Deep Reflection: I Wasted Eight Years in the Cryptocurrency Industry

Author: Ken Chan, Co-founder of Aevo

Compiled by: Hu Tao, ChainCatcher

Initial Motivation

I have been interested in politics since my teenage years. Among all the books that radicalized my thoughts, the works of Ayn Rand ("The Fountainhead," "Atlas Shrugged") had the greatest impact. In 2016, with a heart full of liberal ideals, I donated to Gary Johnson. Besides being a devoted follower of Rand, I was also very interested in computer programming, so cryptocurrency felt like a natural progression for me. The spirit of cypherpunk deeply attracted me. The concept of Bitcoin as a private bank for the wealthy fascinated me. The idea of being able to cross borders with a billion dollars in assets has always been a shocking thought for me.
However, over time, I felt I lost my direction in the cryptocurrency space. After fully committing myself, the initial allure of cryptocurrency's transformative power gradually faded. I felt disappointed with my target customers and the groups I was truly fighting for. I completely misunderstood the difference between the actual users of cryptocurrency and the promotional targets. Cryptocurrency claims to help decentralize the financial system, which I fully believed, but in reality, it is just a super system of speculation and gambling, merely a 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, but it is the largest, always-online multiplayer casino ever conceived by our generation. On one hand, I feel proud that I spent at least my twenties building this casino. On the other hand, I feel like I wasted my entire twenties on it. I wasted my life on it, but at least I made quite a bit of money from it.

Look at What They Do, Not What They Say

Cryptocurrency is confusing. On one hand, some promoters claim they want to completely replace the existing financial system with a blockchain-based system. I can easily imagine such a system—where you only need to hold USDC or Bitcoin in your bank account to send a billion dollars to anyone in the world within seconds. This idea is powerful, and I still believe in it today.

However, the incentive mechanisms have completely distorted reality. In the real world, every market participant is eager to invest funds into the development of the next generation of Layer 1 (Aptos, Sui, Sei, ICP, etc.). The outcome of the Layer 1 battle in 2020 was that there was ultimately only one winner—Solana. This led to a strong tendency for people to choose the fourth position (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and other projects). This incentive mechanism supported hundreds of billions of dollars in market capitalization, but did it really promote a net growth towards the ideal new financial system? Despite venture capitalists writing 5,000-word articles to elaborate on this point, the answer is no; it did not contribute to the establishment of a new system. In fact, it nearly burned through everyone's money (both retail investors and venture capitalists), so in the new financial system, everyone has less money.

I am not just targeting L1 platforms. In the cryptocurrency space, I can cite many similar examples—spot decentralized exchanges (DEX), real-time decentralized exchanges (DEX), prediction markets, meme coin platforms, and so on. The frenzy and competition in these niche markets do not positively contribute to the ultimate goal of building a more complete financial system. Contrary to what venture capitalists say, we do not need to move the casino to Mars.

Economic Gambling

If I say that I joined the cryptocurrency space without any economic motivation, that would be a lie. As a reader, you might think it sounds hypocritical for me to decide to exit the cryptocurrency industry since I've already made enough money. Yes, perhaps I am indeed hypocritical. But maybe I am just disgusted by the mire that fosters economic financialization and gambling.

Profiting from each other in a zero-sum game is not a way to accumulate wealth in the long term. It may seem that way on the surface, but in reality, it is not. Eight years of navigating the cryptocurrency space has completely destroyed my ability to discern sustainable business models. In the cryptocurrency field, you can make money without a successful business or product. The cryptocurrency industry is filled with a large number of tokens that have extremely high market capitalizations but are hardly noticed.

The real world does not operate this way. If you want to truly create value for customers, rather than just gambling and entertainment (by the way, that's what casinos do), then this zero-sum game business model simply does not work.

Conclusion

I once thought financial nihilism was a lovely and harmless concept. Moreover, I felt that constantly launching zero-sum games for the next generation was fine. I have no doubt that Bitcoin will one day reach a million dollars. But this has nothing to do with the financial games that the industry is concocting.

This industry mentality is extremely harmful, and I believe it will lead to a long-term collapse of social mobility for the younger generation. You have witnessed all of this, and I think what truly matters is that we muster the courage to resist the temptation of those worthless games.

CMS Holdings once said a profound saying: "Do you want to make money, or do you want to prove you are right?" This time, I choose to prove I am right.

Editor's Note: Ken Chan has been working in development at Coinbase and Zilliqa since 2019, and co-founded the decentralized derivatives protocol Aevo (formerly Ribbon Finance) as CTO in 2021, leaving the position in May this year. Currently, the fully diluted market cap of the AEVO token is $45 million, down about 99% from its peak market cap.

Meanwhile, Ken Chan's article has sparked discussions among many industry professionals on X, and ChainCatcher includes some popular responses here:

Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero:

I respect your realization that your moral compass does not align with your current actions. It takes courage and self-reflection, and it's not easy. But from a broader perspective, I think the natural state of cryptocurrency is almost the ultimate state of the entire economy, and I don't know if that's something we should be worried about. The allure of cryptocurrency lies in its stripping us down to the most essential and primitive level, forcing us to build from fundamental principles. I often think of the opening scene of the TV show "Silicon Valley," as it truly depicts the self-deception that exists under the traditional economic order. The reason I love cryptocurrency is that it confronts all hypocrisy and reveals the truth.

Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly:
There has always been a casino in the cryptocurrency space. The first breakout application on Bitcoin was Satoshi Dice (2012). The first breakout smart contract on Ethereum was King of the Ether Throne (2015), which was essentially a Ponzi scheme. Once programmable money was available, the first thoughts people had were about gambling and playing some silly games. It's human nature.

……

Casinos are glamorous and receive a lot of attention on social media (where people can quickly win and lose wealth, easily convincing themselves that this is their lucky moment), but if you only focus on the glamour of the casino, you will miss the more important story. The reason I initially entered this industry, which seemed like science fiction to me ten years ago—cryptocurrency is a better vehicle for finance, it will forever change the nature of money, and the balance of power between individuals and governments will undergo a permanent change—today, this story is becoming a reality. Bitcoin is challenging state authority. They are now starting to buy Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Stablecoins are influencing monetary policy. Central banks around the world are scrambling to respond. Permissionless smart contracts like Uniswap and AAVE now have scales and values that exceed those of unicorn fintech companies. The world is undergoing tremendous changes around cryptocurrency. Perhaps it will take longer than you think, but the adoption of transformative technology is almost always slower than you expect.

……

It is well known that the internet took over 20 years to emerge. Do you think we will replace the financial industry—the most regulated and government-focused industry in the world—in just five years? If you feel frustrated because you participated in a project like "meme coin L2" and didn't get rich, take a deep breath. This industry owes you nothing.

However, believe it or not, all these mental compromises regarding the timeline are actually beneficial. Forests can only remain healthy if dead branches and leaves are regularly cleared. Without occasional fires to clear them, decay will spread, and eventually, the entire forest will rot. This is a harsh reality, but the only way to sustain growth is to remove what no longer works. All this negativity on the timeline needs to be cleared in some way. Let those people continue to leave, and the air will be fresher. These people will either change their minds and refocus on the future, or they should leave so that the rest of us can continue to work. Because the work is not done yet.
Mason Nystrom, Partner at Pantera Capital:
I see more and more people becoming pessimistic about cryptocurrency and its social value (or lack thereof). I think this view is misguided. Of course, speculation and abuse of cryptocurrency exist. The cryptocurrency market is real and large, and many people are losing money at the table. But it also contains a lot of overlooked positive social value. Bitcoin has become a global, non-sovereign asset that anyone in the world can own as long as they can connect to the internet. It empowers people globally with a veto/exit mechanism, shifting economic control from the state to individuals. Stablecoins provide better financial security for people around the world, improving lives through faster fund transfers, higher yields, and lower transaction costs. Banks do not actually provide asset returns. Stablecoins are changing that.

…………

Cryptocurrency offers a new financial system but also incites speculation and degradation. Cryptocurrency is building a new financial system that allows people to create things at will. Some will build casinos, some will develop new payment mechanisms. Some will create platforms for crime, while others will develop ways to provide more people with credit. The new financial system will not be perfect, but it will far surpass the status quo. If you only see cryptocurrency as a casino, then perhaps you should take a step back and look at the various benefits that cryptocurrency has already brought and will continue to bring to society from a broader perspective.

Crypto _ Painter, a cryptocurrency trader:

The reality is indeed as you say; it is evident that the author's "moral heart is broken," bluntly stating that the crypto market has devolved into a group of gamblers and casinos…

But interestingly, I heard the same remarks in 2018 and again in 2022. If you understand the operational logic of the crypto market, you will find that when external liquidity floods in, it inevitably breeds the prosperity of gamblers and casinos…

And the gambling nature of the market will naturally consume the remaining liquidity…

Thus, the entire crypto market forms a cycle of "value investment" - "belief investment" - "emotional speculation" - "complete disappointment"…

Looking back at early 2023, the voices promoting BTC and value investment were so loud, and now the desolation is just as stark.

But the cryptocurrency market has walked through this continuous cycle of "belief" - "doubt" - "negation." We do not need to believe that a certain public chain will ultimately succeed; we only need to believe that the narrative of decentralized networks can endure.

In the future, new liquidity will enter, leading to both prosperity and chaos, but as long as the scope of this narrative spreads, the long-term direction of this market will ultimately be upward.

2025~2026 will be a phase of questioning, and there may still be a phase of disappointment ahead, but human nature remains unchanged. Whether in investment or speculation, there is an eternal value in survival.

Casinos and gamblers are merely small openings that reduce bubbles; the market has its own adjustment mechanisms, so conversely, we should also thank those junk casinos and junk projects.

Their emergence represents a part of the market that needs self-regulation. Without bubbles, there would be no phenomenon of profiting from bubbles.

Learning to accept this nauseating market phenomenon is the only way to accept the scale of the next bubble's expansion.

Alan, Co-founder of Quai Network:

You are absolutely right. Cryptocurrency has gradually become a tool; it no longer aims to promote financial sovereignty or expand the market pie, but rather to extract profits. The line between building a financial system that benefits humanity and reducing it to a gambling tool is becoming increasingly blurred. Every project and founder must make a choice: do they genuinely want to make the world a better place, or do they just want to participate in this game? …… While it is easy to become numb, I suggest you delve deeper and find those genuine projects that are still advancing the cypherpunk spirit. That is where the real excitement lies. That is where true positive-sum games can occur. Interestingly, I think the next direction of cryptocurrency development will actually resemble Bitcoin more. The narratives surrounding privacy (such as Zcash, Monero), established cryptocurrencies (such as Dash, Decred), and proof-of-work (PoW) projects will return.