truly disruptive innovation often looks like rule-breaking at first. Robinhood isn't asking permission, they're creating a new category of financial product and letting the market decide if it's valuable.

But it also shows that innovation without institutional buy-in faces real headwinds. OpenAI's public disavowal matters, even if it doesn't technically change the product. Perception shapes adoption, and adoption shapes success.

The companies that figure out how to balance crypto-native innovation with legacy world legitimacy will probably be the ones that actually achieve mainstream adoption. Pure disruption is exciting, but sustainable disruption requires playing politics too.

That's the real lesson here: in finance, being technically correct isn't enough. You need the market to believe in you, regulators to tolerate you, and legacy players to either embrace you or at least stop actively fighting you.