The Multiple Faces of the Encryption World: Developers, Believers, and Speculators

Cryptocurrency is often seen by outsiders as a corner of the internet filled with fraud. However, for industry insiders, it is a new field full of opportunities, built on open-source software, with the potential to break the monopoly of traditional financial institutions.

So, why do people generally believe that cryptocurrency is rife with scams? If that is the case, why do people continue to pay attention to this field? What attracts their curiosity? Or is it that cryptocurrency is really just a huge scam?

This article will introduce a "encryption industry concentric circle" model, explaining why many outsiders view this industry as a scam. This model can help newcomers better understand the complexity of the encryption world and recognize the different types of participants - which ones are worth paying attention to and which ones to be cautious of.

Encryption Concentric Circle Model

This simplified model divides the encryption industry into four concentric circles:

The core developers are at the innermost layer, surrounded by the general public, while in the middle are encryption believers and speculators.

Core Developers

Let us start with the most core circle. Core developers are the creators and thinkers who build this industry based on the most fundamental encryption principles. They have a profound understanding of the problems the current world faces and how cryptography and blockchain technology can solve these problems and fundamentally impact the future. They understand the philosophical, technical, and ethical benefits that this technology can bring to the world.

This is the connotation of what we call "encryption currency value".

In this circle, you will find the anonymous founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. He incubated the Bitcoin blockchain and then gradually faded out, as he understood that Bitcoin would be better without a leader.

You will also see the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin. Vitalik is a monk of the digital age, proficient in encryption, philosophy, mathematics, and cryptoeconomics. He is dedicated to building public goods and social systems that promote global well-being. Despite his wealth, Vitalik lives a humble life, relying on just a backpack, as he does not want to consume resources beyond what is necessary.

He can be called the encryption monk of the digital age.

Core development work is often thankless. Building open-source software typically does not receive the attention it deserves, and the rewards are not proportional to the value it creates for the world.

Bitcoin core developers are working hard every day to improve Bitcoin. Ethereum core developers publicly discuss their next steps every week and how to better serve societal needs with the infrastructure they build.

These people are involved because they believe in the mission, see a better future, and are willing to work tirelessly for it.

Core developers are purists at the center of the encryption world, their leadership has created the appeal of the encryption world, and they continuously strive for the future of the encryption world.

We come because of them... They come for us.

Encryption Followers

The core immediately following is encryption believers.

These are the most loyal followers in the encryption world. They recognize the future vision that the core developers are building and work on the foundation laid by the core developers.

This circle includes not only users, but also application developers, decentralized autonomous organization ( DAO ) members, and companies that build interconnected products and services layers around these new protocols.

Ethereum is a foundational protocol on which we all develop. Some applications are built on top of Ethereum's smart contract layer. Various DAOs also organize using Ethereum. There are also some companies formed around Ethereum, such as venture capital funds, news agencies, or media companies.

This circle is filled with settlers, not passersby.

They are citizens of the encryption world, building infrastructure in this new domain, testing products in the experimental phase, gradually achieving de-banking by managing assets on the encryption track, and establishing new digital identities for themselves. These settlers live here in an open and free metaverse, creating based on open-source software and the spirit of open source.

There are figures like Rune Christensen in this circle, who recognized the need for a decentralized dollar and built the vision for MakerDAO even before the concept of DAO emerged. Today, billions of DAI stablecoins have been used to hedge against poorly managed government currencies.

There is also Hayden Adams, who, after learning programming, independently developed Uniswap—a public and free asset exchange system—with the help of a $10,000 grant from the Ethereum Foundation.

Cami Russo is another example. She is from Argentina and has personally experienced how the peso's hyperinflation has spurred demand for encryption products. DAI, as a native encryption stablecoin, is widely adopted in Argentina, becoming a tool for people to combat inflation rates of 50-100%. Cami became fascinated with cryptocurrency after studying journalism and founded the media publication The Defiant.

Anthony Sassano is one of my favorite encryption believers. He makes videos every day to introduce to the world what has happened in the Ethereum ecosystem over the past 24 hours.

These people are responsible for spreading the progress of the industry. Core developers and application builders often are not very good at promoting themselves because they focus on building the future. The encryption industry relies on the surrounding community to get this work done.

The reason this community exists is that we all came here for the same reason: to believe that the existence of cryptocurrency is to build a better and freer world... This is a necessary step for humanity to move towards the future.

This encryption world is something that many outsiders cannot see or understand.

One important reason for this situation is that some speculators have hindered communication between the outside world and the true pioneers of encryption.

Encryption Speculators

There is a barrier between encryption believers and the outside world... an asteroid belt formed by a group of speculators, making it difficult for outsiders to hear the voices of the true pioneers in the encryption industry.

Speculators often craft a grand image through self-promotion. They adopt polarized strategies and styles, which have proven to be very effective in the political arena. Speculators are not foolish—they know that the encryption frontier holds vast wealth to be seized... they are here purely for profit.

Speculators are the notorious reason for the reputation of cryptocurrencies. They are louder and more extravagant than the average cryptocurrency practitioners. They promote themselves rather than the technology. They usually do not care about the essence of the technology being built, only how to make money from it... regardless of how unsustainable or unethical that practice may be. They deliberately design malicious products with the intent to deceive naive newcomers to the cryptocurrency space.

They create paid Telegram channels, claiming to share "insider information", but in reality, they just want you to take the fall. If you fall into their trap, they will create complex decentralized finance projects that actually just transfer money from your pocket to theirs.

Most speculators appear during a bull market, copying what is popular at the time. They launched fake initial coin offerings (ICO) in 2017 or collaborated with outsourcing platforms to launch shoddy non-fungible token (NFT) projects in 2021. Speculators keenly search for every opportunity to profit, then flock to it.

They have some common characteristics:

• Arrogant personality, boastful, sometimes behaves a bit domineering.
• A small but highly engaged and fervent community has formed around these individuals, reflecting a certain cult of personality. They repeatedly chant slogans devoid of substance, reciting carefully prepared lines, and then peddling their tokens to the public. They suppress dissent, embodying a typical hybrid of humans and robots in the modern social media world.
• A product or system that is fundamentally unsustainable... even if it looks good at the moment. A superficially shiny new encryption product that is actually meaningless... will inevitably collapse in the end.

Overall, speculators exploit people's desire for quick wealth and their ignorance of complex technologies to profit through exaggerated promotions and hype. Their actions have a negative impact on the entire encryption industry, leading to misunderstandings about this field. However, we cannot completely prevent their existence, as openness and decentralization are core values of cryptocurrency. Instead, we need to counter them through education, helping more people understand the true value and potential of encryption technology. Only then can more people see the essence of the encryption world without being misled by superficial noise.