Crowds, Crypto, and Chaos: Lessons from a Web3 Whirlwind
“The first time I tried to buy a ‘decentralized Spotify,’ I genuinely believed I was booking a front-row seat to the future. Spoiler: I did not get free concert tickets—just a lesson in how far blockchain dreams can stretch reality. In the world of crypto, every enthusiast has a similar tale or two: of missed jackpots, legendary rug pulls, and the relentless search for utility in a sea of hype. Let’s rewind to the raucous days of 2017 and look at what happens when crowds, chaos, and capital collide in the crypto sphere.”
From FOMO to Fundamentals: Surviving the 2017 ICO Carnival
The ICO Explosion: From Promises to Punchlines
2017. The year crypto went from niche to neon-lit spectacle. ICOs—Initial Coin Offerings—were everywhere. It felt like every other day, a new whitepaper promised to change the world. Some did. Most didn’t. The mood? FOMO. Everyone wanted in. Miss a round, and you’d hear about it at every meetup, every Telegram group, every coffee shop with WiFi.
But the promises? They were wild. “Decentralized Spotify.” “Crypto Wikipedia.” “Blockchain YouTube.” If it sounded familiar, someone was pitching it. The ideas were bold, sometimes brilliant, often bizarre. Investors lined up anyway. Why not? The next big thing could be just one token away.
Wild Anecdotes: When ‘Decentralized Spotify’ Was a Serious Pitch
Monaco (now Crypto.com): One early project, Monaco, aimed to be the crypto credit card for the masses. It had a Visa contract. It made sense—on paper. Investors scrambled for pre-ICO, even pre-pre-ICO rounds. The card? “Chasing all the time when can we use this card in Switzerland,” one investor recalled. Years later, Monaco rebranded as Crypto.com, leaving some investors in the cold, especially those in Europe. Legal loopholes, selective token swaps. Not everyone got what they expected.
Decentralized Everything: The pitches didn’t stop. Decentralized Spotify? “Awesome in hindsight, sounds super ridiculous.” The videos were slick. The sales pitch, irresistible. But the product? Not so much. Same story with decentralized Wikipedia and YouTube. Great concepts, but execution? That’s another story.
It was a time when even the most outlandish ideas got funding. “Buckets” of projects in every category. Investors just hoped to pick the best—or at least the second best.
From Zero Due Diligence to Coffee-Table Philosophy
Early on, due diligence was almost a joke. People tossed ETH at anything with a whitepaper and a dream. But as the months rolled by, the mood shifted. Teams of friends started splitting roles:
Business Model: Does it make sense?
Financials: Where’s the money going?
Tech: Can they actually build this?
Usability: Would anyone use it?
Philosophical debates replaced blind optimism. Sometimes, it felt like a university seminar. Other times, just a group of friends arguing over pizza.
“We’re literally sitting two people at a table both holding the ledger…making 2.5% and you keep doing that…that’s ridiculous that it works.”
Arbitrage opportunities were everywhere. Some made quick profits. Others, not so lucky.
Hype Cycles and Rebrands
Projects came and went. Names changed. Monaco became Crypto.com in 2020. Others vanished without a trace. The hype, the crashes, the rebrands—it all felt like a rollercoaster. Some compared it to today’s AI boom. Maybe history really does repeat itself.
Hype, Speculation, and Human Nature: Cycles That Never Die
The Allure of Treasure Ships and Crypto Dreams
Speculation isn’t new. It’s as old as the first explorers who risked everything for a shot at gold. Back then, people poured their life savings into ships bound for the New World. Most of those vessels vanished, never to return. But—every so often—a ship would come back, its hull bursting with treasure. The lucky few who backed it? They became legends overnight.
Fast forward to today. The ships are gone, but the dream remains. Now, it’s crypto tokens, NFTs, and digital assets. The stakes feel just as high. The odds? Maybe not so different.
Why Speculation Persists
“There is a strong utility in speculation—you need to guess and grasp at hopes of the future.”
Speculation is more than a gamble. It’s a bet on what could be, not just what is. Without it, those ships would never have sailed. Without it, Web3 might not exist. He or she who speculates is chasing a vision—sometimes a mirage, sometimes a fortune.
Recurring Cycles: Greed, Fear, and the Human Condition
Greed and fear: The oldest cycle in finance. Markets surge when hope is high, crash when panic sets in.
Bull runs: In crypto, these are the wild times. Prices soar. Everyone seems to make money. But not everyone keeps it.
Familiar patterns: Every bubble, every bust—different assets, same emotions. It’s almost eerie how little changes.
They say history doesn’t repeat, but it sure does rhyme. The faces change, the tools evolve, but the underlying psychology? That’s stubbornly persistent. There’s always someone who wants more, who thinks they can outsmart the crowd.
Winners and Losers: Why Most Don’t Hang Onto It
The lucky few: Sometimes, those who know the least win the most. In bull runs, newcomers often strike gold while veterans watch in disbelief.
Holding on is hard: Easy come, easy go. Many who make a fortune lose it just as quickly. They get swept up in the next cycle, the next promise.
Long-term players: The ones who last tend to play a different game. Less hype, more patience. Not everyone can do it. Not everyone wants to.
It’s a strange paradox. The market rewards boldness, but punishes overconfidence. He or she who rides the wave must also know when to step off. Most don’t. The cycle resets.
Speculation: The Engine That Never Stops
Without speculation, there’s no progress. No ships. No crypto. No dreams. But with it, there’s always risk. Always a chance that the next big thing is just another ship lost at sea.
Crypto Logic: Chasing Utility Amid the Madness
The crypto world has always been a whirlwind of ideas, speculation, and—sometimes—chaos. But beneath the noise, a few voices tried to make sense of it all. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, was one of them. His “money velocity” equation became a touchstone for anyone trying to put a price on tokens. The debates? They were everywhere—Medium, Reddit, Telegram. Everyone wanted a formula. But was there ever a real answer?
The Hunt for Value: Vitalik’s Equation
Back in 2017 and 2018, the crypto crowd obsessed over how fast money moved through the system. The “velocity” of tokens—how quickly they changed hands—was supposed to reveal something about their worth. If money zipped around faster, did that mean the network was more valuable? Or just more frantic?
People tried to adapt old-school economics—M1, M2 money supply—to this new digital world. They counted transaction speeds, watched block times, and measured how much new crypto was minted. It felt scientific. But was it?
“Back then, everyone tried to find the formula of how do you value crypto…but it wasn’t about financial markets.”
That’s the thing. It wasn’t about Wall Street logic. It was about what people actually did with these coins. If an exchange looked shaky, users rushed to move their money. Suddenly, transaction speed mattered more than any spreadsheet.
Stories vs. Substance: The Adoption Question
For a while, the market ran on stories. ICOs promised the moon. Ethereum became the launchpad for hundreds of projects. Some argued that the total value of all these tokens should make Ethereum itself even bigger. It made sense—until it didn’t.
The real test? Adoption. Not just whitepapers or hype, but actual use. Did people send money across borders? Did businesses trust these networks for real transactions? Or was it all just speculation, a digital casino with better graphics?
Are We Any Wiser?
Years later, the debates haven’t really stopped. Some say the industry is smarter now. Others see the same old patterns—just with more zeros and fancier tech. Reporters still poke fun at early “due diligence,” when YouTube channels and Twitter threads replaced real analysis.
The truth is, nobody has nailed down the perfect way to value crypto. Not then, not now. The tension between speculation and utility remains. Maybe that’s the lesson: in crypto, the search for meaning is never really over.
So, are we any wiser? Or just caught in a higher-tech bubble, chasing utility while the madness rages on? The answer, it seems, is still up for grabs.
💧 Looking to earn rewards with DeFi? We recommend checking out Hydration.net — a next-generation platform that makes decentralized finance easier and more rewarding.
TL;DR: Web3 investment is rarely what it seems on the surface: speculation, mistakes, hype, and a little bit of luck all blend together. The journey is half the reward—and the smarter you get, the odder your stories become.
A big shoutout to https://www.youtube.com/@TheKusamarian for their insightful content! Be sure to check it out here: https://youtu.be/ptVjaeLT__E?si=ftwM05YQeF6EOud7.
