Crypto shame: Lack of self-worth, did I choose the wrong industry?
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Crypto shame: Lack of self-worth, did I choose the wrong industry?
Making money yet feeling a lack of sense of value has already become the烦恼 of happiness.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy TechFlow
On August 5, the crypto market plunged. Amid the downturn, a candid reflection from Péter Szilágyi, an Ethereum Foundation member and lead developer of Geth, struck a particularly painful chord.
He took to X (formerly Twitter) to question the real-world value of the cryptocurrency industry, admitting he often wonders if he chose the wrong career path.
“Take SpaceX, for example. They send rockets to Mars? Humanity advances. Their rocket fails and explodes? Humanity still learns and progresses. All outcomes contribute to progress.
In contrast, the crypto industry is essentially a casino for fools (apologies to the few exceptions). Prices go up? Great, time to buy a sports car. Prices crash? Lives are ruined. What has this contributed to humanity?
Yes, building a new monetary system takes time. Of course… But can’t we do something useful along the way? Everyone wants to be the next Vitalik; no one wants to build anything truly useful. Everyone just wants to extract value.
Honestly, I don’t see why this system shouldn’t collapse. On a macro level, what would we lose? So far, everything crypto has done is merely a massive wealth transfer. I haven’t seen any real value creation.
Let me clarify: getting rich by luck and then redirecting funds into non-crypto ventures doesn’t count as a success story for crypto. At best, it’s the tale of a lucky philanthropist. More likely, it’s just simple portfolio diversification.
In my view, this industry should have already started creating genuinely useful things—things people actually want to use. Otherwise, it should just shut down.
At least Bitcoin tried (though failed) to become a safe-haven asset. But everything else is just selling shovels, and there’s no gold rush in sight.”
This sense of “industry nihilism” and “lack of purpose” isn’t unique to Péter Szilágyi. It’s a quiet sentiment shared by many professionals within the space today.
Three months ago, I conducted a small survey among peers and found that many从业者 are considering “retirement,” gradually stepping away from the industry. Some founders are actively seeking buyers to cash out, while seasoned veterans have mostly gone inactive...
When asked why, one reason cited was that the industry has matured—now that institutions like BlackRock are entering, alpha opportunities for ordinary individuals are dwindling. The other reason? Growing fatigue and a lack of meaningful purpose in their work.
After years in the trenches, many从业者 say they’ve become disillusioned. Idealism is long gone. They now strictly separate work from life, focusing solely on making money. The industry, at its core, is seen as a massive wealth redistribution machine—get in, make money, and exit. That’s the winning strategy.
A client manager at a trading platform said most investors are gamblers—arrogant when winning, threatening legal action when losing. In her view, gamblers don’t deserve sympathy.
One project founder admitted that when he first entered crypto, he dreamed of building a breakout product. But he soon realized that was naive. Today, narrative trumps community, which trumps connections, which trumps product. Even product development is “forced” to incorporate Ponzi-like mechanics. Even Paradigm, once a leader in shaping crypto narratives, has become adept at launching speculative projects. Finding product-market fit (PMF) remains a distant goal—in the meantime, survival comes first.
Speculation and profit remain the primary drivers of this industry. The price chart is crypto’s heartbeat. Everything else is just a veneer to rationalize trading behavior.
This brings to mind a recent buzzword: financial shame.
At the recent graduation ceremony of Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Advanced Finance Institute, Vice Dean Li Feng remarked:
“Some people now believe finance adds no real value, seeing it as non-core technology—a mere transaction cost. Some financial professionals, including our alumni, even feel professional shame.”
Amid ongoing financial sector reforms, this term reveals a collective unease within the industry.
Little do they know, this same anxiety—what we might call ‘crypto shame’—has existed in the cryptocurrency world for years.
Many从业者 deliberately conceal their identities when interacting externally—not only as self-protection but also to avoid judgment and stigma. To the public, the industry is still labeled as “scamming retail investors.” As a result, many insiders adopt alter egos in social settings: bar owner, U.S. stock investor, generic finance worker…
Only in two situations do crypto investors proudly declare their affiliation on social media: first, during bull markets, when confidence rises with prices—proof through gains; second, when gaining recognition from mainstream figures or markets, such as the SEC approving a Bitcoin spot ETF, or endorsements from Musk or Trump…
Even today, crypto assets and the industry as a whole continue to seek broader support and validation.
How do we overcome crypto shame and the lack of value perception?
First, this “sentiment” isn’t new. Since Bitcoin’s inception, doubts about the industry’s value have persisted.
Lao Duan, co-founder of 8btc, was once a passionate Bitcoin evangelist in 2011. Two years later, he transformed into a critic, stating: “Bitcoin’s greatest value right now is fulfilling Chinese people’s fantasy of getting rich overnight.”
Whether in 2011 or today in 2024, zooming out over time, we can still say: “We are still early.” Compared to industries like the internet, crypto remains in its infancy. It will continue traversing the troughs and darkness of the technology adoption curve—bubbles bursting, public skepticism, followed by rebirth… There’s so much unknown, so much worth exploring.
We must first acknowledge the current flaws: overemphasis on infrastructure, underdevelopment of applications, lack of true PMF. Beyond Bitcoin and stablecoins, most projects remain stuck in technological fantasies—less grounded than even meme coins.
Identifying problems is easy. The hard part is building solutions—achieving real results. We need to offer more tolerance and support to entrepreneurs, especially those focused on applications.
Recently, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin echoed similar thoughts in his latest speech, “Ethereum’s Next Decade”: “Developers should boldly explore and build impactful applications. Don’t just replicate Web2—be pioneers. By 2034, we won’t just have desktops and mobile devices, but wearables, locally-run AI, AR…”
Blockchain and cryptocurrency aren’t about productivity revolutions—they’re about refining production relationships. Hence, they won’t deliver immediate positive feedback like ChatGPT did. In the future, crypto may need to actively integrate with emerging technologies like AI and AR.
Recently, a group of industry participants joined an African safari tour requiring USD payments. The lengthy bank transfers, contract reviews, high SWIFT fees, and processing costs frustrated both the African guide and travelers alike. Eventually, the guide was introduced to stablecoins like USDT/USDC… Compared to that, the traditional SWIFT system feels like a prehistoric relic.
From Russia to the African continent, dollar-pegged stablecoins are quietly driving global change. Meanwhile, Middle Eastern nations like Saudi Arabia are actively joining China’s central bank-led mBridge project for cross-border CBDC payments…
It’s a long journey requiring immense patience. But even incremental progress can make a difference in the world.
Finally, the editor wants to say:
Some feel “crypto shame” because they believe they’ve created no real value, leaving them spiritually unfulfilled. Others feel ashamed because they’ve lost money year after year, collecting every possible way to get rekt—and are too embarrassed to admit they’re old degens…
After all, in today’s brutal market, for most people, making money yet feeling a lack of purpose is already a fortunate problem to have.
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