From Auditless - by Peteris Erins

Thanks to Tim Daubenschütz for feedback on this article. Check out his Substack Boostrapping Kiwi.

This is a weird confession from someone who has worked in the industry since 2018.

I barely use crypto and I don't think I'm alone.

My rare interactions with crypto aren’t driven by genuine utility but by a professional mandate to learn.

Crypto wasn't supposed to be this way

When I entered this industry, I actually valued this aspect.

Paul Graham once wrote that novel ideas are often disguised as toys:

Crypto being just a toy meant I was still early to the party.

The technology was fascinating and the implications of a society built on software not on coercible organizations was inspiring.

By 2024, I thought we’d be using crypto as seamlessly as we use email.

Instead, crypto has been stuck in a perpetual infrastructure stage.

Billions of dollars flood in, yet we see little progress toward products that anyone outside of crypto’s echo chambers actually wants to use.

Meanwhile, the actual products of the crypto industry are volatility and internet entertainment (fun, but hardly transformational).

Meanwhile, the actual products of the crypto industry are volatility and internet entertainment (fun, but hardly transformational).

I was part of the problem too. I joined crypto to build developer tools, not consumer products. We all focused so much on enabling builders that we don't even know who the end users are anymore.

Some in crypto actually argue for the industry to continue actively deprioritizing providing value to non crypto-natives!

Just a month ago there was a Devconflict debate called Onboard the next 1B vs Onboard the next 1M which argued for crypto taking an insular focus.

And just to be clear, I'm not expecting Tik Tok, Fortnite or other apps for children to run on crypto rails.

But core financial transactions: e-commerce, payments, subscriptions, transfers, investments eventually should. Isn't that the promise?

Even more surprisingly, the existing alternatives are still so poor. Hidden fees, lack of compatibility, unfair products, paperwork requirements are just a few of the issues plaguing the financial products I use every day.

Why I rarely use crypto

So if the existing legacy products are so bad, why haven't I become a crypto power user?

Crypto doesn’t make my life easier. I’m a pragmatist. Accounting and compliance become a nightmare when you mix traditional finance with crypto. Wallet management introduces friction. I'm not anti-software – in fact I'm an avid consumer of productivity tools because they save time. Crypto often does the opposite.

Lately, I’ve been moving toward technological minimalism—fewer apps, fewer notifications, less tech that demands my constant attention. Crypto feels at odds with this ethos. Positions require monitoring and wallets need upgrading. People in the industry (myself included) treat conferences as holidays, hang up digital art frames in their home and listen to Bankless in the gym. Many call it a 24/7 industry for a reason.

Owning crypto is painful. Please don't send me crypto. What if there will be an issue in auto-labeling my taxes? Worse yet – could my bank account get frozen? What if a service goes bankrupt and I’ll have to submit endless claims to get my funds back? I'd choose lost money over lost time any day.

I simply don’t have the time. I'd love to tend to some “yield farms” every day. Instead, I automatically allocate to the S&P 500. Getting life-changing gains in crypto requires a willingness to change your life. I prefer mine as it is. Fatherhood requires prioritization.

OK, forget DeFi for a minute, what about NFTs?

Well, there’s no nostalgia. When it comes to NFTs and the cultural products of crypto, I just don't value them. I happily collect rare cardboard from 1993/94 (read: Magic cards) but don't care for NFTs. Instead of playing web3 games, I’ll host an in-person Tekken tournament at Xmas and play some cards in a pub. I'm reaching an age where I want to travel back in time rather than travel forward into the future. To me, stuff like this play mat is cool.

The B2B stuff is more valuable than the B2C stuff. I'm a B2B builder at heart and I'm passionate about platforms and products we’re involved in like Aera. I think automating corporate functions, making them more transparent, fair and cost-efficient and making services permissionless has tremendous value. But the overhead is just too big for consumers to get the same benefits today.

Finally, I do recognize that not needing crypto is a privilege, and one that many people in the world don't have.

Looking Ahead

The sad reality is that the solution is not as simple as “building better apps”.

There are structural barriers to crypto’s mainstream adoption. Existing lobbying organizations, legacy industry, media, internet trolls and other anti-bodies are actively hostile to the space and intentionally slowing down progress.

Even the rest of the technology industry actively hates crypto.

I underestimated just how powerful that can be.

Of course, I don’t think crypto is a scam.

It’s the only technology that has the potential to upgrade the way society works.

I do think it’s unfinished. My hope is that the next wave of crypto builders focuses less on feeding the capital machine and more on replacing legacy systems.

Maybe crypto is for a new generation, one I’m not a part of. Or maybe it’s still waiting to grow up. Either way, I’ll be here, watching, waiting, building and hoping it finally delivers on its promise.