Why Are New Blockchain Networks Flooded with Criticism Even Before the Mainnet Launch?

More than a decade has passed in the crypto industry, and recently I witnessed a phenomenon I have not experienced before. At first, feedback on new blockchain projects rarely attracted attention—either hot or cold, nothing special. But now, the situation is vastly different. When a new chain emerges like Monad, MegaETH, and Tempo, an enormous wave of negative sentiment appears exclusively, even though these projects are still in the pre-launch stage.

This change reflects a profound shift in market psychology that is not just about technology but about our beliefs regarding the industry’s future.

1. The Past Mindset: From Nihilism to Cynicism

In recent years, the dominant attitude on crypto Twitter could be described as “financial nihilism”—the idea that no asset has real value, that everything is just a meme, and that the entire industry is fundamentally meaningless. Today, although the light of this idea has dimmed, a more subtle and concerning perspective has been built: what I call “financial cynicism.”

This cynicism does not believe that the entire industry is valueless. Instead, it suggests: maybe some things are valuable, but all of them are vastly overvalued. The true price might be only one-fifth to one-tenth of the current trading price. Many analysts combine sophisticated metrics—P/E ratios, gross margins, discounted cash flow models—to combat this sentiment, but the image of exhaustion runs deeper.

The arrival of Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange with real profit and buyback mechanisms, temporarily offered hope. Never before had people shouted that they had found true value. But the deepest problem is not about the metrics themselves—it’s about a larger surrender to the idea that Layer 1 networks can earn genuine exchange-level profit margins. People have no interest in this argument.

The saying about life is: what matters most is how we respond to challenges, not the challenges themselves. The crypto market has posed a significant challenge to our long-term vision, and I see many believing it’s impossible to overcome.

2. The Law of Exponential Growth: A Forgotten Lesson

My partner Bo, a former VC who witnessed the internet wave in China, often recounts the early days of e-commerce. I can’t help but feel humbled by our current ability to see the future.

When the internet was emerging, Chinese VCs debated over coffee: Why are people buying electronics online? Will women attend e-commerce, or is physical touch more important to them? What about fresh food—can logistics handle it? Every question seemed reasonable, and each would lead to different investment strategies and valuations.

The answer? All of them were terribly wrong. E-commerce sent products worldwide, and the market grew beyond expectations.

I see the same pattern repeating in crypto. When DeFi was just starting, TVL was only a few million dollars. EtherDelta had a daily volume of a few million dollars, and that was considered large. Tether, now with $300 billion in supply, was once called a failed Ponzi scheme by major media outlets. DeFi volume soared from a few million to hundreds of millions of dollars. Everything is exponential.

But my most personal observation is this: Ethereum is only 10 years old. Amazon took 22 years before it truly became profitable. The first ten years of Amazon stock were sideways. During that time, many columnists, critics, and short sellers said: Is e-commerce just a charity of venture capitalists? Amazon would never make money like Walmart or General Electric.

If you debated Amazon’s P/E ratio in its first decade, you were gambling on the wrong paradigm—the linear growth paradigm. But e-commerce is not linear. Therefore, all valuation metrics are fundamentally flawed.

For truly exponential technology, the magnitude of the future is always beyond our imagination. Our expected growth is always less than the actual. That’s why Silicon Valley understands exponential growth better than Wall Street—Silicon Valley grew up with exponential technology, while Wall Street is centered on linear thinking.

3. The True Foundation of Skepticism

Criticism of new public chains does not truly stem from doubt about their ability to gain market share. We’ve seen how Solana rose from the ashes and emerged within just two years. Such transformation is not easy, but it is possible.

The real issue is deeper: people are gradually convinced that even if a new public chain wins, there is no prize to be gained. If Ethereum is just a speculative asset with no real cash flow, even if it succeeds, an $300 billion valuation becomes impossible. Pursuing it is pointless because it’s all bubbles destined to burst.

What I call the “revenue meta narrative”—using P/E ratios and profit margins to support Layer 1 valuations—is a sign of surrender. It implicitly accepts a linear growth trajectory. It reflects the belief that 30 million on-chain daily active users and less than 1% of M2 money supply are the final destination—that crypto is just one industry among thousands, a side character.

But this is the real mistake. Blockchain is not just a new feature of finance. It is a new foundation for the entire monetary and communication system. It will change everything.

4. Why We Must Continue to Believe

The point is not the exact price of Monad or MegaETH today. The real question is: do you believe in the exponential law of crypto?

If you do, if you truly understand this law, it will become clear that the entire industry is still undervalued relative to its potential. Converting all financial assets into an open, 24/7, interconnected ecosystem is not a side event—it is the revolution that will underpin everything we do in the coming decades.

Our children will tell their grandchildren about this era—the time when change began. And many of us do not believe this is possible. Many do not believe that programs running on decentralized computers can replace the entire monetary and financial system. But it will happen.

Openness will prevail. This is the key lesson from the internet age. Incumbents will fight. Governments will resist. But in the end, ubiquity, creativity, and efficiency will triumph. Blockchain will consume the entire financial ecosystem in the same way the internet transformed everything.

Yes—over time—all will be consumed.