Encryption dreamers dare to think to win.

Author: Ignas

Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

It is now the year 2032:

In the early morning, you wake up in the Four Seasons Hotel, feeling a bit tired. The two Negroni drinks you had last night are still giving you a headache.

A notification popped up: Open the Rabby wallet on iPhone 23 XXL and found that BTC dropped by 3% overnight. It's another FUD triggered by Sailor's strategy.

However, BTC is still trading at the high of $1.2 million. You smiled, that crazy Udi actually got it right!

Looking back to those years, you bought Bitcoin at a price of $114,000 with 3x leverage on the Hyperliquid platform, which led your family to financial freedom.

However, Cobie's prediction is slightly off: the difficult path is from $80,000 to $250,000, while the easy path is from $250,000 to $1,000,000.

However, the bull market from 2024 to 2029 is indeed different; it is the year when the "four-year cycle" officially ends, and you are fortunate not to have been liquidated in a 3x leveraged trade.

Thanks to Trump's third term, the United States successfully acquired 5% of the global Bitcoin supply, bringing a new landscape to the crypto market.

A trace of regret surfaces in my heart: If I hadn't sold some ETH to the private equity of OpenAI and SpaceX at that time, I might have more. Neither of these companies went public. They tokenized directly on the Ethereum L2 of Nasdaq.

Nevertheless, tokenized private equity can still serve as collateral for Aave and Fluid.

You can't stop, but dream bigger:

The Monad mainnet is now live, and the testnet airdrop is also on the way. Once the airdrop arrives, you plan to buy a second home in Antigua and Barbuda, along with the accompanying passport. After all, the EU will launch a 50% crypto "solidarity tax" next year, and you need to prepare for it.

However, your friend wasn't so lucky.

Experts from the Financial Times and BBC convinced them to hold euros - CBDC as EU defense bonds at an annual interest rate of 4%, in order to save for a down payment on a one-bedroom apartment. With an inflation rate as high as 8%, even with a monthly basic income of 2500 euros, this goal is becoming increasingly elusive.

You feel sad, but it's not your fault: you told them to buy cryptocurrency. They didn't listen.

Then, you get dressed, brush your teeth, and open the X app. Uh! A notification pops up: "Please use a government-issued ID to verify your age in order to log in."

Under UK and upcoming EU laws, users will see this message regarding "potentially harmful" content.

Oh no! Your VPN is down again. Set the IP address to Afghanistan, and then reopen the X app. Success!

Visiting friends in the UK indeed feels very different.

I need to do some "work" before flying home.

Cryptocurrency: Selling Dreams

The most powerful selling point of cryptocurrency is its ability to inspire people's dreams of a better and more prosperous life.

This information is particularly striking in the current geopolitical and economic sentiment, contrasting sharply with people's struggles to pay bills, find jobs, and the increasing erosion of privacy (e.g., the UK's Online Safety Bill).

As I scroll through the news, TikTok, and Instagram, despair seems to dominate the entire information flow, while cryptocurrency has become one of the few sparks that ignite hope.

Despite the global unrest, the atmosphere on Crypto Twitter is particularly positive. Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin are seen as the answer to financial woes. This is why I will specifically mention the predicaments of those friends who have not ventured into the crypto space in my 2032 introductory story—their struggles stand in stark contrast to the hope brought by crypto.

Coinbase understood this and conveyed the message accurately.

Their advertisement "Everything is Fine" about the current state of the UK made me chuckle, but I have to admit, they weren't wrong.

Original video link: Everything is Fine

I love crypto because it's a place where you can unleash "big dreams." However, this is also one of the reasons why crypto skeptics don't like us.

They do not believe our story, thinking it is too outrageous and unrealistic. How does blockchain change society? In their eyes, it is nothing more than a "high-end spreadsheet."

As Nat Friedman said, "Pessimists seem wise and clever, while optimists make real money."

The great dream capability of cryptocurrency (along with permissionless technology) is also the reason why scammers love our industry: scammers sell a more affluent life, but ultimately ruin it.

I wrote a dedicated article to explain why many people dislike cryptocurrency so much.

Original link: Why are cryptocurrencies disliked? How can we change this situation?

We are not liars, and you are not a liar.

We sincerely believe that cryptocurrency can positively impact individual lives and society as a whole by strengthening private property, freedom, and the privacy of finance and the internet.

However, despite the tremendous achievements the crypto industry has made in just a few years, I feel that crypto enthusiasts are gradually forgetting how to pursue the "big dream."

Crypto Lost: Forgetting How to Dream

Once, our grand dream attracted countless retail investors.

But today, why would new retail investors buy ETH? After all, the natives of the crypto circle have not updated the target price for ETH since the last bull market—still stuck at $10,000.

However, ETH has made so much progress: spot ETF, adoption in traditional finance, stablecoins, regulation, RWA (real-world assets), L2 launched by Robinhood, etc.

Is all this effort just for a short-term gain of 2 or 3 times?

Perhaps we ultimately want to be taken seriously, so when TradFi joins, the dreams of Lamborghini and "to the moon" leave the narrative of cryptocurrency.

Now, only those foolish cryptocurrencies (XRP, ADA, etc.) and Bitcoin can attract dreamers. BTC at least has the potential to reach the target of 1 million dollars.

ETH and (most) altcoins are not selling big dreams.

But ETH still has hope to rise again.

For many years, the Ethereum community has been promoting the meme of "Ultrasound." However, the scaling has reduced Gas fees and killed the dream of deflation. (The technical team and the marketing team have failed to work together!)

Narratives are now back to fundamentals: institutional adoption, stablecoins, RWAs.

This is not something new, but this time, it is being told by louder and more credible voices, like Thomas Lee and Joseph Lubin.

Who tells the story is just as important as the story itself.

The incorporation of ETH into the balance sheets of publicly traded companies has become another catalyst. This not only gives more confidence to buyers who are on the sidelines, but even bearish investors are starting to acknowledge that this shift is having an impact.

But is all this just for a target of 10,000 USD in ETH?

ETH needs to find a more compelling story to push the value of holding ETH itself beyond $10,000. BTC is digital gold, while ETH... is digital oil?

I believe such a story will eventually happen. I am optimistic about ETH in the long run!

Or take Solana as an example.

In 2024, it thrived on the rags-to-riches story of memecoins. However, as memecoin traders suffered losses, Solana and its token SOL also lost their appeal.

SOL is not a traditional financial chain like ETH, nor is it a value store like BTC. People are losing money on memecoins, and it's no longer possible to inspire dreams.

How to Make People Dream

"When I buy tokens, I want to have big dreams."

However, most projects focus on promoting their features rather than grand goals.

The existence of tokens can help you realize the dreams of the community." — DefiIgnas said on X.

Looking back, it is amazing that ChainLink's $LINK (an oracle protocol) can enable all of us to have grand dreams.

I think in my heart:

"LINK is the most egalitarian project we have ever seen. It is ambitious and, if successful, will truly reshape social structures." —Popular Copy Pasta

Or take the COMP of any Compound as an example. What is exciting about a lending protocol? Or a decentralized exchange DEX aggregator? A cross-chain protocol?

These tokens are able to inspire people because they belong to a larger movement – DeFi (Decentralized Finance). Be your own bank, and if you're not satisfied with the direction of the team, you can also vote with tokens through a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) to make an impact!

Revolutionary!

Now, people do not believe in DAOs, and DeFi tokens have also become investment assets valued merely through income or transaction fees, losing their appealing narrative.

One of my proudest moments

When LINK, COMP, UNI, and YFI were launched, they were the leaders, pioneers, and forerunners of the DeFi market.

Some brand new things.

Now, there is a new DEX, lending protocol, oracle, or infrastructure project working to inspire us or help us have great dreams.

Is this the price of cryptocurrency becoming a mature asset class?

There are rarely new projects or TGE announcements on X that excite people, as these projects either offer slight upgrades to current market leaders or involve founders and venture capitalists launching tokens for personal BIG DREAM profits rather than for their communities.

My advice to the project founders is to invest time and money in creating a coherent story and convey grand dreams through storytelling. Marketing is not just about posting paid technical articles on X, having a beautiful UI, and sharing some memes through a social media manager.

It is indeed hard work, but it will make you stand out.

Investors seek support for grand dreams. However, those who peddle grand dreams often lack the support of technological innovation or are purely fraudsters.

That being said, here are some projects that have done very well in marketing big dreams (but not necessarily the best projects).

Cryptocurrency Projects and Tokens That Excel at "Selling Dreams"

SPX6900

To be honest, I still haven't figured out what this token is for. It's just a meme, right?

However, Murad is a great storyteller, and the token has risen by about 15k%.

The post he published on X is titled "150 Reasons SPX6900 Will Reach a $1 Trillion Market Cap."

This is twice the current $ETH MC! It's ridiculous, it's absurd?

Maybe, but who cares? He achieved his community dream.

Murad's story focuses on the same opening contrast with the non-crypto crowd: if you don't invest, artificial intelligence will take your job, and you will also become NGMI.

Of course, you might think this is a bit of a scam, but he is holding these tokens, unlike others who quickly sell them off in the community.

Cryptocurrency founders have a lot to learn from him.

Disclaimer: I do not hold this token.

Pudgy Penguins

Pudgies is my favorite crypto brand.

Who wouldn't like them? They are cute, the prices are rising (my NFT only cost $2000), and their mission is to spread "good vibes" into the metaverse.

With billions of views on social media, Pudgy Penguins is most likely to become the best ambassador for the crypto world.

Importantly, $PENGU is the first truly crypto-native memecoin, while other memecoins (DOGE, PEPE, SHIBA) have migrated from Web2.

Therefore, Pudgy Penguins becoming our PR representatives to fix the negative image is perhaps timely.

Worldcoin

You may not like their bizarre AI scanning sphere, or criticize its "draining" token economic model, but one thing cannot be denied: their ambition.

The mission of World Proof of Human is to establish a global identity and financial network to distinguish between humans and AI online, while promoting global economic participation.

This is also one of the core missions of cryptocurrency.

Farcaster

Farcaster's X introduction might be the least ambitious-sounding introduction among all crypto projects: "a sufficiently decentralized social network."

"Sufficiently decentralized" might not sound very ambitious. But Farcaster has quietly achieved it.

It is creating an open social network, similar to X, but with censorship resistance and owned by the users.

Instead of putting everything on-chain and sacrificing user experience, it only decentralizes the key parts: usernames, messages, and the read and write permissions of the network.

This is enough to guarantee freedom while avoiding the disadvantages of complete decentralization.

Anyone can build applications on top of it, and no one can remove you from the platform. Although certain front-end user interfaces may ban you, users can easily migrate to other platforms.

Base has demonstrated that the Farcaster method is effective in its latest Base application with its local integration.

Can't wait to see its token launch!

Hyperliquid

This seems to be an obvious choice.

However, it wasn't until OKX + Binance tried to suppress Hyperliquid that I truly became a believer.

Today, HYPE has become a movement aimed at shifting all trading from centralized exchanges (CEX) to decentralized exchanges (DEX).

Even surpassing Binance. Isn't that ambitious and full of dreams?

HL has become very strong in the perpetual bond market, but I believe they will become even stronger in the spot market.

Hyperliquid.

Polymarket

The cost and time required to create false information or spread fake news is minimal.

However, answering questions like "Do vaccines cause autism?" requires billions in research funding and a significant amount of time.

The truth is indeed expensive. In this era filled with fake news and AI-generated content, revealing what really happened is more valuable than ever.

Polymarket's strength has long been validated: it has outperformed traditional media in predicting the results of U.S. elections.

This is why Polymarket has become one of the protocols that allows me to envision "big dreams". Looking forward to their token airdrop!

Liquity

After the collapse of Terra, most people have given up on the dream of building a truly decentralized stablecoin.

Maker has shifted towards traditional finance (TradFi) and real-world assets (RWA); even the illegal stablecoin Rai, which Vitalik Buterin once strongly advocated, has chosen to transform.

Liquity may be our last chance to achieve a truly decentralized and minimally governed stablecoin.

Despite Liquity V2 growing slowly, its total value locked (TVL) is only $136 million, and the market capitalization of LQTY is also less than $100 million.

In terms of adoption, Liquity still has a long way to go, but their vision is inspiring. One day, the crypto world will again need a decentralized stablecoin.

Higher, further.

Fluid

Listen, I know I am their ambassador, but there is a reason why Fluid is the only project I am personally involved in.

I was both surprised and encouraged when they announced that their goal was to surpass Uniswap's trading volume – after all, they are primarily focused on lending protocols.

And on a certain day, Fluid indeed briefly surpassed Uniswap on Ethereum.

With the recent launch of Fluid DEX Lite, my targets for trading volume, total locked value (TVL) in lending, and the price of $FLUID will reach their peak.

What projects or tokens inspire you with dreams? Feel free to share in the comments!

Improve Your Goals

The 2017/18 crypto cycle was the peak of dreams.

Each token has grand ambitions: Uber, Airbnb on the blockchain, Internet of Things (IOTA), supply chain management (VeChain), decentralized advertising market (Brave), decentralized banking (Bankera), etc.

However, these are merely at the white paper level and lack technical support.

The situation in 2020/21 was different: the vision of decentralized finance (DeFi) and self-governance was supported by smart contracts and truly decentralized applications (dApps).

However, the governance of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and true on-chain decentralization have not yet been realized, as DeFi gradually evolves into on-chain finance.

The current cycle focuses on external factors: ETFs, real-world assets (RWAs), and regulation.

The dreams within the cryptocurrency industry have become smaller, and price expectations have also decreased, despite many positive news over the years.

We are at a crossroads of mass adoption of cryptocurrencies, yet many refuse to pursue bigger dreams. Your price targets are too conservative.

The market capitalization of NVDIA alone surpasses the entire cryptocurrency market's market capitalization. Nevertheless, NVDIA's stock price has risen by 604% over the past few years.

With the implementation of regulatory policies supporting cryptocurrency and the active adoption by traditional finance (TradFi), the crypto industry is entering a whole new era.

It's time to magnify your dreams and elevate your goals by several times! The future of the crypto world is broader than you can imagine.

Source: Deep Tide TechFlow