Deep reflection: I wasted eight years in encryption
Author:@kenchangeh
_Other Organiser
Initial motivation
I was very interested in politics when I was a teenager. Among all the books that radicalize my mind, Andre Land's work (The Springs, Atlas shrugs) has the greatest impact. In 2016, I contributed to Gary Johnson with a liberal heart. Besides being a true believer in Rand, I'm interested in computer programming, so encrypted money is a business for me. The spirit of the Punk code attracted me deeply. The concept of bitcoin as a rich private bank fascinated me. It's not like we've been able to cross the border with billions of dollarsThis has always been a very powerful idea for me。
Over time, however, I feel I have lost course in the area of encrypted currency. After full-time investment, the temptation of the original transformative force of encrypted currency gradually faded. I am disappointed by my target client and the target group for which I truly strive. I completely misunderstood the difference between the true users and the objects of encrypted money. I am fully convinced that the encrypted currency claims that it contributes to the decentrization of the financial system, but in fact it is simply a supersystem of speculation and gambling and a replica of the existing economy。
Realism slapped me hard. I'm not building a new financial system. I built a casino. A casino that does not claim to be a casino, but it is the largest, all-weather online casino ever conceived by our generation. On the one hand, I'm proud to have spent at least 20 years building this casino. On the other hand, I feel like I wasted my whole 20s on it. I wasted my life on it, but at least I earned a lot of money。
It depends on what they do, not what they say
ENCRYPTION MONEY IS CONFUSING. ON THE ONE HAND, SOME ADVOCATES CLAIM THAT THEY WANT TO COMPLETELY REPLACE THE EXISTING FINANCIAL SYSTEM WITH A SYSTEM BASED ON BLOCK CHAINS. I CAN EASILY IMAGINE SUCH A SYSTEM -- YOU JUST NEED USDC OR BITCOIN IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, AND YOU CAN SEND A BILLION DOLLARS TO ANYONE IN THE WORLD IN SECONDS. THE IDEA IS POWERFUL, AND I STILL BELIEVE IN IT。
However, incentives have completely distorted reality. In the real world, every market participant is willing to invest in the next generation of Layer 1 (Aptos, Sui, Sei, ICP, etc.). The 2020 Layer 1 battle resulted in only one winner - Solana. This led to a strong preference for a fourth position (bitcoin, Ethera, Solana and others). This incentive mechanism supports the market value of hundreds of billions of dollars, but does it really contribute to net growth to the desired new financial system? Although venture capitalists will write 5,000 words to illustrate this view, the answer is no, it has not led to the creation of a new system. In fact, it burns almost everyone's money (both in the diaspora and in the venture capitalists), so that in the new financial system everyone's money is less。
I'M NOT JUST ABOUT THE L1 PLATFORM. IN THE AREA OF ENCRYPTED CURRENCY, I CAN CITE MANY SIMILAR EXAMPLES — SPOT-TO-CENTRE EXCHANGE (DEX), REAL-TIME DE-CENTRE EXCHANGE (DEX), FORECASTING MARKETS, MONETIZATION PLATFORM, ETC. THESE SUBDIVISIONS OF MARKET FANATICISM AND COMPETITION DO NOT CONTRIBUTE POSITIVELY TO THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF A BETTER FINANCIAL SYSTEM. CONTRARY TO WHAT VENTURE CAPITALISTS SAY, WE DON'T NEED TO MOVE CASINOS TO MARS。
Economic gambling
If I had said that I had no economic motivation to join in the area of encrypted currency, it would have been a lie. As a reader, you might think I've made enough money to get out of the encryption industry, which sounds hypocritical. Yes, perhaps I am. But maybe I am just sick of the mudslides that fuel economic financialization and gambling。
A zero-sum game is not a way of accumulating wealth over time. It looks like it, but it's not. Eight years of crawling in the area of encrypted currency have completely destroyed my ability to identify sustainable business models. In the area of encrypted money, you don't need a successful business or product to make money. The encrypted currency industry is full of very high-value, almost unsuspecting, coins。
The real world does not work that way. If you really want to create value for your customers, not just gambling and gambling, which, by the way, is what casinos do, this zero-sum business model is not working。
Conclusions
I once thought that financial nihilism was a cute and harmless concept. And I think it's okay to keep rolling zero-sum games to the next generation. I have no doubt that bitcoin will reach $1 million one day. But this has nothing to do with the financial game that the industry is making。
This industry mentality is extremely harmful, and I believe it will lead to the long-term collapse of social mobility for the younger generation. You have witnessed it with your own eyes, and I think it is really important for us to muster the courage to resist the temptation of those worthless games。
CMS Holdings once said, "Do you want to make money or do you want to prove yourself right?" This time, I chose to prove myself right。
--
EDITOR'S NOTE: THE BLOGGER'S ARTICLE HAS BEEN DISCUSSED BY MANY PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY
DubleZero co-founderAustin Federa:
I respect your awareness that your ethics are incompatible with your current behaviour. This requires courage and self-reflection, and it is not easy. But from a broader point of view, I think that the natural state of encrypted money is almost the end of the economy, and I wonder if it is worth our concern. The charm of encrypted money is that it strips us of the most fundamental and primitive dimensions, forcing us to construct on fundamental principles. I often think of the opening of the television show Silicon Valley, which truly demonstrates self-deception in the context of the traditional economic order. I like encrypted money because it confronts all hypocrisy and reveals the truth。
Dragonfly's management partner Haseeb Qureshi:
There have always been casinos in the area of encrypted currency. The first explosive application on Bitcoin was Satoshi Dice (2012). The Ether's first explosive smart contract is King of the Ether Throne, which is essentially a Ponzi scheme. Once there is a programmable currency, people think first of all about gambling and some stupid games. It's human。
I'm sorry
Casinos are glamorous and attentionful in social media (where people can quickly win and lose wealth, and can easily convince themselves that this is your lucky moment), but if you focus only on casinos, you miss more important stories. The reason why I first entered the industry was that, 10 years ago, it seemed to me like a science fiction — that encrypted money is a better carrier of finance, that it will forever change the essence of the currency and that the balance of power between individuals and Governments will change forever — is now becoming a reality. Bitcoin is challenging State authority. They also now start buying bitcoin on their balance sheets. The currency of stability is shaping monetary policy. Central banks are competing accordingly. Unlicensed smart contracts such as Uniswap and AAVE are now larger and more valuable than Licorne. The world is changing dramatically around encrypted currencies. It may take longer than you think, but the spread of transformative technologies is almost always slower than you think。
I'm sorry
IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT THE ADVENT OF THE INTERNET HAS ALSO TAKEN MORE THAN 20 YEARS. DO YOU THINK WE WILL REPLACE THE FINANCIAL SECTOR IN JUST FIVE YEARS — THE WORLD'S MOST REGULATED AND GOVERNMENT-FOCUSED INDUSTRY? IF YOU'RE FRUSTRATED BY BEING INVOLVED IN SOME KIND OF "MODEL L2" PROJECT WITHOUT MAKING ANY MONEY, TAKE A DEEP BREATH. THIS BUSINESS DOESN'T OWE YOU ANYTHING。
Believe it or not, however, all these spiritual compromises on the timeline are actually useful. Forests can be healthy only if they regularly remove dead leaves. Without occasional fires to clean up, decay will spread and eventually the whole forest will rot. That is a cruel reality, but the only way to sustain it is to clear what is no longer working. All these negative sentiments on the time line need to be addressed in some way. Let these people go and the air will be fresher. These people either change their minds and look back to the future or leave so that the rest of us can continue to work. Because the job is not done。
Pantera Capital PartnerMason Nystrom:
I have seen an increasing number of people be pessimistic about encrypted money and its social value (or lack thereof). I think this is a mistake. Of course, speculation and misuse of encrypted currency exist. The encrypted money market is real and large, and many people are losing money at the table. But it also has a large number of positive social values that are neglected. Bitcoin has become a global, non-sovereign asset that anyone in the world can own if they have access to the Internet. It gives global popular veto/opt-out mechanisms and transfers economic control from States to individuals. Stable coins provide better financial security for people around the world and improve people ' s lives through faster access to finance, higher returns and lower transaction costs. The bank does not actually provide the proceeds of the asset. The currency of stability is changing the status quo。
I don't know
Encrypted currency provides a new financial system, but also induces speculation and corruption. Encrypted money is building a new financial system that allows people to build anything they want. Some build casinos and some develop new payment mechanisms. Some would build criminal platforms and others would develop ways to increase access to credit. The new financial system would not be perfect, but it would be far better than the status quo. If you see encrypted money only as casinos, perhaps you should take a step back and look at the benefits that encrypted money has brought and will continue to bring to society from a broader perspective。
Crypto _Painter:
Well, that's true. I can see that the author's heart is broken and that the secret market has become a bunch of gamblers and casinos...
But interestingly, I heard the same thing in 2018, and in 2022, if the logic of the encrypted market is understood, then it's obvious that when there's an influx of outside capital, there's bound to be a boom for gamblers and casinos...
And gambling markets naturally consume surplus liquidity...
So the whole encrypted market creates a cycle of "value investment" -- "confidence investment" -- "emotional speculation" -- "total disappointment"...
IN EARLY 2023, THE SOUND OF BTC AND VALUE INVESTMENTS IN THE MARKET WAS SO GREAT THAT TODAY ' S BLIGHT IS SO COLD。
But this is how the encrypted money market continues to come along in a cycle of "convincing" - "questioning" - "negative" - and we don't need to believe that a certain public chain will eventually succeed, but we just need to believe that decentralised web narratives will last forever。
In the future, there will be new mobility, followed by prosperity and a chicken hair, but as long as the reach of this narrative expands, the long-term direction of the market will eventually be upwards。
The years 2025-2026 are a phase of questioning, and there may be a period of disappointment in the future, but human nature, whether investment or speculation, has the value of eternal survival。
Casinos and gamblers are only small gaps in foam reduction, and the market has its own regulatory mechanisms, so we, in turn, thank the garbage casinos and garbage projects。
Their emergence represents a self-regulating part of the market, without which there would be no bubble-based enrichment。
Learn to accept this disgusting market phenomenon in order to accept the size of the next bubble。
Quai Network co-founder
You're absolutely right. The encrypted currency has gradually become a tool that is no longer dedicated to promoting financial sovereignty or expanding market cakes, but is extracting benefits. The line between building financial systems for the benefit of humanity and turning them into instruments of gambling is blurred. Each project and founder must make a choice: Do they really want to make the world a better place, or do they just want to participate in this game? ... while it may be easy to get numb, I suggest you take a deep look at the real projects that are still advancing the spirit of code punk. That's really exciting. That's where the real game can be played. Interestingly, I think the next direction of encrypted money is actually more like bitcoin. The narratives surrounding privacy (e.g. Zcash, Monero), old encrypted currency (e.g. Dash, Decred, etc.) and Workload Certification (POW) projects will return。
📅Published：2025/12/07 12:24
🔄Updated：2025/12/07 12:24
🔗Source：chaincatcher