You can still be in Crypto “for the tech?”
The idealist in me would like to say yes — but it’s an increasingly tricky question to answer.
In general, cryptocurrency and blockchain are both money technologies. It’s quite different than something like software for media, which is a requirement to be in. “for the tech” The software is free and can help you express yourself more freely.
Jean-Baptiste Kempf is the creator of VLC Media Player. He has, over the years, refused advertisers tens and tens millions of dollars to achieve this.
Crypto is not as clear-cut. Crypto is not for everyone. “tech,” You’re in it also for the money “money.”
Consider Bitcoin. It was built by those who helped develop the technology for peer-topeer money transfers.
It would not be possible to send “money” If bitcoins were worth nothing in fiat currency, peer-to-peer would be possible. Money is technology, and vice-versa.
Ethereum works a little differently. Its smart contracts can support non-financial use cases, so someone developing on Ethereum might be building software as a public good — like VLC media player — with no intention to make money from it.
This culture is quickly becoming unsustainable in the modern crypto market. Vitalik for example, is under renewed pressure to transform into a “wartime CEO” The main purpose of this project is maximising the value for token holders (i.e. The price of ETH is pumped up.
Many people believe that Vitalik, the Ethereum Foundation and its founders have concentrated too much attention on “the tech.” Prioritizing decentralization and a commitment to onchain public goods — nifty use cases with no obvious path to value accrual at the base asset, such as Fileverse, Ethereum’s answer to WeTransfer, which doesn’t have its own native token.
If you want to maximize value for Ethereum holders, it would be better to focus all your efforts on apps that can boost the price of ETH. ETH has recently lagged behind its rival SOL.
It’s a difficult job in the Ethereum universe. The most profitable apps in the current meta (launchpads, DEXs and prediction markets) have mostly been pushed onto layer-2s like Base and Polygon, a sidechain — too far away to directly impact ETH.
Even so, Ethereum is clearly making Vitalik rich, maybe similar to Linux creator Linus Torvalds. Another superstar developer with legitimate cred when it comes “being in it for the tech.”
This divide is rapidly becoming a chasm. Richard Stallman’s steadfastness on FOSS issues is a hard sell for a crypto-market that’s trained to search for the next 1,000x. “made it,” It is a matter of speaking.
No easy solution exists. The reality is that focusing on tech — functional use cases over money-making ideas — may simply come at a cost of less market attention.
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