> The disappointment is that, 14 years after the Bitcoin blockchain was invented, little of this promise has been realised. Crypto’s frenzy drew in talent from bright graduates to Wall Street professionals, and capital from vc firms, sovereign-wealth and pension funds. Vast quantities of money, time, talent and energy have been used to build what amount to virtual casinos. Efficient, decentralised versions of mainstream financial functions, such as currency exchanges and lending, exist. But many consumers, fearful of losing their money, do not trust them. Instead they are used to speculate on unstable tokens. Money-launderers, sanctions-dodgers and scammers abound.

Here's the thing: Bitcoin doesn't need you, Mr. Entrepreneur. It doesn't need your black turtleneck savant charisma. It doesn't need your ambition. It doesn't need your "innovation." It doesn't need your groveling before regulators to build your moat. And most of all, it doesn't need your VC money.

This is a problem for said entrepreneurs and VCs. Because they have turtlenecks beanbags, money, innovation, and groveling just burning holes in their collective pockets - waiting to find an outlet.

But it turns out that "crypto" and "DeFi" do need Mr. Entrepreneur and his merry band of VCs. A lot. Why? Because these are efforts to replicate the existing financial system on the sandy foundation of "blockchain." And that's an expensive business.

Toss in the loosest monetary policy in US history and the recipe is complete. A quorum of charismatic entrepreneurs fleecing gullible VCs and depositors out of fake wealth, tossing it into a big pile, dousing with a liberal quantity of gasoline, and setting the entire thing ablaze.

This may or may not be the end of "crypto," but Bitcoin continues to operate just as before - without the need for exchanges, regulators, entrepreneurs, financiers, or visionaries.