Deep Reflection: I Wasted Eight Years in the Crypto Industry
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Deep Reflection: I Wasted Eight Years in the Crypto Industry
Came initially for freedom and change, only to find oneself ultimately building a global casino disguised as financial innovation.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Ken Chen
Compiled by: ChainCatcher
Initial Motivation
I became interested in politics during my teenage years. Among all the books that radicalized my thinking, the works of Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged) had the greatest influence. In 2016, with a heartfelt belief in libertarianism, I donated to Gary Johnson. Besides being a devoted follower of Rand, I was also deeply interested in computer programming, so cryptocurrency felt like a natural next step for me. The spirit of cypherpunks strongly attracted me. The idea of Bitcoin as a private bank for the wealthy fascinated me. The thought of carrying a billion-dollar asset across borders has always been profoundly powerful to me.
However, over time, I began to feel lost in the crypto space. After going all-in full-time, the initial allure of crypto’s transformative power gradually faded. I became disillusioned with my target customers and the actual groups I was truly fighting for. I completely misunderstood the difference between crypto’s real users and its marketed audience. I fully believed the claim that cryptocurrency helps decentralize the financial system, but in reality, it turned out to be nothing more than a massive speculative and gambling superstructure—a mere replica of the existing economy.
Reality slapped me hard. I wasn't building a new financial system—I built a casino. A casino that doesn’t call itself a casino, yet it's the largest, always-online, multiplayer gambling venue our generation has ever conceived. On one hand, I’m proud that I spent most of my twenties building this casino. On the other hand, I feel I’ve wasted my entire twenties on it. I’ve wasted my life on it, but at least I made a lot of money from it.
Watch What They Do, Not What They Say
Cryptocurrency is confusing. On one hand, some advocates claim they want to completely replace the existing financial system with a blockchain-based alternative. I can easily imagine such a system—where you only need USDC or Bitcoin in your digital wallet to send a billion dollars to anyone in the world within seconds. That idea is powerful, and I still believe in it today.
But incentives have completely distorted reality. In practice, every market participant eagerly pours capital into developing the next Layer 1 (Aptos, Sui, Sei, ICP, etc.). The 2020 Layer 1 wars resulted in only one clear winner—Solana. This led to a strong bias toward claiming the fourth position (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and then everything else). These incentives support hundreds of billions in market cap—but do they actually contribute to net progress toward the ideal new financial system? Despite venture capitalists writing 5,000-word essays defending this view, the answer is no. It hasn't helped build a new system. In fact, it has nearly burned through everyone’s money—both retail and VCs—so in the new financial system, everyone ends up with less money.
It's not just about L1s. Across the crypto space, I can cite many similar examples—spot DEXs, perpetual DEXs, prediction markets, meme coin platforms, and so on. The frenzy and competition within these niches contribute nothing positive to the ultimate goal of building a better financial system. Contrary to what VCs may claim, we don’t need to move the casino to Mars.
Financialization of Gambling
If I said I entered the crypto space without any economic motivation, that would be an outright lie. As a reader, you might think it sounds hypocritical for me to now quit the industry after making enough money. Yes, maybe I am hypocritical. But perhaps I'm also simply disgusted by the swamp that fuels financialization and gamification of the economy.
Making huge profits off each other through zero-sum games is not a sustainable path to long-term wealth accumulation. It may seem like it on the surface, but it isn't. Eight years in crypto have completely destroyed my ability to recognize sustainable business models. In crypto, you don’t need a successful product or company to make money. The industry is filled with tokens that have enormous market caps yet are used by almost no one.
The real world doesn’t work this way. If you genuinely want to create value for customers—not just gambling plus entertainment (which, by the way, is exactly what casinos do)—then this zero-sum business model simply won’t work.
Conclusion
I once thought financial nihilism was a cute and harmless concept. And I figured continuously launching zero-sum games to the next generation was fine. I have no doubt Bitcoin will one day reach $1 million. But that has nothing to do with the financial games this industry is currently manufacturing.
This industry mindset is extremely harmful, and I believe it will lead to the long-term collapse of social mobility among younger generations. You’ve already seen it unfold. What matters most, I think, is that we find the courage within ourselves to resist the lure of these worthless games.
CMS Holdings once said a profound line: "Do you want to make money, or do you want to be right?" This time, I choose to be right.
--------------
Editor’s note: This blogger’s article sparked widespread discussion among industry figures on X. Below are some of the popular responses:
Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero:
I respect that you recognized your moral compass no longer aligns with your current actions. That takes courage and self-reflection, and it’s not easy. But from a broader perspective, I believe the natural state of crypto is almost the end-state of the entire economy—so I’m not sure if that’s something worth worrying about. The appeal of crypto lies in stripping us down to our most fundamental, primal level, forcing us to build from first principles. I often recall the opening scene of the TV show Silicon Valley because it truthfully exposes the self-deception embedded in traditional economic order. What I love about crypto is that it confronts all pretense head-on and reveals the truth.
Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly:
Casinos have always existed in crypto. The first breakout application on Bitcoin was Satoshi Dice (2012). The first viral smart contract on Ethereum was King of the Ether Throne (2015), which was essentially a Ponzi scheme. Once programmable money exists, people immediately think of gambling and playing silly games. It’s human nature.
……
The casinos are flashy, get lots of attention on social media (where people quickly win and lose fortunes, making it easy to believe it’s your lucky moment), but if you only focus on the glitz of the casino, you’ll miss the more important story. The reason I originally entered this industry seemed like science fiction ten years ago—crypto as a superior vehicle for finance, permanently changing the nature of money and shifting the balance of power between individuals and governments—and today, that story is becoming reality. Bitcoin is challenging state authority. States are now buying Bitcoin onto their balance sheets. Stablecoins are influencing monetary policy. Central banks are scrambling to respond. Permissionless smart contracts like Uniswap and AAVE now rival or exceed the scale and value of unicorn fintech companies. The world is undergoing a seismic shift around crypto. Maybe it takes longer than you think, but the adoption of transformative technologies is almost always slower than expected.
……
We all know it took over 20 years for the internet to emerge. Did you really expect us to replace finance—the most regulated and government-scrutinized industry in the world—in just five years? If you’re frustrated because you participated in some “meme coin L2” project and didn’t get rich, take a deep breath. This industry doesn’t owe you anything.
Yet, whether you believe it or not, all these psychological adjustments around timelines are actually beneficial. A forest stays healthy only when deadwood is regularly cleared. Without occasional fires to burn it away, rot spreads and eventually the whole forest decays. It’s a harsh reality, but the only way to sustain growth is to remove what no longer serves. All the negativity around timelines needs to be purged somehow. Let those people keep leaving—then the air becomes fresher. Either they change their minds and refocus on the future, or they should leave so the rest of us can continue working. Because the work isn’t done.
Mason Nystrom, Partner at Pantera Capital:
No doubt Bitcoin will one day reach $1 million. But that has nothing to do with the financial games this industry is currently manufacturing. I see more and more people expressing pessimism about crypto and its social value (or lack thereof). I think this view is mistaken. Of course, speculation and misuse of crypto exist. The crypto market is real and large, and many people lose money at the tables. But it also contains significant overlooked positive social value. Bitcoin has become a global, non-sovereign asset that anyone in the world can own with just an internet connection. It gives individuals worldwide a veto power / opt-out mechanism, shifting economic control from states to individuals. Stablecoins offer better financial resilience for people everywhere, improving lives through faster settlements, higher yields, and lower transaction costs. Banks don’t actually provide yield on assets. Stablecoins are changing that.
…………
Crypto offers a new financial system, but it also enables speculation and degeneracy. Crypto is building a new financial system where people can build whatever they want. Some will build casinos; others will develop new payment mechanisms. Some will build platforms for crime; others will create pathways for broader access to credit. The new financial system won’t be perfect, but it will be far superior to the status quo. If you only see crypto as a casino, perhaps you should step back and consider the broader range of societal benefits crypto has already delivered—and will continue to deliver.
Crypto Trader Crypto_Painter:
Well, reality is indeed this way. You can tell the author’s “Daoist heart is broken,” openly stating that the crypto market has devolved into a playground for gamblers and casinos...
But interestingly, I heard the exact same arguments in 2018 and again in 2022. If you understand how the crypto market works, you’ll realize that whenever external liquidity floods in, it inevitably breeds prosperity for gamblers and casinos...
And gambling-driven markets naturally consume surplus liquidity...
Thus, the entire crypto market forms a cycle of “value investing” → “belief investing” → “emotional speculation” → “complete disillusionment”...
Recall how loud the voices promoting BTC and value investing were at the beginning of 2023—how quiet and bleak it is now.
But the crypto market has always moved forward through cycles of “believing” → “doubting” → “denying.” We don’t need to believe any single blockchain will ultimately succeed—only that the narrative of decentralized networks can endure.
In the future, new liquidity will enter again, followed by another boom and bust. But as long as the narrative continues to spread, the long-term trajectory of this market will remain upward.
2025–2026 is a phase of doubt. There may be further phases of disappointment ahead. But human nature remains unchanged—whether investing or speculating, both have eternal value.
Casinos and gamblers are merely small leaks that deflate bubbles. The market has its own self-regulating mechanisms, so conversely, we should even thank those garbage casinos and garbage projects.
Their emergence indicates parts of the market require self-correction. Without bubbles, there would be no phenomena of profiting from bubble deflation.
Only by learning to accept these nauseating market phenomena can we prepare for the next round of bubble expansion.
Alan, Co-founder of Quai Network:
You're absolutely right. Cryptocurrency has gradually become a tool not for advancing financial sovereignty or expanding the pie, but for extracting value. The line between building financial systems that benefit humanity and turning them into gambling tools is blurry. Every project and founder must decide: Are they genuinely trying to make the world better, or are they just playing the game? ...It's easy to become numb, but I suggest you dig deeper and discover the real projects still advancing the cypherpunk ethos. That’s where the real excitement lies. That’s where positive-sum games actually happen. Interestingly, I believe the next wave of crypto will actually resemble Bitcoin more. Narratives around privacy (e.g., Zcash, Monero), legacy cryptocurrencies (e.g., Dash, Decred), and proof-of-work (PoW) projects will make a comeback.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
@kenchangh
