The Market Has Collapsed: Five Dead Ends for the Crypto Industry and the Only Way Out

After battling for days in the x402 sector, I opened my eyes this morning—market crashed.

To be honest, this drop was no surprise. Ever since that TRUMP incident, liquidity has basically been drained. Those little rebounds afterwards? All just propped up by sentiment, definitely not a real bull market.

The Death Trap of Altcoins

Altcoins these days are saddled with debt right from TGE day. Where did those die-hard fans go? What about the truly dedicated developers? All gone. Airdrop hunters crawling everywhere, VCs rushing to cash out and run, exchanges skimming off profits, and project teams who’ve been holding out for years just want to make a quick buck—everyone’s desperate to exit, so who’s left to hold the bag?

Are MEMEs a Savior or Poison?

A lot of people see MEMEs as hope against high-FDV VC coins. Sure, they once became a safe haven for retail investors. But think about it—zero barriers, mass replication, so-called “fair launches”—can that last?

Without the kind of technical breakthroughs that VC coins provide from 0 to 1, MEMEs are just a PVP game. Everyone is cutting each other up, and in the end, the whole industry gets hollowed out.

Exchanges’ Self-Rescue and Industry Collapse

What were exchanges supposed to do? Channel on-chain innovation, amplify liquidity. But then platforms like Pumpfun, GMGN, and Hyperliquid came along, with wealth effects that were too strong, causing exchanges to panic and start “internalizing” to save themselves.

Here’s the problem: When the people selling shovels start digging for gold themselves, does the whole gold rush ecosystem still make sense?

The Darkest Hour for Builders

Why are so many projects rushing to TGE? Why is no one willing to slowly refine their products anymore? Why is all the blame thrown at project teams and VCs?

It’s too complicated—no one can explain it clearly. But the reality is: builders and VCs in crypto are going bankrupt and leaving en masse. What’s scarier than getting liquidated? The whole industry being gutted, with everyone gone.

Writing this feels like I’m just venting.

But this is exactly why I keep emphasizing on-chain innovation. Our crypto industry is nothing like the hopeful one from years ago—it’s sick, old, maybe even terminally ill.

Only a complete reboot, a tech-driven on-chain narrative revolution, can bring it all back to life.