As crypto prices plummet, the high-profile entrepreneurs and investors with a steep financial stake in the technology have tried to keep a positive attitude. The exception is Evgeny Gaevoy, founder and CEO of the leading crypto trading firm Wintermute. On the latest episode of Fortune’s Crypto Playbook podcast—available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube—Gaevoy explained why he believes blockchain has strayed from its cypherpunk roots.
In a viral thread on X from earlier in February, Gaevoy argued that despite a number of tailwinds supporting crypto, from a pro-blockchain government to Wall Street adoption, the industry has been subsumed by a “number go up” philosophy. He contrasted this to Bitcoin’s founding ideals as a libertarian technology that aimed to create a decentralized currency outside the control of governments or banks.
Even though stablecoins have proved to be a sticky use case over the past few years, for example, Gaevoy said it was ironic to celebrate their success when they’re advancing U.S. dollar supremacy. “We were supposed to build something parallel to the dollar, but now we are actually imposing the dollar on the rest of the world,” he said on the podcast.
And amid debates over whether different blockchains like Solana or Ethereum are superior, Gaevoy said that onlookers are missing the point: There isn’t real adoption of decentralized applications on either. Despite the fact that Ethereum has more than $120 billion in total value locked, according to CoinMarketCap, Gaevoy argued that most of it is “stuck money.”
