2026-01-06 18:22:01

Do you remember that period? Around the winter of 2020, many project teams' ideas quietly changed. From the initial focus on "building products, creating value, serving users," it gradually evolved into "how to get listed on exchanges, how to take care of the community and studios." This seemingly insignificant shift actually reflects a very solid contradiction—the urgency of exchanges' rigid demand for trading data and how difficult it was for early-stage projects to get off the ground. The conflicting demands from both sides couldn't be reconciled, and project teams ultimately had to bow to reality.

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BanklessAtHeart

· 01-09 10:19

Honestly, this is the fate of Web3; no one can escape it.

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GamefiHarvester

· 01-07 15:52

Honestly, that's why current projects are all about storytelling rather than building products. --- Exchanges need data, projects need to survive, but in the end, it's still us believers who suffer. --- I saw through that wave in 2020; there’s no real idealism, just利益链条 (interest chains). --- So who still believes in the phrase "creating value for users"... I don't anymore. --- Wait, no, the real contradiction is that centralized exchanges have hijacked the entire ecosystem. --- This is basically a chicken-and-egg problem: without active data, you can't get listed; without being listed, you have no users. --- Admitting reality is the right move; without reality, there's no future. --- That's why I said these project teams suddenly changed their faces—turns out the tricks are so deep. --- Cold start is really difficult, but using that as an excuse to fool us is a bit too much.

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RooftopVIP

· 01-06 18:41

In plain terms, it's that ideals are being ground into the dirt by reality; no one can escape this fate.

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AirdropChaser

· 01-06 18:29

Damn, that wave in 2020 was really full of scammers. The project teams say nice things, then turn around and go kiss up to the exchanges. I'm tired of this routine. Cold start was already difficult, and now it's even more tightly controlled, there's nothing we can do. It's just the profit chain that has tied everyone down. No wonder so many projects failed later on; they were crooked from the start.

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AmateurDAOWatcher

· 01-06 18:25

Exchanges have become vampires, and project teams have become laborers. This is the reality of Web3. Really, those people from 2020 still wanted to change the world, but now they’re just thinking about how to cut. Irony. The problem is that without exchange exposure, it’s indeed dead, but with exchanges, you get exploited. It’s truly a deadlock. Back then, I thought this was just a transitional period, but now it’s just like this. Project team: We want to create something | Exchange: Show me the data first | Users: They’re all scammers. Honestly, it’s still too easy to raise funds. Once the money is raised, it starts to go awry.

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