Lex

I think crypto founders’ lack of long-term ambition did more to erode this industry’s talent density than we admit. Crypto is fundamentally trust infrastructure. Building something that meaningfully improves the financial system is a (long) compounding game. It takes a decade of focus. But when prices go crazy every year, there are endless ways to make stupid money: speculation, advisory gigs, scattered investments, farming. It’s been very easy to get distracted. The good news: it’s gotten SO MUCH better. Many short-sighted founders and projects have moved on. Tangible impact attracts the best people. And we’re finally seeing concrete improvements in payments, financing, and trading from bringing them onchain. As an industry, we should do more to make those improvements visible. Our “ChatGPT moment” will come when people open their financial app and feel a step change in what they can do and at what price, without needing to know that stablecoins, DeFi, or tokenized stocks made it possible. I think we’re close. That’s what will drive the next wave of adoption, and make the most ambitious people want to build here.