It appears we've come full circle. So to what extent this truly represents a new paradigm, I cannot say.

What I do know is the market is exhausted. The trenches have logged off. What happens next is a matter of poetic justice: a return to value, a return to the disillusionment of so-called token utility—at least so they say. Billions of dollars extracted. Now, and only now, a call for the reemergence of ICOs reverberates across the industry, though this time under different branding—a tale all too familiar in the land of crypto. A call for the reemergence of gated communities protected through thousand-dollar JPEGs, providing access to ghost town Discords or Telegram channels spammed with pasta.

The timeline holds nothing back. The chickens have come home to roost. Capitulation, anger, and hate now reign supreme. Nothing changes sentiment quite like price. In times of plenty, it was all fun and games: industry leaders hopping on the bandwagon, pumping worthless tokens as they hide behind their quasi-intellectual prose. "Attention! Attention! Attention!" they scream from the rafters. Well, that attention is now gone, leaving those who followed empty-handed, questioning the very nature of our industry.

We used to write hundred-page academic-level whitepapers; now we livestream lighting ourselves on fire for a chance at $20k.

An era has ended, sunsetted by the criminal leader himself, appointed to the highest ranking—but not before launching a token for each family member, not before squeezing every penny from those souls whose trust he'd gamed.

So where do we go now? Jail, most likely. I jest. I digress. We must do better.

Here, in this space, we have no qualms with calling our projects "memes," no issues with launching another token when the previous one fails. We have no problem rugging our communities, as what is done is forgotten as the rotation spins our heads. We risk it all for a rug, but for revenue-split—no way!

We forget the games we play. We take for granted what we're given. People losing their life savings? "Get good, kid," we say, echoing the notion of winning together, that if you keep pulling that lever, you too could make it someday.

It's time to return to our roots. It's time to cut the bullshit.

The reality is that we play zero-sum games: what's a win for you is potentially catastrophic for one or many of your followers. We've lost touch with what initially made us tick. After all, we now openly call it a casino.

Herein I'll outline what I've learned over the years, from my days working on financial communications for some of the world's largest companies. From deSPACing and propping up operationless shells to several multiples of their cash holdings, to overhauling communications strategies that would lead to quick thousand-percent stock appreciation—a so-called re-pricing, one with no merit outside narrative alone.

The truth is that we are not too different from the so-called sophisticated investors on Wall Street; we just lack their style. We lack their understanding of what makes prices rise. For decades now, the largest and best stocks have leaned into financial engineering, stock-based comp workarounds, corporate buybacks, the dreaded community-adjusted returns, the EBITDA metrics openly accepted by sell-side analysts—the same ones who run the promotional roadshows, who sit across from those who underwrite the deals. Alas, Telegram is a savior on the Street for those who work from the inside, not too dissimilar to what we see in crypto.

Not all is bad, but for how much longer will that last, before it all goes awry, before crime season is no longer a season but a new norm? Well, we've walked this path for many years, and there is no sign of slowing.

So here in crypto, we've once again come to a crossroads. There is no regulatory arm that's going to clear the way, not unless it's your money that fueled the lobby. Time and again, we've seen this story play out—our leaders become the villains. Our faith and our future now hang in the balance.

Are we ready for the responsibility that comes with legitimacy? It seems we have no choice.

The biggest lie this industry has ever told you is that attention is all that matters. A fleeting hope, a fleeting hype—be ready for your family to call: "What the fuck did you make me buy?" A holiday classic, a time of giving.

A community, a cult. How about we start with proper communications? Resonance is what we seek, not attention.

We used to stack ETH. We used to build ponzus. At least then we believed in something, at least then we tried.

What about that promise to democratize the global financial system, to tear down that wall? To do away with the hurdle of so-called "accreditation," to give that unbanked father in sub-Saharan Africa a better life for his child, to give him a real shot at wealth creation, to use financial markets in their most beautiful form—a ground-level entry into the next big thing; a small risk at a shot of a life-changing investment.

Alas, we no longer call ourselves investors. We are merely traders, exit liquidity for those with the largest followings, for the VCs who destroyed their credibility by pounding their chests: "Shitcoins! Shitcoins!" These are the very people who were supposed to build us up, yet they are the ones who've hurt us the most.

Yet again, I digress. Attention is not the answer. Attention is how we got here. More celebrity rugs, countries launching tokens while their residents sleep, Presidents launching coins back-to-back—all of which have gone to near zero. So much for onboarding.

You see, a return to authenticity is what we need. The cornerstone of trust. The basis of resonance. The home of credibility. What a world that would be.

So how do we get back to sustainability? How do we avoid the pain? We turn on those who hide behind the guise of fun and games, because there is no fun when people's savings are on the line. It's time we take some responsibility. Enough of the contradictions.

It's time to rebuild. It's time to move forward.

This starts with marketing. This starts with communications. Somehow we've learned nothing from the many mishaps, the many jailings, the many blatant frauds that have plagued our beloved blockchains. Somehow we've gotten worse with marketing, with communications.

We need not a group of dozen replyguys that shill every piece of garbage you send off. The agents are coming. Your Girard thesis is dead. No longer can you hide behind social theories of mimetics, nor your intellectualized "packets of culture" that traverse space-time. The only thing that matters is resonance, authenticity, and trust. For the spam now flows abundantly in avenues that will soon come to bust.

Face the music, and listen. It hasn't stopped. We can no longer afford to remove a chair with each roundabout. The players no longer want to play, and the song is getting old.

No longer can we pump worthless tokens and then wonder why rotations are wicked. All of this must come from the top.

Your community is dead, just like your internet soon will be. A group of garbage divers picking at what's left after the wolves have bloated themselves and returned to the hills, never to be seen again. That is, until the next dumpster you fill. Surely they care about your project. Surely they care about your industry.

There is no longer a ten-year plan, only a week of extraction, leaving nothing behind but an angry mob that eats at your credibility. You want mimetics? You want community? You want attention? Then understand this: lose your narrative and forever hold your peace. It takes a near lifetime to build a reputation, but a single tweet to destroy it.

So forget your community. Focus on communications.

No longer can our leaders serenade with sweet nothings, not without being serious about raising the tide.

As a leader, we look to you.

Should you mention a token, know that its fate now shines on you. Should you indirectly tease a token, know that its peril is yours to hold.

Enough with the fleeting hype. Enough with beating around the bush.

Own what is yours to own and kill everything else.

No longer can you hide behind conviction, seeing as how you've given us nothing to be convicted on. You want to take a risk? You like to gamble? Give us revenue-split. Give us value. Give us redistribution. This notion that your intrinsically worthless token is some kind of instant attention feedback loop threatens all that we've built here over the last decade, if anything at all. I jest, once more. Not all bad apples are rotten at the core. We mustn't attribute to malice what is ignorance, they say. So hire non-devs. Let them conduct pre-launch audits. You do not get infinite lives. You cannot erode trust. Do not let something as cumbersome as communications be the thing that lights the mob's torch.

It is easily avoidable, and that is what pains me the most.

So step up to the plate. The industry needs you now more than ever.

No more headless operations, or DAOs controlled by a few heavyweight delegatees. You are the leader we look to. Proudly state your cause: the owner, the founder, the one behind the token. Not two, not three, but one: one price, one project, one cause. Lock in your flywheel and hold your ground. You are your token, and your token is you. You want to legitimize? You want to be taken seriously? You want to attract capital that buys the insiders' falling knives? You want to create sustainability when rotations and attention are turning over at the speed of light? This is what it takes. The project is the token, and the token is the project. If you are not ready for this, then do not deploy. It will get extracted. It will get dumped, and those caught holding the bag will blame you.

To launch a token is to be employed by its holders. To launch a second is to dilute yourself. To include a token that is not legitimate in any marketing materials is to rug your community. To not hold your own token at the top of your public wallet is to signal a lack of confidence. To mention a token only to go weeks or months without any update is to destroy trust. To chalk it up to speculation is to not create any real value in first place.

On main? On a company account? We must do better. We must rebuild trust if we ever hope to move forward.

It all starts here.