βThat's the core of what's happening right now, which is, you know, we'll get into some of the data that backs this up later. But I mean, the average token or the median net return of a token over the last five years is down 80%. That's the problem with the industry. And there's a lot of startup market structure reasons for that.β
Blockworks rebranding marks cryptoβs mainstream era
βI think for the last year, I've been talking about crypto. There's this big line in the sand moment for crypto. You got the first 15 to 16 years, and then I'd say 2025 was this line in the sand moment, and you got everything after 2025. And I would say this rebrand for Blockworks marks that for us.β
Crypto shifted from outsider movement to mainstream winner
βAnd I think actually, funnily enough, what's causing the sentiment drift here is that that ideological movement industry blob that is crypto won. And so now that it won, it moved from being a movement which is on the fringe, on the outside and countercultural, to one which is in the mainstream and it's struggling with an identity crisis.β
The crypto industry faces a critical trust problem
βBut now I think we're realizing there's no one to blame but us. And we've talked about why are these assets not going up because of, oh, it's a capital access problem, so we've got debts. No, it's not. We have an asset problem, and we have a trust problem. That's the core of what's happening right now.β
Institutions require information platforms they can trust
βThe thesis that Mike and I had was eventually this really retail-driven asset class will become a big institutional asset class. And those institutions are going to need something that looks and feels more like maybe a Wall Street Journal or a Bloomberg, something that they, and I'd underline this word, trust.β