What should we do if the crypto market no longer has bull runs?
For more than a decade, the crypto market has seemed to follow a four-year cycle: Bitcoin halving, capital flowing in, a sharp market rally, and then a prolonged correction. However, the market has underperformed over the past two years. Although Bitcoin continues to attract institutional capital and market attention, many altcoins have yet to regain their former momentum.
This raises a question that has rarely been seriously considered: What would happen to the industry if the crypto market no longer experienced broad-based bull runs? Would blockchain development come to a halt?
The answer may be just the opposite: without bull runs, the blockchain industry may not decline. Instead, the business models that have relied on bull markets to survive are the ones that could take a real hit.
Real demand for stablecoins and tokenization is shifting
Stablecoins: Initially, they mainly served crypto trading. Today, their use has expanded to global cross-border payments. Demand for them no longer depends entirely on Bitcoin’s price movements, but on whether they can make money transfers faster and cheaper.
Tokenized stocks (RWA): This was once largely a concept, but traditional financial institutions are now seriously exploring how blockchain can improve the efficiency of securities issuance, trading, and settlement. Their growth is no longer driven by rising crypto markets attracting capital, but by traditional finance’s own need to improve efficiency.
Competition is shifting back to real-world applications, and native tokens may not share in the gains
Blockchain applications may continue to grow over the next few years, but that does not necessarily mean the entire crypto market will rise in tandem.
One of the industry’s biggest problems in the past was treating token prices as the key to growth. As soon as liquidity tightened, projects lost their users. Going forward, competition will focus more on real-world commercial applications.
As Bitcoin becomes a digital asset for institutional portfolios, stablecoins become financial payment infrastructure, and tokenization is integrated into the traditional financial system, that does not mean every public blockchain token will rise in value. Institutions need underlying technology and settlement efficiency; they do not necessarily need native tokens.
Investors need to change the way they think
This does not mean that bull runs will disappear from the crypto market altogether, but the industry must first go through a process of separating the wheat from the chaff.
In the past, people were eager to find “100x coins.” Going forward, they will need to take a closer look at whether projects have real users and can generate sustainable revenue.
Bull markets can make the industry grow rapidly, but they cannot hide problems forever. The pressure of a market without a bull run may instead give the industry a chance to become more rational and address fundamental issues.
For more than a decade, the crypto market has seemed to follow a four-year cycle: Bitcoin halving, capital flowing in, a sharp market rally, and then a prolonged correction. However, the market has underperformed over the past two years. Although Bitcoin continues to attract institutional capital and market attention, many altcoins have yet to regain their former momentum.
This raises a question that has rarely been seriously considered: What would happen to the industry if the crypto market no longer experienced broad-based bull runs? Would blockchain development come to a halt?
The answer may be just the opposite: without bull runs, the blockchain industry may not decline. Instead, the business models that have relied on bull markets to survive are the ones that could take a real hit.
Real demand for stablecoins and tokenization is shifting
Stablecoins: Initially, they mainly served crypto trading. Today, their use has expanded to global cross-border payments. Demand for them no longer depends entirely on Bitcoin’s price movements, but on whether they can make money transfers faster and cheaper.
Tokenized stocks (RWA): This was once largely a concept, but traditional financial institutions are now seriously exploring how blockchain can improve the efficiency of securities issuance, trading, and settlement. Their growth is no longer driven by rising crypto markets attracting capital, but by traditional finance’s own need to improve efficiency.
Competition is shifting back to real-world applications, and native tokens may not share in the gains
Blockchain applications may continue to grow over the next few years, but that does not necessarily mean the entire crypto market will rise in tandem.
One of the industry’s biggest problems in the past was treating token prices as the key to growth. As soon as liquidity tightened, projects lost their users. Going forward, competition will focus more on real-world commercial applications.
As Bitcoin becomes a digital asset for institutional portfolios, stablecoins become financial payment infrastructure, and tokenization is integrated into the traditional financial system, that does not mean every public blockchain token will rise in value. Institutions need underlying technology and settlement efficiency; they do not necessarily need native tokens.
Investors need to change the way they think
This does not mean that bull runs will disappear from the crypto market altogether, but the industry must first go through a process of separating the wheat from the chaff.
In the past, people were eager to find “100x coins.” Going forward, they will need to take a closer look at whether projects have real users and can generate sustainable revenue.
Bull markets can make the industry grow rapidly, but they cannot hide problems forever. The pressure of a market without a bull run may instead give the industry a chance to become more rational and address fundamental issues.