Author: Ignas, DeFi Research
Translator: Glendon, Techub News
It is surprising how little impact cryptocurrencies have on our lives outside the crypto community.
Unless you actively engage with the crypto world, your daily life can be completely isolated from it - you can still go to work, shop, and watch shows, and blockchain technology lurks beneath the surface of the world like a deep sea current.
However, the problem is that when "minimal contact with cryptocurrencies" events occur, the public almost always receives a negatively biased narrative.
Imagine a scenario where in the second season of the Netflix hit series "Squid Game", there is a character portrayed as a "crypto scam KOL". The scriptwriter's stereotypical portrayal is that he is obsessed with checking the coin price and desperately demands the return of his phone, with an almost pathological fixation - but I have to admit, this characterization resonates with me.
And when you browse the news feed, you will see the following (uniformly negative) headlines:
North Korean Hackers Steal $1.5 Billion: The Biggest Crypto Heist in History
Trump Launches Meme Coin, Crypto Community Slams it as "Presidential-Level Rug Pull"
Bitcoin Scam Causes a Woman to Lose £154,000
Crypto Trader "MistaFuccYou" Commits Suicide During Live Stream
Fraud, pyramid schemes, pump and dumps... you can find corresponding events for all the financial crime scripts you can imagine in this industry. This reflects a cruel reality: the public's perception of cryptocurrencies is being torn apart by two extreme narratives. Within the crypto community, we talk about the "blockchain revolution" and the "paradigm shift in decentralized finance"; but in the outside world, media coverage has long been dominated by negative events such as fraud and pyramid schemes.
The public image of cryptocurrencies can be said to be very poor. But to be fair, even we "crypto natives" are well aware that this circle is indeed full of all kinds of garbage.
But at the same time, we also know why we are still here: we want to get rich quick by disrupting the outdated traditional financial system. Yes, the "get rich quick" label is one of the reasons why crypto natives are often unwelcome, but who can deny this fact? After all, investors in any field yearn to make big money.
And cryptocurrencies are still one of the few industries where ordinary people can start from scratch. In today's economic environment, it is very difficult to get rich slowly through wages. Generation Z has realized this, and (quietly) withdrawn from the job market, only they know what cryptocurrencies can bring to their lives...
Unfortunately, our industry has performed quite poorly in conveying its core mission, explaining the necessity of cryptocurrencies, and clarifying that "making money with cryptocurrencies is not a sin". A highly upvoted comment under a Financial Times article accurately summarizes the general attitude of skeptics: "Bitcoin has no intrinsic value and its increasing computational power is adding to the world's electricity production and carbon emissions."
Some skeptics even claim that "cryptocurrencies are 21st century alchemy - converting electricity into speculative bubbles, packaging greed as technological innovation."
If you've seen posts on Reddit, you'll know how much the general public dislikes cryptocurrencies, but I hope to see more constructive narratives about cryptocurrencies and their technology in the mainstream media.
To be fair, the Financial Times has always viewed the crypto industry with a skeptical lens, but Bloomberg's reporting has been improving over the years - they are starting to introduce genuine industry insights. But it is rather ironic that a recent seemingly harmless Bloomberg article "Meet the 7 Top Personal Finance Influencers in America" included a crypto KOL who mainly focuses on Memecoins and is dedicated to promoting his Memecoin Telegram group.
People Hate Cryptocurrencies
Since this is a "research-oriented" article, let's use a few key data points to understand the public's negative sentiment towards cryptocurrencies. Multiple surveys show that non-crypto investors generally view cryptocurrencies as high-risk speculative tools rather than legitimate financial assets.
According to the "FSCS Consumer Research: Attitudes Towards Investing in Crypto Assets" report, 64% of surveyed consumers who are aware of cryptocurrencies believe that "investing in crypto assets is essentially gambling".
A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that 75% of Americans do not trust the reliability and security of cryptocurrencies, mainly due to the prevalence of fraud and market volatility.
And in the 2023 Edelman Global Trust Barometer, cryptocurrencies ranked at the bottom across all demographic dimensions, far below the traditional banking system that we claim to be revolutionizing - this is undoubtedly a fatal blow to the "decentralized finance revolution" narrative.
Admittedly, the FTX collapse in 2023 severely damaged the reputation of the cryptocurrency industry, but the crazy speculation on Memecoins in 2024 has also exacerbated public aversion.
A 2024 ConsenSys report shows that the "cryptocurrencies as the future of money" narrative is declining. The mention rate of negative labels such as speculation, fraud and phishing, crime and money laundering, is on par with the perception of cryptocurrencies as an alternative to traditional finance.
The conclusion is clear: outside the crypto community, people generally doubt whether digital assets can be a safe financial tool.
As I was writing this article, I happened to see a tweet that well summarizes the public sentiment: "I will absolutely pray for the downfall of cryptocurrencies."
Why the Crypto Culture Narrative is So Important
Although the public image of cryptocurrencies is not good, more and more people are starting to try to engage with them. I believe that as the perception of cryptocurrencies improves, the crypto industry could very well attract millions of new members.
Therefore, we should and must do better. The original intention of cryptocurrencies is to build a decentralized financial system: "in this system, individuals can fully control their own assets without interference from intermediaries such as banks or governments. It aims to create a borderless, uncensored, and minimally trusted ecosystem where anyone can transact, store value, and build economic systems without relying on centralized institutions."
However, this vision is being overwhelmed by the noise and speculative frenzy of coins.
Worse still, the public no longer sees cryptocurrencies as a tool for revolutionizing the financial system. As a widely discussed post states: "The ecosystem has become no different from the traditional finance you once despised - money and power are concentrated in the hands of a few s, who extract wealth from the financially desperate through contract leverage and project pre-sales."
In addition, cryptocurrencies are facing a politicization crisis, as former President Trump's high-profile embrace of cryptocurrencies has brought new risks - among non-supporters, cryptocurrencies are being labeled as part of the "MAGA" (Make America Great Again) movement. Unsurprisingly, this politicization trend has quickly raised international alarm, with the EU viewing Trump's support for cryptocurrencies as a threat to European monetary sovereignty.
Of course, there is a bright side to this, as the cessation of the previous US administration's cryptocurrency regulatory crackdown is undoubtedly a boon for the industry. However, it must be admitted that the cryptocurrency industry is currently walking a tightrope under the influence of the Trump administration's policies.
How to Change People's Perceptions of Cryptocurrencies
The reputation of cryptocurrencies will not self-repair, and if we want to achieve mainstream adoption, we must proactively reshape the narrative framework - this is no easy task, and the change must be initiated from within the industry, as even the native cryptocurrency community is beginning to lose confidence in the industry.
To this end, we need to focus on three key directions.
Make Cryptocurrencies Great Again
In past cycles, newcomers to the cryptocurrency market could still profit by participating in early projects. However, the rampant issuance of coins by the coin group and low-liquidity, high-FDV projects supported by venture capital (VC) firms have left new entrants with no advantage.
Although we have successfully resisted low-liquidity projects in this cycle, we have fallen into the collective frenzy of coins. Projects like Legion and Echo have tried to adopt fairer financing models, but their entry barriers still exclude ordinary investors.
Therefore, the industry needs to create and promote ecosystem rules that can create real value (rather than destroy value), allowing early participants to share in the growth dividends. Kyle's market reconstruction plan based on "first principles" is worth referencing.
However, due to the prevalence of short-termism, the rampant extraction culture, and the loss of the bottom line of integrity, we have fallen into a self-destructive cycle of eternal financial nihilism - when everyone is chasing pull coins with the mentality of "I can escape before the scammer runs away," the emergence of this phenomenon was to some extent predetermined.
To this end, we must oversee the misconduct. The industry needs to take more measures to expose scams and hold influential figures accountable for misleading propaganda. Chain detective ZachXBT has done this before, but the scale of the crime is now beyond individual control. As practitioners, we also need to stay away from value extraction behaviors, and investors should truly make money while expanding the cryptocurrency market. After all, when new entrants are constantly being harvested and even ruined, the industry will lose its future.
Shift the Narrative from Speculative Frenzy to Practical Value
Cryptocurrencies are not just digital casinos - they can also create real-world value.
Therefore, what we really need to focus on are use cases such as cross-border remittances, financial inclusion, and transparent governance, rather than culture.
At the same time, the ecosystem is continuously expanding, and new social networks with innovative monetization models are emerging, such as Lens, Abstract, and Farcaster. Most importantly, the widespread adoption of stablecoins and real-world assets (RWAs) can help preserve and increase wealth, rather than destroy it.
However, the cryptocurrency KOLs on X platform may be indifferent to these developments - but we need to make it clear that Crypto Twitter is just the tip of the iceberg of the broader cryptocurrency industry culture.
On the other hand, the advantage of is that it has gradually established its position as "digital gold," but blockchains like and are still seen as speculative tools rather than the foundation of an open digital economy.
If I had to define the cultural output of cryptocurrencies, I believe that IP like will penetrate into Web2, rather than the reverse introduction of , , and other Web2 memes - the latter is accelerating the infantilization of the industry.
Redefine the Narrative Sovereignty of and
Cryptocurrency culture is not a monolith, but contains multiple subcultures, the most prominent of which are "Bitcoin minimalism" and "Ethereum's diverse ecosystem."
" is becoming the financial system it was supposed to destroy" - this narrative angers me. Only those who store in cold wallets can truly understand the peace of mind brought by "self-custody, detachment from the system."
s are undoubtedly a good thing for our wallets, but they are also a double-edged sword, depriving buyers of the sense of freedom that comes with self-custody.
More importantly, we need to be wary of the association of with the MAGA movement - is global and should remain absolutely neutral.
This is also one of the reasons I like . Although many critics have accused the Ethereum Foundation of failing to approach the Trump team, in the long run, this will prove to be a successful strategy.
In an age of privacy erosion, AI-induced confusion, and lack of digital ownership guarantees, , with its trustworthy neutrality, depoliticization, decentralization, and global reach, offers not only technological solutions, but also a sanctuary of values.
Unfortunately, people outside the cryptocurrency field are not aware of this, so the task of practitioners is to disseminate this information and create products that truly showcase the value of .
Optimistic Outlook: The Path of Value Restoration for the Cryptocurrency Industry
As of the writing of this article, CoinMarketCap data shows that the total cryptocurrency market capitalization is around $2.7 trillion, but does this report card stand up to the test of value?
Since Vitalik's post in 2017, cryptocurrencies have undergone changes, and while speculation and zero-sum games still exist, the industry has also given birth to a real value core.
As I wrote in the post, there are 1.4 billion people worldwide without bank accounts. Even in the US, this proportion is only 4.5%. Federal Reserve research found that high-income groups view cryptocurrencies as investment products, but the degree of use for transactions is relatively low. Among those who use cryptocurrencies for transactions, 60% have incomes below $50,000, and 13% have no bank accounts.
Furthermore, Venezuela ranked 40th in the 2023 Chainalysis Crypto Adoption Index, and stablecoins have become a lifeline against hyperinflation. This is similar to Argentina, where as the local currency depreciates, stablecoin purchase volumes have soared - a sign of widespread crypto adoption.
In addition to combating inflation, cryptocurrencies have also been used to resist oppressive regimes. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, cryptocurrencies were used to directly aid Venezuelan doctors and nurses without interference from the corrupt government; and at the start of the war, Ukraine raised $225 million in cryptocurrency donations.
As DeFi TVL has rebounded to $88 billion, DEXes are gradually challenging CEXes, and Maker and others are also bringing RWA onto the chain.
It is worth noting that the adoption rate of non-speculative decentralized social applications is steadily increasing, with Farcaster and Polymarket having over 10,000 daily active users, and the numbers are still growing. We now have real usable DApps, but these advancements seem to have disappeared on the X timeline, and we have to admit that we have not done a satisfactory job in dissemination.
Nevertheless, the current market is undergoing a value cleansing, and the crash is not necessarily a bad thing, as it will help the industry recover and continue to progress. As the old saying goes, the winter will eventually pass, and when the speculators leave, the true builders will remain and showcase the positive side of cryptocurrencies.
