I think back to Sarah, a recent graduate, enthusiastic and idealistic about the potential of crypto. She invested all her savings into some random meme coin project after seeing it mentioned in a tweet, hoping to punt her way to instant wealth. A month later? Wiped out, disillusioned, and convinced the whole thing was a scam. Sarah's story isn't unique. It's the unfortunate reality for too many, and it highlights a critical flaw: crypto's unhealthy obsession with price.

Price Pumps, Empty Promises, Broken Dreams

We've all seen it. The constant infographics, the hasty forecasts, the speculative trading masquerading as investment. The industry has long been addicted to a race toward increasing prices. This obsession is smothering the real promise of the technology. It’s not the technology, but it is the cost. Overall, it’s not about the technology.

Traditional, or old school, marketplaces are created on the basis of a strong product-market fit. A company comes up with something truly incredible, the world adopts it and the stock price begins to catch up with that value. In crypto it’s often the reverse, with price determining the narrative, not vice versa.

Saylorism: A Gilded Cage?

Then there’s the ideology of “Saylorism.” It primes users to view Bitcoin like a digital safety deposit box, lend off of it, round and round the merry-go. It feels…off. Combined together, it begins to feel like a system that just works best for the rich. It’s a corporate Ponzi scheme where internal leverage matters more than external adoption. This isn’t decentralization in any meaningful sense, but rather a new kind of financial aristocracy.

Think of a typical medieval European feudal society—instead of land, it’s Bitcoin. The lords hold the BTC, and everyone else is just trying to scrape by, hoping for crumbs from the table. That is not the future we were sold. This is not the fintech revolution we thought we were getting.

Beyond Speculation: Building a Better World

There's hope. And although Bitcoin is getting most of the hype as digital gold, Ethereum has been hard at work laying the digital train tracks. Ethereum’s value isn’t academically or philosophically only about holding ETH — it’s about using it. It’s the wings that allow decentralized applications, stablecoins, NFTs, DeFi, and even decentralized governance to soar.

Think of it this way: Bitcoin is gold, but Ethereum is the internet. One is a digital asset and store of value, the other is a digital, programmable platform for innovation. Ethereum's growth is tied to its functionality. The more valuable it is, the more useful it is. This is the Amazon model, not the tulip bubble model.

Ethereum is more than a way to make money (though, it certainly can help you do that). It’s all about building a more equitable, transparent, and accessible financial system. Imagine:

  • Decentralized microfinance: Providing loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries without the need for traditional banks.
  • Transparent supply chains: Tracking products from farm to table, ensuring fair prices for farmers and ethical sourcing for consumers.
  • Decentralized identity: Giving individuals control over their personal data, protecting them from identity theft and censorship.

These are not just pipe dreams. These aren’t hypothetical ideas—they are actual projects being deployed on Ethereum today.

Ethereum may even be a gateway for Bitcoin holders to enter into DeFi, but it has to be more than that. The Bitcoin community and the Ethereum community have a lot to teach one another! By converting BTC into Ethereum-compatible assets, holders of BTC can participate in lending, staking and yield generation. At the same time, Bitcoin gets the long-overdue utility.

Gen Z: Demand More, Build More

My generation, Gen Z, is over the get-rich-quick schemes. We believe in cryptocurrency’s ability to solve real-world problems. When rooted in justice and equity, it has the potential to benefit equity-seeking communities. We’re not going to get there by trolling price charts. We cannot allow this to be the status quo — we need to demand more from the crypto industry.

  • Support projects that are focused on social impact.
  • Advocate for policies that promote equitable access to crypto technologies.
  • Build applications that solve real-world problems.

We have to get beyond the buzzword bingo and get down to what really matters. We must create a new crypto ecosystem, one that values purpose over profit.

Crypto is the future of programmable money, digital property, frictionless transactions, decentralized coordination and trustless finance. And that is for the people. The future lasting success of cryptocurrency lies in looking beyond price charts and speculation and instead looking at how cryptocurrencies are being used, which establishes enduring value.

It’s long past time that we stop demonizing crypto. Let’s move from price to purpose, from speculation to solution. Together, let’s create a future where crypto works for all of us—not just the richest among us. Let’s hope that Sarah’s story is the exception and not the rule.

The technology is there. The potential is there. For that, the only ingredients required are creativity and the will to make it happen. Let's get to work!