical median levels; Aave processed a record $180 million in collateral asset liquidations within a single hour, with the protocol operating smoothly and no bad debts occurring; OKX's system operated stably, maintaining smoothness and stability across regions, with all system indicators at normal levels…
This is the power of Build. History has repeatedly proven that short-term noise is merely market noise, and market fluctuations are just interludes. It is through the continuous efforts and deep cultivation of countless builders that the industry can be reborn from challenges, returning with a more robust posture.
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