For over a decade, the blockchain discussion has been hampered by a truism: “Price matters.” The argument is simple: developers won’t build unless they can bet on the future price of a token. Speculation, they claim, is the “engine” of innovation. This is not only false—it’s completely reversed. History shows unequivocally that foundational technologies aren’t built on the illusions of speculation; they’re forged in the crucible of utility. Price follows power, not the other way around. Edison didn’t peddle “lightbulb coins” before perfecting the filament. Noyce didn’t issue “chip tokens” to fund integrated circuits. Cerf and Kahn didn’t mint “ARPANET NFTs” to spur the development of TCP/IP. They built because their utility was unquestionable, the problems were urgent, and the needs were real. The financial benefits of these systems can only be realized once they operate at scale in the real world. The "price matters" camp in cryptocurrency inverts this model. They use price as an incentive, hoping utility will follow. The result is clear: empty hype cycles, short-lived adoption, and fragile ecosystems. Every leap forward in modern infrastructure tells the same story. The electric grid wasn't born out of bets on "watt tokens"; it was built to provide reliable, scalable power to entire cities and countries, funded by serious, long-term investments in physical infrastructure, not retail speculators. The integrated circuit broke the "tyranny of numbers" in electronics, driven by clear needs from NASA and the Department of Defense. The price of a chip fell from $32 to $1.25 not because of speculation but because the technology proved itself indispensable. The internet? It was built to protect against nuclear attack and connect research networks, not to fill anyone's crypto wallet. The internet was funded entirely by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), and for years its commercial use was illegal. The protocols we rely on today were born without a single speculative asset. The lesson of every era is the same: capability comes first, then financialization. In the blockchain space, lasting value doesn't come from betting on volatility charts. It comes from providing legitimate, scalable public infrastructure capable of processing billions of daily microtransactions and solving real-world problems. If we measure success by speculation, we'll build castles of sand. If we measure success by infrastructure, we'll lay foundation stones. Why the "Price First" Model Failed: In every major technological revolution, the earliest and most committed supporters aren't speculators chasing quick returns, but rather the most demanding users who have no tolerance for failure. In the blockchain space, this principle has been abandoned by those who advocate a "token first" strategy, and the cracks are clear. Misaligned Incentives: When founders cash out prematurely through token sales, the motivation shifts from solving complex, systemic problems to fueling hype cycles. This isn't just a cultural flaw; it's structural. Founders have a legal obligation to serve equity holders, not token holders. The result? Value capture is optimized at the company level, while network participants who create real utility are left holding volatile assets. Short-termism: Price inflation rewards short-lived behaviors that soar today but undermine sustainability tomorrow. Once these incentives disappear, protocols supported by inflated token rewards experience a collapse in both participation and value. Market disruption: When token price becomes the core metric, engineering roadmaps tend to focus on fueling speculation rather than increasing throughput, reducing transaction costs, or meeting regulatory compliance. The "blockchain mania" of 2017 exemplified this: companies issued vague announcements, saw their valuations soar with Bitcoin, and then evaporated within 30 days due to a lack of tangible progress. User friction: Products with high barrier-to-entry tokens force users to become speculators before becoming actual users. Rather than providing a seamless, purpose-built service, it exposes potential users to the volatility of a "pump and dump" market. This attracts gamblers, not the long-term participants necessary to sustain the ecosystem. Once the airdrop miners and yield-seekers depart, the entire L1 ecosystem is hollowed out. Price may attract a crowd, but it can't build a foundation. The Builder Reality: Intrinsic Motivation + Direct Returns Ask those laying the backbone of the internet, designing database engines, or scaling blockchain infrastructure why they do it, and you'll never hear "because I can trade crypto." They build to solve meaningful problems, earn the respect of their peers, and push the boundaries of what's possible. Open source software proves this every day. Linux, Python, Apache, Kubernetes—the invisible arteries of the global economy, carrying trillions of dollars in value—none of them were born from speculative token sales. Decades of open source history have made it clear: world-changing infrastructure doesn't need tokens to survive; it requires a direct connection between value created and value captured. Projects that endure are funded because they solve critical problems, not because they're riding a hype cycle. In this model, rewards stem from measurable impact, allowing builders to focus on performance, reliability, and adoption—the very principles blockchain must uphold for enduring success. A Legitimate, Scalable Path to the Future If blockchain is to move beyond its speculative adolescence, it must adhere to the same rigorous principles that built the internet, the power grid, and modern computing. These systems didn't emerge by accident; they were built through the deliberate, systematic effort to solve problems at scale. It starts with a real, measurable problem, one with clear beneficiaries and definable outcomes. It's not about vague promises of "future potential," but about urgent, concrete challenges that can be solved today. Success must be measured by utility metrics: cost savings, fraud reduction, operational efficiency, not vanity metrics like "total value locked," which can be inflated overnight by liquid capital and vanish just as quickly. The metrics that matter are those that weather market cycles and demonstrate enduring value. The path forward is not unknown. We've seen it with every transformative infrastructure of the past century. The question isn't whether it's feasible, but whether blockchain has the discipline and focus to make it happen. Conclusion Price speculation is fleeting. Utility continues to grow. If blockchain is to become a permanent, integral layer of the global economy, we must stop viewing token price as our North Star. Speculation will find its outlet, and markets will emerge for it. As builders, investors, and policymakers, it's our responsibility to ensure that speculation is backed by real, legitimate, and scalable assets.
History will not judge us by the peak of a bull market, but by the infrastructure we leave behind when the dust settles—infrastructure that withstands market cycles, serves billions of people, and provides verifiable trust at global scale.
That is the future worth building. It is the only future that lasts.
Miyuki
Brian
Anais
Alex
Joy