The cryptocurrency space has always thrived on the promise of innovation. From Bitcoin to Ethereum to Solana, and now to newer chains like Sui, Aptos, and Celestia, the narrative has been about progress: faster, cheaper, more scalable. But as the years go by, a pattern emerges—a chain of hype, speculation, and eventual abandonment. The cycle appears less about solving real-world problems and more about creating new opportunities for founders, venture capitalists, and early investors to profit at the expense of latecomers.
It’s time to ask the hard question: Are these cryptocurrencies just get-rich-quick schemes, dressed up as technological innovation?
Bitcoin: The First Mover and Its Staying Power
Bitcoin started it all. It promised to be a decentralized, censorship-resistant digital currency—a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system.” While its use case as a global currency hasn’t fully materialized, Bitcoin has established itself as a store of value, akin to digital gold. It remains the king of crypto, not because of its speed or scalability but because of its unique position as the first and most decentralized cryptocurrency.
But Bitcoin’s dominance set the stage for what followed: a wave of altcoins claiming to improve on its shortcomings.
Ethereum: The World Computer That Never Was
Ethereum arrived with an ambitious promise: to be the “world computer.” It introduced smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps), unlocking the possibility of programmable money and a new internet (Web3). In its early days, Ethereum attracted massive investment and attention. Many believed it would be the platform where the next generation of apps—used by regular consumers—would be built.
Yet here we are in 2024, and Ethereum’s promise remains largely unfulfilled:
- Scale and Speed: Ethereum has struggled with high gas fees and low transaction throughput, making it impractical for everyday use.
- Lack of Use Cases: Beyond speculative trading and niche DeFi applications, Ethereum has failed to produce dApps with meaningful utility for the average person.
- Declining Narrative: Ethereum’s once-glorious narrative as a “world computer” or the “new internet” has faded. Few even bother to hype Ethereum anymore. Its price, relative to Bitcoin, has been on a steady decline since 2021.
In short, Ethereum has become a solution in search of a problem—a platform with no clear purpose beyond facilitating the trading of other speculative tokens.
Solana: The Next in Line—Fast, Cheap, Scaleable… For What?
As Ethereum’s shortcomings became apparent, Solana emerged as the next big thing. Solana’s pitch was simple: everything Ethereum could do, Solana could do better. It was faster, cheaper, and more scalable, capable of handling thousands of transactions per second.
Solana quickly attracted attention from investors, particularly because of its tiny market cap relative to Ethereum. People believed it could “flip” Ethereum, just as some once believed Ethereum could flip Bitcoin. The price soared, and early investors made fortunes.
But the deeper question remains: What is Solana actually for?
- The most prominent use case for Solana appears to be trading meme coins—a speculative activity that offers no value to society.
- There are no major decentralized apps on Solana that regular people use in their daily lives.
- Just like Ethereum, Solana seems to have no purpose beyond enriching those who buy in early and sell to the next wave of investors.
Despite its technical achievements, Solana ultimately appears to be another step in the same cycle: hype, investment, speculation, and eventual stagnation.
The New Wave: Sui, Aptos, Celestia, and the Accelerating Cycle
Now we’re in the era of Sui, Aptos, Celestia, and other new Layer 1 blockchains. These projects claim to be even faster, cheaper, and more scalable than Solana. They promise to fix the problems of their predecessors, positioning themselves as the infrastructure for the next phase of Web3.
But the cycle is all too familiar:
- A Tiny Market Cap: Each new blockchain starts with a low market cap, making it appealing to investors who missed out on the previous hype cycle.
- The Same Promises: Just as Ethereum promised to replace Bitcoin, and Solana promised to replace Ethereum, these new chains promise to replace Solana.
- No Real Use Cases: Beyond speculative trading, these blockchains offer little to no utility for everyday users. Their ecosystems are barren, and their “killer apps” are nowhere to be found.
- Founder and VC Enrichment: Insiders—founders, teams, and venture capitalists—control the majority of tokens. They profit immensely as retail investors buy into the hype, only to be left holding the bag when the hype fades.
Each iteration of this cycle moves faster than the last. The market has grown savvier in manufacturing hype, and the appetite for speculative profits shows no signs of slowing down.
The Truth About These Projects: Speculation Over Substance
The heart of the problem lies in the economics and incentives of the cryptocurrency industry:
- Tokenomics Favor Insiders: Founders, early team members, and venture capitalists are heavily rewarded through token allocations. These insiders have every incentive to hype their projects, cash out at the peak, and move on to the next shiny new blockchain.
- Speculative Demand Drives Prices: The value of these tokens is driven by speculative demand, not real-world utility. People buy because they believe someone else will buy at a higher price—not because the underlying technology solves a meaningful problem.
- No Real-World Impact: While the technology behind blockchains is impressive, it rarely translates to applications that benefit everyday people. Most Layer 1 chains are playgrounds for speculators, not tools for societal progress.
This creates a Ponzi-like dynamic where the success of a project depends entirely on convincing others to buy in—not on delivering actual value.
The Question We Should Be Asking
As each new blockchain emerges with promises of being “faster,” “cheaper,” and “more scalable,” we should ask a simple question: Scalable for what?
What real-world problems are these technologies solving? What applications are being built that regular people will use? Without clear answers, these projects are little more than speculative instruments designed to enrich their creators and early investors.
Conclusion: The Cycle Will Continue—Until It Doesn’t
From Bitcoin to Ethereum to Solana to Sui, each new blockchain follows the same pattern:
- Launch with hype and promises of revolution.
- Offer marginal technical improvements over the last generation.
- Attract speculative investment due to a tiny market cap.
- Enrich founders and insiders as prices peak.
- Fade into irrelevance as the next shiny project takes its place.
This cycle has persisted because it works—for the insiders. But for retail investors and society at large, it delivers little of value. Until the blockchain industry focuses on real-world utility rather than speculative profits, these projects will remain nothing more than overhyped promises.
It’s time to question the entire premise of these “next-gen” blockchains and demand more than buzzwords and hype. Without real utility, the crypto industry risks becoming nothing more than a Ponzi scheme with a shiny technological veneer.