Founders

One thing people underplay in crypto is how exhausting it is to build anything meaningful in a space where the default reward mechanism is attention, not outcome.

You’re trying to build protocols. What you’re really building is an audience machine.
You’re told to optimize for adoption. What you’re really optimizing is engagement.
You’re told you’re early. You’re really already late, because narrative cycles outpace shipping cycles.

At some point, this eats away at even the best founders. They stop optimizing for truth and start optimizing for sentiment.
Can’t blame them. This is the game as designed.