Cryptographic Elegy: Money Cannot Buy Power, the World is a Shoddy Stage for Exploitation and Elimination

Written by: Ken, Deep Tide TechFlow

Recently, the biggest news shaking the crypto market is the predicament of Binance founder CZ.

On Tuesday (April 23), U.S. prosecutors stated in a court document that they believe Zhao Changpeng should be sentenced to 36 months in prison, which greatly exceeds expectations, as Binance had previously agreed to a $4.32 billion criminal penalty.

Humans are the knife, I am the fish.

The moment CZ set foot on American soil, he may have already become a new pool for the U.S. government, Staking CZ To Earn.

The world is a makeshift stage for raising and killing.

Many people think of TikTok and Huawei, but the latter two may be in a much better situation.

TikTok always has the option to enter or exit, and has legal weapons to fight back. Moreover, it even mobilized the masses, calling on users to pressure the U.S. government by making phone calls. Huawei, on the other hand, seems to have become a meme representing patriotism, backed by a certain sense of the nation and the people. When Meng Wanzhou was imprisoned, there was always national power providing support and rescue.

As for Binance and CZ, they can only correct their attitude, admit their mistakes, and take the beating. Although many in the crypto community sympathize with CZ, looking at the overall social discourse, most people take pleasure in his misfortune, mocking and ridiculing him. Capitalists being hung out to dry is met with applause, especially when it’s a Crypto capitalist.

This is also a deep-seated issue facing the entire crypto world: the crypto industry has money but lacks power, and it is devoid of social status and recognition.

A so-called big shot in the crypto world, when facing police from a county-level area, can only tremble in fear.

Many financially free crypto millionaires choose to open a second front, giving themselves a shiny social title, yearning for social status and respect.

Just like the dark forest theory in "The Three-Body Problem," those who have become wealthy in the crypto circle hide their wealth and IP. Once wealth is exposed, trouble is inevitable. Everyone deeply understands the famous saying, "Making a fortune quietly is the best."

From the perspective of regulatory agencies in various countries, Crypto may be the best "regulatory target": wealthy, extracting vast amounts of wealth from the global market; not creating much local employment and tax revenue; facing no enforcement resistance from other social sectors; not linked to the real world, and lacking social pressure from the entire society… Crypto has become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered globally.

Looking at business history, whether in manufacturing, real estate, banking, or internet companies like Google, Meta, Tencent, and Alibaba, they have gradually become the infrastructure of society, thus forming a vested interest with the state, society, and the people.

TOO BIG TO FAIL is their confidence.

The crypto world lacks this confidence; the disappearance of an exchange or a crypto project will not cause significant direct losses to the government and society, nor will it make much of a splash in society.

So what to do?

At its core, Crypto needs to prove its "positive externality," that is, to create value and be beneficial to society. Although this is still largely on paper, the long-awaited "Mass Adoption" has not yet appeared, and only "MEME waves and dog coins are everywhere."

Aside from the relatively recognized values of top assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, and BNB, other assets still need to prove their long-term value.

Currently, the crypto track that can generate external value and connect to the real world remains stablecoins, which are among the few killer applications in crypto.

Moreover, there is no such thing as a free lunch; power comes from struggle. The U.S. SEC's approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF was due to a courtroom defeat. We should call for and support more such "upward struggles," of course, limited to the U.S.

We need to pay tribute to organizations like Coinbase, Grayscale, Paradigm, and a16z that actively engage in crypto litigation and lobbying. Only when U.S. regulatory rules become clearer and smoother can the global path for Crypto be paved.

Finally, if we compare crypto to a religion, just as the expansion of religion relies on merging with royal power, crypto needs to preach more to the higher-ups, just like it once preached to Musk, Larry Fink (founder of BlackRock), and Bukele (President of El Salvador)… Don't let Crypto become an isolated island.

Lu Xun once said, "There is no faith in this world; when CX increases, faith comes into being."