- Vitalik Buterin has suggested that “we are still early.”
- The statements come as part of a debate triggered by Ikigai CIO Travis Kling.
- Beyond questioning whether the industry is still in its infancy, Kling has also cast doubt on its future.
Crypto’s niche libertarian beginnings have long offered investors a sense of exclusivity and a feeling that they were pioneers in a new, revolutionary technology. This perception is further evidenced by the “we are still early” narrative espoused by several industry members.
But many years later, now a globally recognizable industry with a $2 trillion market capitalization and institutionally accessible investment vehicles offered by financial giants like BlackRock and Fidelity, the we are still early narrative has come under question, eliciting a response from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Are We Still Early?
Vitalik Buterin has suggested that we are still early. The Ethereum co-founder’s statements on Monday, September 16, came as part of a debate triggered by an earlier X post from crypto-focused fund Ikigai Chief Investment Officer Travis Kling.
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According to Kling, “We’re not that early.” Kling made this argument by citing Bitcoin’s $1 trillion market cap, Tether’s sizable Treasury bills ownership, and the venture capital investment into the sector in the past four years.
According to Vitalik, however, we are still early. Specifically, the Ethereum co-founder suggested that we are still early to the DeFi potential that has been unlocked with Layer 2 networks becoming cheap following the March 2024 Dencun upgrade.
"The really key thing that we're early to is L2 finally being affordable. I've been saying since ~2020 (if not earlier) that the whole 'not just high-value defi' part of crypto can only work if txfees are cheap. It's only since March that they actually are," he wrote.
Beyond this DeFi potential, Vitalik highlighted progress in ZK technology, which unlocks novel identity solutions and allows for account abstraction.
The recent debate over whether the industry is still in its infancy comes amid a broader debate over whether most crypto projects have failed to find a product market fit and were effectively dead.
Crypto Experiencing Quiet Quitting?
Despite the crypto market’s resurgence in the past year, most crypto assets, including Ethereum, have failed to reclaim their previous all-time highs and are now even sliding further away.
Attempting to explain the current market conditions, Ikigai’s Travis Kling argues that “crypto is experiencing pervasive quiet quitting.” According to Kling, the crypto community is becoming less engaged amid a growing lack of faith that crypto will be able to solve real-world problems and consequently gain mass adoption.
Kling argued that it was dawning on most that the sector had largely failed to achieve much despite its years-long promise to change the world significantly.
"Stop with the comparisons to 'the internet in the late 90's and look what happened there.' This ain't the internet in the late 90's. Bitcoin has product-market fit and stables have product-market fit and the rest of this stuff is lost at sea. Solutions looking for problems at best, a relentless and brutal grift at worst," Kling surmised.
While some have shared Kling’s sentiments, others, like Ethereum’s Vitalik, maintain that crypto still has room to make good on its promises.
On the Flipside
- It remains to be seen when Vitalik’s espoused DeFi potential will become usable and widely adopted products.
- The historically cyclical nature of the crypto market means that crypto trends that had sparked excitement in the past can easily slide into obscurity in the next cycle.
Why This Matters
Amid recent market doldrums, many are significantly uncertain about the future of crypto. Vitalik Buterin’s recent statements offer hope that the space still has significant potential.
Read this for more on Vitalik Buterin:
Vitalik Cranks Up Pressure on Ethereum L2s, Urges Faster Decentralization
See why Polygon’s POL has recently surged:
Polygon’s POL (MATIC) Outshines Market with 18% Surge on Binance Migration
