Coin World Network Report:
Author: Jocy, Founder of IOSG Ventures
Recently, I happened to come across the story of Tian Xingjian. The Hundred Days’ Reform during the Qing Dynasty is still vivid in my mind. It is hard to imagine that in such a dynasty, there were young people willing to risk their lives to follow Emperor Guangxu and advocate for Western legal reforms that were centuries ahead of their time, disregarding personal safety. Although the ultimate result was a failure, their spirit and actions left a profound impact. These young people and pioneers have become role models admired by later generations.
The spirit of these young people is equally important in today’s crypto world. Currently, many practitioners are loudly proclaiming their opposition to the “Western powers,” but in reality, they are left handily Restaking and right handily chasing after liquidity pools, while constantly posting memes/dog jokes on Twitter. Everyone knows where the problem lies, but they compromise for their immediate interests. Both the Eastern and Western crypto communities are currently caught up in a frenzy of meme hype. Memes, like opium, are an import from the West, and currently, the top memes in the BN community come from the West. Entrepreneurs and community builders can easily lose their way due to this noise, and the Eastern crypto community is deeply immersed in meme hype. Many entrepreneurs, after seeing the success of memes, begin to doubt their own entrepreneurial direction and original intentions. I believe that entrepreneurs should resist memes, should not shift their entrepreneurial focus to memes, and should not engage in meme hype as a routine task.
What we need are young people who are down-to-earth and have their eyes on the stars, especially those who can shoulder the ideals of Eastern crypto. These young people should not only engage in trading-related activities during this bull market or the previous one, but should focus on building infrastructure and protocols, and create a better community atmosphere. Instead of allowing aspiring developers and young people to immerse themselves in stories of getting rich through various memes every day.
Let me reiterate my stance: I am not against traders who advocate for memes in this market. Personally, I started receiving Dogecoin from the community in 2013 and have always enjoyed being part of this community. However, I do not want meme traders to become the mainstream in the Chinese community. Since the ETF was approved, I have clearly felt the rapid emergence of entrepreneurs in the United States and Europe. They have received abundant capital support from American funds, while some well-known American funds internally refuse to invest in Chinese Web3 entrepreneurs. In the era of cryptocurrency, there seems to be a significant difference and divergence between the East and the West in terms of technology and community. While Western technology continues to emerge, the Eastern crypto community is caught up in the frenzy of meme hype. This is clearly not a healthy development trend.
Meme hype has a certain lottery effect, with the probability of winning decreasing for latecomers. At the same time, meme addiction, like opium, will lead to path dependence for those who benefited early on. More people will act as spokespersons for memes in the community, and the community will easily reinforce this money-making path. However, this will not make our technical protocols and community more unique and powerful. Early participants may profit from it, but this short-sighted behavior, this gambling game, and the legend of becoming rich will eventually lead to the bursting of this bubble, becoming a disaster for the Eastern crypto market, replaying the story of NFTs in the previous bull market cycle. I always believe that most first-line Eastern entrepreneurs will persist in their entrepreneurship, find their own piece of Lego in infrastructure or applications, and keep up with or even lead Western mainstream protocols.
Perhaps the crypto market should not be divided into East and West. This is a decentralized world. In the past few cycles, we have seen the similarities and differences between Eastern and Western entrepreneurs. The success of Western entrepreneurs has its reasons. Rune Christensen, the founder of MakerDAO, has been involved in Web3 entrepreneurship for many years and has successfully increased his protocol’s revenue in the United States during a period of high macro interest rates and a bearish cryptocurrency market. In March of this year, he launched the Endgame plan and various SubDAOs, including the Spark SubDAO focused on lending protocols. During ETHDenver, the founder of EigenLayer had a packed schedule, shortening each meeting to 15/30 minutes in order to personally communicate with partners. We can see that in this global competitive market, many entrepreneurs are on the front lines. The founder of Uniswap, with a background in hardware engineering, self-taught Solidity and created a 50-line streamlined code, leading the industry’s Dex AMM innovation wave. They have always focused on product design and protocol understanding, striving for a leading position in the industry. Eastern entrepreneurs are the most resilient and powerful group, and we have also seen many outstanding individuals. However, they still need more support and feedback from the community. The Eastern community should be more united and powerful, and take the time to discuss how to learn from the West to become stronger. When the community and entrepreneurs reach a consensus, it will bring more positive feedback to the protocols.
As a fund originating from Asia, IOSG will invest in and support more Chinese entrepreneurs in this cycle, helping them better enter the Western market and become mainstream. It is unimaginable that the meme will still be the mainstream in this industry three to five years from now. As we ride the wave of the crypto era, everyone inevitably becomes involved, and in the face of the era’s footnote, everyone is insignificant. However, do not ignore the negative energy that everyone is shouting about investing in memes for the Chinese community.
In summary, we should be more united and face future challenges together. The community needs higher ideals and foresight. Some people need to step forward for the future of the Eastern community. Crypto is not just about memes; there are many opportunities in infrastructure and applications waiting to be explored and discovered. These are the true industry alphas. IOSG will invest in and support young people who are at the forefront, driving the long-term development of the industry and community, and helping Eastern entrepreneurs shine in the global market.
