The primary market seems to be caught in a multi-faceted crisis with no way out.

Author: Haotian

While visiting Lijiang and Dali, I chatted with several first-line builders, and they all mentioned a feeling: the current Crypto primary market seems to be caught in a multiple crisis of "no way out":

1) Narratives are completely meaningless, and casino culture dominates?

In fact, what is really scary is not that technical narratives cannot be delivered, but that everyone directly abandons narrative packaging and fully embraces the MEME-ized casino culture.

The slow delivery of technical narratives is at least a long-term thing. There is the innovation cost cover of the early VC round, and there is also the process of the project party's early construction, testing, mainnet launch, and other roadmap landing. The transparent display during this period can help ordinary users recognize the strength of the project and form a value judgment.

But what about now? Everything has become a game of pure community operation and capital behind the scenes, with trading opportunities exaggerated to the point of being counted by day or even minute. When the market no longer revolves around long-term construction of technical narratives, the risks of pure MEME transactions are multiplied, and for most people, this market will become more dangerous. 2) Developers are losing more quickly, and technological innovation is stagnant? Data don't lie. According to relevant data, the number of active Crypto developers on Github has dropped by nearly 30% from last year's high, while the number of engineers recruited by AI and traditional technology companies during the same period has risen wildly. The logic is simple. When OpenAI, Google, and Meta are all competing for talent in the AI ​​arms race to build a silicon-based civilization, how many developers can Crypto's narrative sentiment of "subverting the Internet" retain?

The key is that after two or three rounds of build cycles, Crypto developers are now trapped in a stage of internal consumption where their enthusiasm for innovation is rapidly declining, and there are very few technical breakthroughs from 0 to 1. Narrative concepts such as Restaking, Intent, and AI Agent have been popular one after another, but what about the practical applications? Where is PMF? For some reason, everyone is reinventing the wheel, but they are powerless and helpless to care how far the wheel can go?

Originally trapped in market noise and garbage time, most people still have a belief that if they hold on, things will get better sooner or later, but what about now? Where is the Holder?

3) Lack of incremental attraction in the OTC market, is Crypto becoming marginalized?

Crypto is obviously not attractive enough to OTC funds and talents. Look at the current situation: the real secondary altcoin season is in the US stock AI market, and the real primary innovation market is in the web2AI field. Crypto's appeal to traditional VCs and top talents is decreasing day by day, and it will be labeled as "speculation and profiteering", losing its dignity.

The reason is that Crypto has no other strong trump cards except the golden signboard of "issuing coins". Although ETFs have brought institutional funds, it is more of a recognition at the level of financial instruments. The inflow of funds from Wall Street funds is only used as asset allocation, and it is far-fetched to link with the altcoin market.

What scenarios must Crypto be used in? In the past, the value of Crypto was that it provided a relatively free experimental space for financial innovation. However, when traditional financial institutions began to embrace this market through stablecoins, ETFs, etc., what irreplaceable value can Crypto bring to users besides the technical feature of "decentralization"?

Note: This topic is only for discussion. Although confused, at least I am willing to believe that the real way out may be somewhere not far away. Staying optimistic is the best help, otherwise what else can I do!