Wintermute Founder: The crypto industry has deviated from the cypherpunk original intention, with most of the Ethereum ecosystem's TVL being "deposited funds"

2026-02-20 15:01:37

Abstract generation in progress

Deep Tide TechFlow News: On February 20th, Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy recently stated in the Crypto Playbook podcast under Fortune magazine that despite the industry welcoming favorable developments such as pro-blockchain government policies and Wall Street adoption, the crypto industry is gradually being dominated by a mindset focused solely on “number go up” (price appreciation), deviating from the original cypherpunk philosophy. Bitcoin was initially designed to create a decentralized currency system independent of government and banking control, but the current industry development is more centered around financialization and speculation. The future of crypto should return to the cypherpunk spirit rather than fully integrating into Wall Street.

Additionally, regarding the competition between public chains like Ethereum and Solana, Gaevoy pointed out that the market is overlooking the core issue: the real adoption of decentralized applications remains very limited. Although Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) exceeds $120 billion, most of it is “dormant capital,” with a very low proportion actively involved in real economic activities, making it insignificant compared to traditional finance (TradFi).

ETH1.28%

BTC1.09%

SOL3.27%

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