Recently, I’ve been thinking about a very interesting phenomenon: this cycle in the crypto market is completely different from previous ones. It’s not about the price, which everyone can see, but the overall vibe of the ecosystem has changed.

I’ve gone through several cycles and can sense when the bear market atmosphere starts to become abnormal. Now is such a moment. Builders in the crypto community are becoming fewer and fewer, and everywhere on the timeline are voices of disappointment; many people are choosing to leave entirely. A friend of mine said something particularly piercing: in previous bear markets, he would still persist in learning, testing new applications, and researching potential hot directions for the next cycle. But this time, he almost doesn’t want to touch this field anymore. I feel the same way.

A series of events over the past two years have deeply hurt many people. Last year, during that period, millions of new wallets were created with one purpose: to trade tokens on a popular memecoin platform. At that time, KOLs were frantically sharing screenshots of hundredfold, thousandfold gains, dragging retail investors into extreme FOMO. But what happened? A large amount of retail funds was directly drained. The data is shocking: over 99% of memecoins went to zero within 60 to 90 days, and very few people actually made money.

Later, there was a massive liquidation event—1.66 million traders were liquidated, losing over $20 billion. This is the largest liquidation event in crypto history. Countless wallets were wiped out, and many people left the industry permanently. I completely understand their choice.

In this cycle, retail investors experienced not just a bear market but a systemic harvest: high circulating market cap tokens with only a small portion in circulation, insiders dumping upon listing, project teams lying flat after TGE. Trust in the crypto market has completely collapsed; everyone feels like they’re being scammed.

Retail investors have exited, but this cycle is different. In the past, when retail investors left, the market would fall into a vacuum, with no one to fill it. This time, it’s different—institutions are supporting the floor. Just last year, the US crypto ETFs attracted a net inflow of $31.77 billion, BlackRock bought $24.7 billion worth of Bitcoin, and inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs increased nearly fourfold. Even now, despite retail panic, ETF net inflows continue.

ETFs are just the surface; looking deeper reveals more interesting trends. Giants like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and Visa support RWA projects handling over $9 trillion in tokenized assets monthly. Stripe and large investment firms are building payment blockchains, and some companies have issued $22 billion in real loans on-chain. The stablecoin market cap has already exceeded $90k. These are real business investments from major institutions—companies of this scale wouldn’t heavily bet on a field without exponential growth potential.

On-chain data also confirms this shift. Bitcoin exchange balances have fallen to their lowest in nearly two years, and most of the Bitcoin flowing into exchanges comes from the top 10 wallets. The core story of this cycle is retail investors losing money while institutions are accumulating. The power in the crypto market has been transferred.

When retail investors return in large numbers again, they will face a completely different market—one supported by institutional funds, with stablecoins settling trillions of dollars, and protocols surviving on real products. This transformation is already happening, and I will be here to witness the entire process.