The disillusionment of the copycat season, AI siphoning, and the interception of coin stocks, cryptocurrencies are taking a breath under the "new three mountains"

The crypto industry is currently facing a significant downturn, reminiscent of the lows seen in 2018 and 2022, driven by price volatility, dwindling narratives, and external pressures like AI's rapid growth siphoning attention and resources. Key challenges include:

Disillusionment with the "copycat season": The anticipated surge in altcoin performance has failed to materialize, leaving many investors skeptical. While some sectors have seen gains, the broad-based rally hoped for has not occurred.
Narrative exhaustion: The industry struggles to produce compelling new stories to attract investment, with some recent narratives fizzling out quickly.
AI distraction: The explosive growth of AI has drawn away developers and investors, further straining the crypto ecosystem.
"Coin-stock" competition: Emerging hybrid financial products are diverting the remaining liquidity from traditional crypto markets.

Despite these challenges, opportunities remain:

Stablecoins gaining traction: Recognized by global financial leaders, stablecoins could become a cornerstone for broader crypto adoption, potentially mirroring Alipay's impact on digital payments.
Blockchain's role in AI: As AI agents evolve, blockchain may become essential for secure, verifiable machine-to-machine communication, positioning crypto as a foundational technology for future AI systems.

The industry's current slump may pave the way for future growth, much like past downturns preceded major advancements. Adapting to these shifts—rather than resisting them—could unlock the next wave of innovation.

Author: Blockchain Knight

Recently, I have been browsing various social media platforms and have seen many comments criticizing or mocking the current state of the crypto industry. Many of them are from people who have gained fame and fortune in this industry. I will not comment on whether they are right or wrong.

But from a practitioner's perspective, there is no need to stand on the commanding heights and curse like a saint just because the industry is currently in another low period. Perhaps they have forgotten that if it were not for the existence and development of this industry, they would not have achieved what they have today. As the saying goes, "Don't forget your original intention" roughly expresses this meaning.

Taking advantage of these jokes, I would like to talk to you about the challenges and opportunities currently facing the crypto industry.

Of course, before that we have to admit a current situation: the entire crypto circle is now facing a low period similar to that in 2018 or 2022, not only because of price issues, but also because of people’s doubts and hesitations about the industry.

If the past two years were years of hope, then by now most people have scoffed at such hope, largely because the long-awaited "copycat season" has not arrived, and the industry does not seem to have accumulated any new narratives in the past two years, or some new narratives have become cannon fodder. The combination of the two has become a huge mountain weighing on the participants.

But what really brings down the industry may not come from the industry itself, but from an external factor - the rapid development of AI in recent years has captured the attention of most investors, and the crypto industry is no exception. In the past year, I have learned that many practitioners have turned to the AI circle, especially developers, and this has become the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Today, when the copycat season has disappeared, when comments of "no new narrative" have emerged, and when AI is frantically taking over the market, all that is left in the crypto community are the sighs of practitioners.

By the way, there is also the recently booming “coin-stock” track, which has directly and legitimately grabbed the last bit of liquidity.

Therefore, facing these subjective or objective problems, the crypto industry is facing another trough period. But as the saying goes, without the trough, how can there be a high tide? So where are the current or future opportunities for this industry?

First of all, regarding the copycat season, let’s not predict whether there will be another crazy copycat season like 2017 or 2021, but if we only look at the prices and multiples, there have actually been quite a few wealth-making myths in the past two years.

It is just that it is no longer a "full-army attack" with a massive flood of money, but only the rise of some parts or certain sectors. However, it is still worthy of participants with certain knowledge, so this trend is likely to continue, and we need to adjust our mindset and expectations.

Analogous to the Internet era, when the Internet bubble burst, Amazon's stock price fell by 90%. In the following 20 years, it rose more than 600 times, which was more than 40 times the peak at that time. Therefore, finding Amazon in the encryption industry has become a new opportunity for the industry.

Secondly, regarding the new narrative, let’s look at the recently popular stablecoins. Whether in the West or the East, everyone is talking about it. At the Shanghai Lujiazui Forum held not long ago, the central bank governor Pan Gongsheng mentioned stablecoins for the first time. At the same time, Xinhuanet also published a rare article introducing stablecoins over the weekend.

If we say that stablecoin is just a small application in an industry, then we are underestimating its influence. I think its success is no less than the launch of Alipay that year. It solved the problem of online payment security, which led to the subsequent development of e-commerce and various online trading activities. Perhaps looking back 10 years later, we will find that the change happened in that year.

At the same time, the prosperity of stablecoins will greatly expand the number of users in the crypto circle and truly open up the market, thus bringing in the long-awaited new users and ushering in the industry’s “iPhone moment”. However, it is still in its infancy and may take 1-2 years to mature.

Finally, regarding AI, the author has always felt for many years that blockchain is not a technology that is entirely used to serve humans. To a large extent, it will be a native tool of AI, solving the information transmission between machines and the real interaction between machines and humans. It seems that this direction is now being fulfilled.

With the development of Agent, how to ensure that the communication between machines is secure, reliable and verifiable by humans seems to be impossible except by using blockchain, unless we want the Agent of the future to be out of control and out of touch with reality.

At present, this direction is still in its early stages for blockchain. Of course, the Agent combined with blockchain mentioned here is not the kind that was hyped in January this year. Most of it is just speculation, don’t take it seriously.

So, when some changes have already happened or are quietly approaching, what we can do is not to resist, but to accept them and go with the trend.

However, the author believes that verbal abuse is not a form of compliance, but an unacceptable struggle. After expressing our emotions, we still have to move forward, because rationality will always prevail over sensibility, and the crypto industry will not always be in a trough period, so why not go against the wind again?