Why should you still坚持 your crypto dream

Those who have been working in the crypto space over the past few years can feel the growing exhaustion. Last weekend, a long article by Aevo co-founder Ken Chan resonated with many—“I Wasted 8 Years of My Life in the Crypto Industry.” This is not just a personal feeling, but a collective voice from industry practitioners. The truth revealed by Ken hits the core: in the crypto world, time is ruthlessly swallowed up.

This sense of burnout is not unfounded

Many have stayed up late for airdrops, watched the markets for launches, chased narratives by buying and selling, sacrificed sleep for new protocols, and contributed unpaid labor to community governance. From initial admiration for liberalism, to enthusiasm for on-chain governance experiments, to now the frantic race of memes, sustainability, and gambling tracks—this cycle prompts reflection: Are we truly participating in a technological revolution, or are we just pawns in an endless greed-driven gamble?

Practitioners’ doubts are not due to weak will but stem from the brutal reality of the crypto industry itself: narrative cycles shorter than product cycles; hot topics overshadow fundamentals; speculation speeds far surpass construction pace; hero worship coexists with collective skepticism; many projects do not end in failure but quietly fade away.

Those opinion leaders, commentators, and influential figures who serve as KOLs—providing narratives and viewpoints—are also beginning to question what they have been steadfastly supporting. And this doubt is not baseless.

“What are we really holding on to?” This question may carry far more weight than “Will Bitcoin go up again?” When we say we believe in crypto, what do we truly believe in? Not the projects, not certain KOLs, and certainly not fleeting narratives. Many have come to realize: the only truly trustworthy thing is the fundamental significance of crypto for the world.

Therefore, Nic Carter, co-founder of Castle Island Ventures, responded with an article—“I Don’t Regret Spending Eight Years in the Crypto Industry.” He offered five observations: sound monetary systems, encoding business logic with smart contracts, realizing digital ownership, improving capital market efficiency, and expanding global financial inclusion.

Returning to the original question

Whenever the industry falls into chaos, rereading the Bitcoin white paper might remind us of the path we took.

“An electronic cash system that is peer-to-peer”—that’s the first sentence.

In 2008, the financial crisis, bank failures, Lehman collapse. Financial elites shifted risks onto the entire world. The emergence of Bitcoin was not for wealth creation but to answer a core question: “Can we establish a currency that does not rely on any centralized institution?”

This was humanity’s first currency that requires no trust in anyone. It is the only financial system that truly does not belong to any country, company, or individual. You can criticize ETH, attack Solana, blame all L2s and DEXs, but few can truly refute Bitcoin because its original purpose has never changed.

Any Web2 company could shut down your account tomorrow; but no one can stop you from transferring Bitcoin tomorrow. There will always be opposition, skepticism, and attacks, but no one can change it.

Today, with global inflation becoming normal, sovereign debt soaring, risk-free rates declining long-term leading to asset shortages, financial oppression, and privacy loss—these crises make the crypto vision not outdated but more urgent than ever.

The industry has not failed

Ken said he wasted eight years, but have we really squandered our time?

In high-inflation countries like Argentina, Turkey, and Venezuela, BTC and stablecoins have formed a tangible “shadow financial system”; hundreds of millions without banking services now hold global digital assets; humanity has, for the first time, access to autonomous global assets; international payments can be made without banks; billions are connected to a unified financial system; financial infrastructure is beginning to transcend borders; a form of asset that relies neither on violence nor power is gaining global recognition.

In places with hyperinflation, stable, non-depreciating currencies are like Noah’s Ark. In Argentina’s crypto transactions, stablecoins account for 61.8%. For freelancers with overseas clients, digital nomads, and the wealthy, USDT has become their digital dollar.

Compared to hiding cash under the mattress or risking black market currency exchanges, clicking a mouse to convert pesos into USDT is more elegant and secure. Whether it’s small cash transactions on the street or elite USDT transfers, fundamentally it’s about distrust in national credit and protecting private property. In countries with high taxes, low welfare, and currency devaluation, every “gray market” transaction is a form of resistance against systemic plunder.

Buenos Aires’ Casa Rosada has changed hands countless times; pesos have been rendered worthless many times, but ordinary people rely on underground trades and gray wisdom to carve out a way forward in dead ends.

Almost all of the top 20 global funds have established Web3 divisions; traditional financial institutions are pouring in continuously (BlackRock, Fidelity, CME); national digital currency systems are referencing Bitcoin; US digital asset ETFs continue to break records for capital inflows; in just 15 years, Bitcoin has risen to be among the top ten global financial assets.

Even with bubbles, speculation, chaos, and scams, certain facts are undeniable. These changes are reshaping the world in tangible ways. We are in an industry that will continue to transform the global financial structure.

The foundational soil, not the final answer

Some still ask: “In 15 years, if these chains disappear, projects fail, and protocols are replaced by more advanced infrastructure, isn’t everything we’re doing now just futile?”

Look at another industry: the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, NASDAQ plummeted 78%; in 1995, Amazon was mocked as a “book-selling website”; in 1998, Google was considered “less than Yahoo”; in 2006, social networks were seen as “teenage rebellion.”

In the early days of the internet: thousands of startups died, innovation was wiped out, huge investments lost everything, millions thought they wasted their youth.

Most early BBS, portal sites, dial-up internet, paid email services disappeared into history; 90% of first-generation mobile internet products did not survive. But they were not futile—they laid the groundwork for the mobile era.

The infrastructure they left behind—browsers, TCP/IP, early servers, compilers—became the foundation for Facebook, Google, Apple, mobile internet, cloud computing, and AI. The evolution of social networks is a cycle built upon countless dead applications—TikTok today is composed of those bygone products.

Every generation replacing the previous one is never in vain.

No fundamental technology industry develops along a clean, linear, clear, correct, and standard path. All transformative technologies go through chaos, bubbles, trial and error, misunderstandings, until they change the world. The crypto industry is no different.

The technological revolution of crypto is not completed by a single generation. Even if in the future ETH is replaced by other chains, L2s are reconstructed with new architectures, or all current DEXs vanish, our contributions are not in vain.

What we provide is the foundational soil, the trial-and-error process, parameter accumulation, social experiments, path dependence, samples and experiences absorbed by the future—not the final endpoint itself.

And you are not fighting alone.

Millions of developers, researchers, fund managers, node operators, builders, and traders worldwide are gradually advancing this era. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

—A message to those still steadfast on this path.