Recently looking at market data, I suddenly understood why retail investors have lost everything—not because they lack money, but because they have completely lost faith.

The valuation comparison chart from CryptoRank explains things very clearly. Projects that were once embraced by venture capital have now seen their market value shrink beyond recognition. Those "unicorns" that were once dazzling during fundraising are now performing somewhat poorly in the secondary market, to be honest.

Numbers speak for themselves. Humanity Protocol, Fuel Network, and Bubblemaps, these three projects have a VC valuation capped at 1 billion USD. What are the results? Their current market capitalizations are only 285 million, 11 million, and 6 million USD respectively. This is not merely a shrinkage in market value; essentially, it is a collective awakening of retail investors to the VC narrative.

There are more projects with similar stories: Plasma was once glamorous during its fundraising, now with a market value of 224 million; ICNT is also at 247 million; DoubleZero has dropped directly to 373,000, Camp Network is stuck at 15 million, and Treehouse is at 16 million. Looking at these numbers, you can feel how thoroughly the retail investor has been "disenchanted."

The Everlyn case is even more heartbreaking — the VC valuation was $250 million, but the current market value is only $26 million. The difference in the middle is the retail investors' disappointment.

Similar examples include projects like SoSoValue, Privasea, Bitlight, Momentum, Kyo Finance, and Yieldbasis, all of which have been brought back to reality in terms of market capitalization. The market is telling everyone in the most direct way: VC valuation does not equal project value, and high financing cannot change the basic logic of product implementation and adoption.

The current situation is actually quite clear - retail investors are not hesitating to buy the dip, but rather have completely lost confidence in that valuation system. This adjustment, in a sense, is a rational return of the market.