There's a pattern unfolding across the industry worth noting. Project leadership keeps pivoting toward exchange operations, treating it as the next growth frontier. The playbook looks predictable: announce new trading infrastructure, aggressively list emerging tokens, and pump marketing campaigns. Meanwhile, early architects and decision-makers are quietly exiting, cashing out their positions before the next cycle. This pattern repeats across most Layer 1 chains and scaling solutions. The incentive structure seems misaligned—those making platform decisions are rarely the ones holding long-term bags. It raises questions about whether the push to become everything at once actually serves the ecosystem, or just chases short-term narrative.