"Crypto's Crossroads: Beyond Memecoins, A New Financial System Beckons"

Over the next four years, let's avoid a bulls--t market

The incoming administration in Washington has promised to rethink outdated cryptocurrency regulations, sparking optimism in the industry. Bitcoin's record price and increased corporate treasury investments in cryptocurrency have further fueled this enthusiasm. However, as the sector looks to capitalize on the regulatory shift, it must grapple with key questions about its future direction.

One such question is whether the industry wants to be defined by memecoins or build a new financial system that drives change in the sectors that form the backbone of the US economy. As a bull market approaches, it is crucial to ensure that it is not a "BS" one, especially for those hoping to attract institutional players.

The challenge lies in illustrating blockchain's use cases beyond the headlines that often depict crypto as a Libertarian fantasy dominated by scams, memes, and fraud. Founders struggle to convince industries to build real-world asset use cases on-chain, leading to a systemic problem that undermines the credibility of this world-changing technology.

The "use case" question becomes more complex as on-chain transaction volume comes increasingly from memecoins. Almost 13 million memecoins were created in 2024, resulting in a $120-billion market capitalization that, while fun to play, ultimately leads to most investors taking losses. Even reputable memecoins are 50 times more volatile than Bitcoin, and many are suspected to be premeditated rug pulls. These losses are often concentrated in the pockets of new users, creating a negative feedback loop for onboarding.

Memecoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have their place in the ecosystem, but the real promise of blockchain lies in addressing systemic challenges in industries such as energy, healthcare, and infrastructure. By democratizing financial systems, driving transparency, and solving real-world problems, blockchain has the potential to make a significant impact.

Political partisanship has the potential to exacerbate these existing challenges. The industry's echo chamber is finding an increasingly partisan rhythm that alienates potential users. To overcome these challenges and change the industry's reputation, builders must show new users and the outside world that a bull market doesn't have to be a "bulls--t" market.

To achieve this, the industry needs to build use cases that enable the technology to speak