Is the crypto industry at a low point again? How should we deal with it?

Recently, I have browsed various social media and have seen many comments criticizing or mocking the current status of the encryption industry. There are many people who have gained "fame and fortune" in this industry. I will not comment on whether they are right or wrong.

But from the perspective of a practitioner, there is no need to stand on the commanding heights and abuse like a saint just because the industry is in another trough. Perhaps they have forgotten that if it were not for the existence and development of this industry, they would not have achieved what they have today. As the saying goes, "Don't forget your original intention" roughly expresses this meaning.

Through these ridicules, I would like to talk to you about the challenges and opportunities facing the current encryption industry.

Of course, before that we have to admit a current situation: Now the entire crypto community is facing a low period similar to that in 2018 or 2022, not only because of price issues, but also because of people's doubts and hesitations about the industry.

If the past two years were years of hope, then by now most people have sneered at this hope, largely because the long-awaited "copycat season" has not arrived, and the industry does not seem to have precipitated any new narratives in the past two years, or some new narratives have become cannon fodder, so the combination of the two has become a huge mountain weighing on the participants.

But the real downfall of the industry may not come from the industry itself, but also from an external factor - In recent years, the development of AI has been so rapid that it has captured the attention of most investors, and the crypto industry is no exception. In the past year, I learned that many practitioners have turned to the AI ​​circle, especially developers, and this has become the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Today, when the copycat season disappears, when the comments of "no new narrative" emerge, and when AI madly seizes the market, the only thing left in the crypto circle is the sighs of practitioners.

By the way, there is also the recently popular "coin stock" track, which directly and legitimately snatched the last bit of liquidity.

Therefore, facing these subjective or objective problems, what lies ahead for the crypto community is another trough period, but to be honest, without the trough, how can there be a climax? So where are the current or future opportunities for this industry?

First of all, regarding the issue of the cottage season, let’s not predict whether there will be another cottage season as crazy as 2017 or 2021, but if we only look at the price and multiples, there are still many myths of wealth creation in the past two years.

It’s just that it’s no longer a “full-army attack” with a flood of water, but only the dance of some or some sectors, but it is still worthy of participants with certain cognition, so this trend is likely to continue, and we need to adjust our mentality and expectations.

Compared to the Internet era, when the Internet bubble burst, Amazon's stock price fell by 90%, and in the following 20 years, it rose more than 600 times, which was more than 40 times the peak at that time. Then finding Amazon in the encryption industry has become a new opportunity for the industry.

Secondly, regarding the new narrative, look at the recent hot stablecoins. Whether in the West or the East, everyone is talking about it. At the Shanghai Lujiazui Forum held not long ago, Pan Gongsheng, governor of the central bank, mentioned stablecoins for the first time. This is evident. At the same time, Xinhuanet also rarely published an article introducing stablecoins over the weekend.

If stablecoins are just a small application in an industry, then their influence is underestimated. I think its success is no less than the launch of Alipay that year. It solved the problem of online payment security, which led to the development of e-commerce and various online trading activities. Perhaps looking back 10 years later, the change happened that year.

At the same time, the prosperity of stablecoins will greatly expand the number of users in the crypto circle, and can truly open up the market, so as to bring in the long-awaited new users and usher in the industry's "iPhone moment", but it is still just the beginning, and it may take 1-2 years to settle.

Finally, regarding AI, I have always felt that blockchain is not a technology that is completely used to serve people many years ago. To a large extent, it will be a native tool for AI to solve the information transmission between machines and the real interaction between machines and people. At present, it seems that this direction is being fulfilled.

With the development of Agent, how to ensure that the communication between machines is safe and reliable, and can be verified by humans, seems to have no other way except to use blockchain, unless we hope that the future Agent is out of control and out of reality.

At present, this direction is still very early for blockchain. Of course, the Agent combined with blockchain mentioned here is not the kind that was hyped in January this year. Most of them are just hype, don't take it seriously.

So, When some changes have already happened or are quietly approaching, what we can do is not to resist, but to accept it with pleasure and follow the trend.

However, the author believes that abuse is not a kind of compliance, but an unacceptable struggle. After expressing our emotions, we still have to move forward, because rationality will always overcome sensibility, and the encryption industry will not always be in a trough period, so why not go against the wind again?