Native projects in the crypto ecosystem

Recently, while listening to a tech blogger share insights on artificial intelligence companies, he presented a viewpoint (essentially) that:

Whenever a new technology emerges, there are two types of companies: one is technology-enhanced, and the other is technology-disruptive.

Technology-enhanced companies use new technologies to transform their existing business models, improving efficiency and reducing costs. Although these companies often perform remarkably well for a period after the emergence of new technologies, their genetic makeup destined them to be weighed down by cognitive inertia, making it unlikely for them to fundamentally create new models and new scenarios.

On the other hand, technology-disruptive companies are different; they are born in a new era. They do not have past inertia and burdens, and they often can create new models and new scenarios. Such companies are more likely to achieve disruptive growth in the future.

I particularly agree with this viewpoint.

The current U.S. stock market is filled with such typical cases.

Some old companies from the software era (like Microsoft and Oracle) and companies from the internet era (like META, Amazon, and Google) are actively laying out in various subfields of AI, even investing heavily to seize various heights in the AI field. After these operations, they have also delivered impressive financial data, recording significant stock price increases.

From the perspective of general investors, it seems they have smoothly transitioned into the AI era, once again becoming one of the protagonists of the AI era, participating in leading the trends and developments of AI in the future.

In contrast, some companies that I consider to be close to or purely native AI companies (like NVIDIA, Tesla, OpenAI, Anthropic…) have, apart from NVIDIA currently achieving its deserved status, either businesses that are still hovering or have not yet gone public.

Compared to their predecessors, their halo is clearly much dimmer.

But I believe that in the near future, disruptive companies will undoubtedly emerge among native AI companies, pushing those predecessors out of the top ten in market capitalization.

Seeing this situation in the field of artificial intelligence, I was reminded of the crypto ecosystem.

Since the beginning of this year, especially in recent months, the voice of the crypto ecosystem has been almost completely monopolized by traditional financial institutions on Wall Street.

They have brought enormous traffic to this ecosystem and provided strong price support for Bitcoin and Ethereum. At the same time, they seem to have created an illusion:

The future of the crypto ecosystem lies with them, and the trends of the crypto ecosystem are defined by them.

However, in my view, they do not resemble native companies of the crypto ecosystem; they merely use crypto technology to expand their existing business landscape or package their original business models and scenarios with crypto technology.

They have not innovated in terms of models; they are more like technology-enhanced companies within the crypto ecosystem.

They do not represent the future of the crypto ecosystem, nor can they create disruptive models and scenarios for the crypto ecosystem.

I believe that the native companies in the crypto ecosystem are the true players that will disrupt our lives and business models.

But the reality is quite awkward: in the trajectory of the crypto ecosystem over the past few years, whether existing or newly emerging native companies, many are still struggling in exploration. Even if some have begun to stand out, they are still less influential, smaller in scale, and quieter than the recently arrived "enhanced" players.

From this perspective, the current state of the crypto ecosystem is regrettable, and the situation of native companies is even more challenging than their counterparts in the AI sector.

Compared to the clamor and turmoil of these traditional institutions, I am more looking forward to the native companies in the crypto ecosystem occupying the mainstream voice of this ecosystem and influencing the mainstream trends of this ecosystem.