Crypto, I Love You—But We Need to Talk
Crypto, I’ve built for you. Fought for you. Defended you.
It’s not me, it’s you.
We’ve chased hype, torched trust, and forgotten how to deliver real-world value.
We’re ten years in, and the strongest pitch this industry still has is: number go up. No breakout consumer apps. No mass adoption. Just speculation, jargon, and grift.
We’ve Lost the Narrative
Crypto began as a rebellion. A way out of an arcane financial system that fails far too many people around the world. The early builders had conviction. We were solving real problems.
But somewhere along the way, crypto became a playground for insiders—optimized for extraction, not creation. Snipers, VCs, and platforms siphon value. Retail gets fleeced.
This isn’t a market. It’s a rigged casino. And retail is the mark.
We Mistook Rhetoric for Reality
“A global onchain economy that boosts innovation, creativity, and freedom.”
Sounds inspiring—until you stop and ask: WTF does that actually mean? Normal people have no idea what “onchain” is. Worse—we’ve made them fear it. We still have no good way to show them its benefits.
People don’t want to “get onchain” (even if they know what that means). They want to get things done—faster, cheaper, better.
Until we deliver that, everything else is noise.
We Torched User Trust
The early internet won because the value was obvious. AI is repeating that playbook— it’s clear and just works.
Crypto gave us six-figure pics of melting-faced monkeys, memecoins, and pump-and-dumps.
And when users asked valid questions, we mocked them:
“NGMI.”
“Have fun staying poor.”
Worse, we celebrated the con — called it “culture.”
The truth? We’ve got more founders in jail than great products in market.
We have to earn it—not with vibes, but with value.
We Are Solving Problems No One Has
Crypto’s best talking points get applause in the echo chamber.
| Talking Point | Crypto Rationale | Real-World Rebuttal |
|---|---|---|
| Decentralization & Censorship | Avoid deplatforming | Most users expect platforms to remove scammers, trolls, and harassment. |
| True Ownership & Portability | Move assets across platforms | Nobody’s trying to port Fortnite skins into FIFA. If it made sense, it would’ve happened. |
| Better Monetization & Lower Fees | More take-home pay | “If I got cheaper fees on less views, who cares? TikTok pays me.” |
| Trustless Systems | Avoid hidden manipulation | Most creators trust Stripe more than an RPC error message. |
| Global Access | Anyone can use it, anywhere | “Cool. But what does it do?” |
Let’s be honest: if your pitch only makes sense to a panel of VCs, it’s not a product—it’s propaganda.
So What Do We Do?
Forget the slogans. Forget the conferences. Forget the vibes. Here’s (some of) what it’ll take to bring 100 million users into crypto.
1. Products, Not Pipes
Let’s stop pretending chains are the product. Comcast isn’t the internet. AT&T isn’t the app store. Neither is your L1 or L2.
Branding your chain like it’s the main character is delusional. No one cares about your TPS, rollup method, or TVL.
The job of a chain is to enable developers. Period. That means:
- DevX that rivals Stripe
- Docs that are comprehensive, up to date, searchable, and AI-ingestable
- Error messages that mean something
- Built-in monetization and growth loops
- Killer UX for devs and users
We need platforms that enable great products to be built: fast, easy, and valuable.
You’re not the hero. The apps are.
Empower the devs — not just the existing crypto ones but the brand new ones..
2. Make Crypto Disappear
Users don’t care about bridges, wallets, gas, or seed phrases. They care about speed, delight, and control.
Crypto today asks too much, and gives too little. Install a wallet. Manage a key. Buy some tokens. Bridge your funds. All for what? A worse version of what already exists?
But of course, you wouldn’t understand that. You’re only talking to “users” on Twitter and Farcaster. You get your likes and pat yourself on the back. You’re reinforcing your own narrative.
Get outside the bubble.
Talk to people who’ve never used a wallet. That’s the goal. Great tech disappears into the background. So should crypto.
Bottom line: if boomers can’t use it, it’s not ready.
3. Nail Discovery—Blockchain’s Superpower
Web2 locked user data in closed cookie pools and walled gardens. Onchain is open. That’s a superpower, if we use it.
We should be building:
- Lookalike audiences
- Transparent attribution
- Cross-platform referrals
- Interoperable growth loops
Instead, we act like discovery’s solved. It’s not. That’s why no one is showing up.
The opportunity to build “Google of crypto” is sitting right there. Someone needs to build it.
4. Solve Crypto-Native Problems
Most “onchain” apps today are just Web2 knockoffs with worse UX and a token taped on. We need to go where crypto is the only answer:
- Why can’t I loan $500 to someone in India with a few taps?
- Why can’t I pay by the minute to watch a livestream?
- Why can’t I get paid when someone forks my GitHub repo?
- Can I verify that the video I’m watching isn’t a deepfake?
That’s the frontier. Go there.
5. Prioritize Outcomes Over Ideology
Not everything needs a token. Not every creator wants to be monetize a post. The financialization of everything isn’t liberation—it’s exhaustion.
We’re pushing creators to monetize every moment, tokenize every relationship, and extract every drop of “engagement.” No one wants to live inside a Black Mirror hedge fund. They want:
• Reach
• Revenue
• Delight
• Control
Deliver that—and the ideals will follow. Reverse it, and the whole thing collapses.
Enough Talk—Let’s Build Something Real
Crypto doesn’t need another manifesto. It needs builders with taste, empathy, conviction, and urgency.
If we don’t prove it now—and wrestle it back from the grifters—we’ll fade into irrelevance.
If you’re tired of the hype cycles and ready to build something real — let’s talk.
And if you’re already building something for everyday people — show me.
Crypto is not dead. But it is time to grow up.