Chris Pan's debacle on stage at Ohio State’s 2024 commencement was truly an introspective moment for the entire crypto community. Despite many projects hitting ATHs and major breakthroughs in the traditional financial industry such as the approval of the Bitcoin ETF in nations across the world, crypto is still far from mainstream adoption.
Though CT might want to solely attribute the blame to a combination of bad press from traditional media, lack of education, and non-believers having lost money in the market, the backlash we saw during the event and later on Reddit was not entirely driven by external factors.
From scams and rugpulls to speculative pump-and-dump schemes, the degen culture of crypto has drawn intense scrutiny from outside the community. Amid the controversy, a different narrative often remains buried. From cross-border stablecoin transactions to decentralized finance and DePIN infrastructure, crypto offers game changing products that empower people around the world. Crypto is ,without a doubt, on the way to mainstream adoption. But, sometimes it feels like many of the struggles our industry faces are self-inflicted.
First impressions are everything and most people are first introduced to blockchain as a financial asset to invest in. Given the inherent riskiness of crypto, however, their opinions quickly turned sour when they saw their portfolio drop 60% overnight. It also doesn’t necessarily help that a large portion of online discourse is centered around the riskiest of assets (memecoins), with coins like $BODEN and $WIF trending on Twitter every other day during peak mania.
This speculative culture fostered by CT has led many to view crypto solely as a gambling vehicle rather than a legitimate financial and data infrastructure. It’s important to understand that this can’t be the outsized force in this industry forever. However hard it may be to believe, crypto’s next big step will be onboarding normies who have little to no interest or tolerance for this culture. We have to accept that the large majority of blockchain users will end up being everyday people.
The controversy surrounding Chris Pan's commencement speech at Ohio State University shows us that we are far from reaching this goal. Pan's praise of Bitcoin was met with boos and jeers, and the reactions on Reddit further exemplify the issue at hand. What crypto needs is a killer app. Despite all the negative press surrounding cryptocurrency, many traditional industries like supply chain, financial sectors, and distributed computing understand and take advantage of blockchain technologies due to the tangible benefits they provide. But for the public to do the same, blockchain needs an application, only possible onchain, that is so necessary and ubiquitous that it obligates normal people to jump onboard. Just remember that the internet had to jump through the same hurdles that blockchain faces right now before onboarding millions through email, social media, and online shopping. Projects building within the DePIN, onchain social and gaming, and RWA tokenization space all seem to be gaining traction quickly, but only time will tell if one of these will be the inflection point in onchain users or if the app we need is yet to be made.
Crypto also faces some other, albeit far easier to solve, hurdles to mainstream adoption. Coming from web2, the user interface for onchain applications are far more challenging to navigate and often require technical knowledge, making them inaccessible to inexperienced users. Products like the Coinbase Smart Wallet are making major strides in improving the onboarding experience for the end user but changes must be made at every level of onchain interaction including better UI/UX for dApps. In addition, the lack of standardized interfaces across different platforms compounds the problem. Each platform often has its unique process for account setup, transaction approval, and security measures. Without a seamless user experience, mainstream users are unlikely to embrace crypto products.
Regulatory uncertainty also creates an environment where legitimate projects struggle to navigate compliance requirements. Clear regulatory guidelines are necessary to provide a stable environment for crypto innovation. Governments should establish clear guidelines so that builders can build innovative products without worrying about the SEC knocking down their door. Additionally, providing a straightforward pathway for onchain businesses to obtain licenses and comply with KYC and AML regulations will improve the industry's credibility. Most importantly, given the global nature of blockchain, international cooperation is needed to prevent regulatory arbitrage and ensure a consistent approach to regulation.
Finally, the culture of the blockchain needs to shift to accommodate those who aren’t crypto native. This doesn’t mean that CT culture needs to go, just that it can’t be the only one. Crypto needs to be demystified for the general public, which means dispelling misconceptions, placing education at the forefront of adoption, and being transparent with new users around risks, tokenomics, and actual utility.
The backlash against Pan's speech shines a light on the underlying public skepticism towards crypto, but also highlights an opportunity for change. By shifting the narrative back to education, real-world applications, and best practices, our industry can bridge the gap between crypto natives and the general public. So, the next time you introduce your friends to crypto, maybe don’t start by telling them to buy your new favorite token wif hat, but help them see the vision of what an onchain future can look like. We can’t lose the plot.