I have a reflection from Friederike Ernst, co-founder of Gnosis, which makes a lot of sense when you stop to think about what’s happening in crypto right now. She’s worried about something many ignore: as Wall Street and traditional banks fully enter the crypto space, the fundamental values of it all are being diluted.

When Gnosis was founded in 2015, crypto was seen as something for the fringes. But the situation was different back then. The original idea of cryptocurrencies was to reshape financial systems and power structures, focusing on individual sovereignty and shared ownership. It wasn’t meant to be just an improved version of the traditional system.

Now look at what’s happening: Robinhood with its blockchain stocks, big banks hiring engineers specialized in stablecoins, the Robin Hood law being discussed in some places. All of this shows how the mainstream is absorbing crypto, but not necessarily the decentralized spirit that came with it.

The point Ernst raises is crucial: there’s a real risk that crypto becomes just an extension of the existing financial system, without truly changing anything. Entrepreneurs need to stay alert to this, keep vigilance against this deviation from core values. If they let it happen, crypto will just become a more sophisticated tool in the hands of the same institutions that have always controlled finance.

It’s like that classic dilemma: growth versus principles. It’s easy to lose sight of what mattered when everything is becoming mainstream and profitable.