You should still believe in Crypto

"No industry has always been correct along the way until they truly changed the world."
If you've been in the crypto industry for the past few years, you must have felt that growing sense of "weariness."
Last weekend, the long article by Aevo co-founder Ken Chan undoubtedly struck a chord with many. He used an extreme headline — "I've Wasted 8 Years of My Life in the Crypto Industry."
This is not just an individual's state, but a collective fatigue of industry insiders. Ken articulated a truth that many dare not admit: in the crypto industry, it's truly easy to lose track of time.
Everything is not without reason
You might stay up late for airdrops, monitor charts for launches, chase narratives with pump and dump, research a new protocol all night, or participate in community governance with countless unpaid labor. From romantic liberalism, to on-chain autonomous experiments, to today’s meme, perpetual, and gambling tracks racing out of control, all these can indeed make one doubt whether we are really participating in a technological revolution, or just working for an infinitely greedy casino.
Practitioners’ doubts aren’t because they lack conviction, but due to the brutal structure of the crypto industry itself: narrative lifecycles shorter than product lifecycles; hype greater than fundamentals; speculation faster than development; hero worship coexisting with collective skepticism; many projects end not in failure, but in disappearance.
It must be honestly said that Ken’s feelings are experienced by many. And these doubts are not unfounded.
"The question of what we are truly坚持ing" — the weight of this question may be far greater than "Will Bitcoin's price go up?"
So when we say "We believe in crypto," what exactly are we believing in? Are we believing in the project teams? No. Are we believing in a star KOL? Of course not. Are we believing in a narrative? That’s even less likely.
Many people suddenly realize: what they have truly believed all along might only be one thing: that we still坚持 and believe that crypto’s significance for this world endures.
Therefore, after Ken’s article went viral, Nic Carter, co-founder of Castle Island Ventures, quickly wrote another response — "I Don’t Regret Spending Eight Years in the Crypto Industry."
What is the significance of crypto for this world? Nic Carter offered five perspectives: making the monetary system more sound, encoding business logic via smart contracts, making digital property real, improving capital market efficiency, and expanding global financial inclusion.
Never forget why we started
Whenever the industry falls into chaos, perhaps we can revisit the Bitcoin white paper.
The first line of the white paper states: "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash."
In 2008, the financial crisis, banks collapsing, Lehman Brothers crashing. Financiers and politicians made the whole world pay for their risks and mistakes.
Bitcoin was not created to make people rich, but to answer a question: "Can we establish a monetary system that does not depend on any centralized institution?"
This is the first time in history that humanity has had a currency that requires no trust in anyone. It is the only financial system in the world that truly does not belong to any country, company, or individual. You can criticize ETH, criticize Solana, criticize all L2s, criticize all DEXs, but few will criticize Bitcoin because its original intent has never changed.
Any Web2 company can shut down your account tomorrow; but no one can stop you from sending a Bitcoin tomorrow. There will always be those who dislike it, distrust it, or attack it, but no one can change it.
Water does not争，but its benefits nourish all things.
Global inflation persists, sovereign debt is high, after a long decline in risk-free interest rates, an asset drought ensues, financial oppression, lack of privacy… These issues make the vision of crypto not outdated, but more urgent. As Nic Carter said: "I have never seen a technology that can advance capital market infrastructure more than crypto."
Why is this not a failed industry
Ken said he wasted eight years. But did we really waste our youth?
In countries like Argentina, Turkey, Venezuela with hyperinflation, BTC and stablecoins have become a practical "shadow financial system"; hundreds of millions of people without access to banking have拥有 global digital assets for the first time; humanity has首次拥有可自主掌握的全球资产; international payments no longer need banks; billions of people can now access the same financial system for the first time; financial infrastructure begins to脱离国家边界; a form of asset that does not rely on violence or power starts to be globally recognized…
For a hyperinflationary country, a stable, non-depreciating currency is like an ark — which is why stablecoins占据了阿根廷加密交易量的 61.8%. For freelancers, digital nomads, and the wealthy with overseas businesses, USDT is their digital dollar.
Compared to hiding dollars under the mattress or risking black market currency exchanges, clicking a mouse to convert pesos into USDT feels more elegant and safer.
Whether it’s street vendors’ cash transactions or elite USDT transfers, fundamentally it’s about distrust in national credit and protection of private property. In a country with high taxes, low benefits, and continuous currency devaluation, every "gray market" transaction is a反抗制度性掠夺.
A century ago, Buenos Aires’ Casa Rosada changed owners again and again, the peso was devalued repeatedly. But ordinary people relied on underground trading and gray wisdom, hardening their way out of dead ends. Related reading: "Underground Argentina: Jewish banks, Chinese supermarkets, rebellious youth, and the returning middle class."
Almost all of the world’s top 20 funds have established Web3 divisions; TradFi institutions continue to pour in (BlackRock, Fidelity, CME); national digital currency systems are modeled after Bitcoin; all U.S. digital asset ETFs are setting new fund inflow records; in just 15 years, Bitcoin has already risen into the top ten global financial assets…
Even with bubbles, speculation, chaos, and scams, these facts have already occurred. These changes have genuinely begun to alter the world. And we stand in an industry that will continue to reshape the global financial structure.
Have we really left nothing behind?
Many still ask: "If in 15 years these chains are gone, projects vanished, protocols replaced by more advanced infrastructure — isn’t what we’re doing now just浪费青春?"
Look at another industry: In 2000, the internet bubble burst, NASDAQ plummeted 78%; in 1995, Amazon was criticized as a "book-selling website"; in 1998, Google was considered "less user-friendly than Yahoo"; in 2006, social networks were seen as "teen rebellion."
Early internet was full of: thousands of startups that failed; complete disappearance of innovations; massive investments lost; tens of thousands believing they wasted their youth.
Early BBS, portals, dial-up internet, paid email—almost all are gone today, and 90% of first-generation mobile internet products did not survive. But they were not "wasted"; they laid the groundwork for the mobile era.
The infrastructure they created: browsers, TCP/IP, early servers, compilers—these built the foundation of Facebook, Google, Apple, mobile internet, cloud computing, and AI. The history of social networks is a cycle of不断破碎, just like today’s TikTok is built on countless dead social networks.
Each generation replaces the previous, but none are futile.
No industry has always been clean, linear, clear-cut, correct, or with obvious answers. All foundational tech industries experience chaos, bubbles, trial and error, misunderstanding — until they change the world.
The crypto industry is no different.
The technological revolution in crypto has never been completed by a single generation. Everything we do — even if ETH is replaced by other chains, L2 is rewritten by new architectures, or today’s DEXs all disappear — will not be in vain.
Because we provide the基础土壤, trial and error, parameters, social experiments, path dependence, experience and samples absorbed by the future — not the终局本身.
Moreover, you are not alone in坚持.
Millions of developers, researchers, fund managers, node operators, builders, and traders around the world are still推动着这个时代缓慢向前. We are with you.
— A message to those still on this path.