Narrative is not a crime Crypto lives on because of narrative

Written by: Haotian

Why is "Narrative Uselessness Theory" a cancer in the industry?

1) Narrative is not a single concept, but the result of fermentation after the concept is accepted by the mainstream market. After a certain concept is proposed, there is no "narrative" at the beginning. Only when there are more related entrepreneurial projects, the market focuses on discussion, users have a brand impression, and capital begins to be deployed, can a narrative be formed.

A single concept only represents technical differentiation and cannot form a narrative. Many people are just disgusted with the behavior of "creating concepts" to attract attention and make profits, not "narrative" itself;

2) Narrative must follow a certain logic of business evolution. Whether the technical framework is solid enough, whether the front-end and back-end product systems are complete, whether the business model is feasible, whether the ecological landing application can keep up, what is the market user growth rate, whether the future revenue expectations can be settled, etc. must be considered. Lack of logic or continuity does not constitute a true narrative.

VCs make heavy investments and entrepreneurs all in build based on these business logic deductions. MEME, a topical and emotional Fomo investment product, can find investment logic, but to some extent it is "transaction game theory" rather than "business evolution trend". Therefore, strictly speaking, MEME is an emotional "narrative" that lacks business logic.

3) Narratives can gather the market's "attention, innovation, funds, talents, and resources" to generate synergy. Why do entrepreneurs like to chase narratives? It's good for financing, communication, recruitment, and resource integration, and it's twice the result with half the effort.

This means that scammers may use narratives to extract market liquidity. Fortunately, the business logic of narratives is destined to make scammers have to deal with VCs, exchanges, technical geeks, researchers, KOLs, and the majority of users at the same time. The reason why there are many fraud traps in the MEME direction is that the business logic level on a chain has failed.

4) Narratives will evolve themselves (extend, differentiate or even die), and there is an innovation cycle. Modular narratives have driven the development power of the B-end market to explode, but too much dispersion will promote the arrival of "chain abstraction"; ZK was originally just a technical means, but when there are too many homogeneous/heterogeneous chains, it will give birth to zkVM as a new focus; the Restaking narrative has driven the TVL points Farming boom in the short term, but if the commercialization of AVS services is not as good as demand, the entire narrative will also be at risk of extinction.

In essence, the market does not reject "narratives". If technology cannot be implemented, applications cannot be implemented, and business cannot be closed, everyone's investment expectations cannot be "delivered", "narratives" will be dominated by scams and will be rejected.

5) Narratives can promote the maturity and progress of the industry. The value of a narrative that can withstand the test of time is beyond words. Crypto has been adhering to the grand narrative of "decentralization" for so many years, which has made many Crypto practitioners successful. Narratives can be concocted, organized, and manipulated, but such narrative logic is destined to be short-lived.

The narratives continue to emerge, evolve, iterate, and shuffle, and this endless Crypto innovation vitality is the best proof of the market's maturity.

Instead of suffering in the "desert" of faith, it is better to cultivate in the "oasis" of narrative.