The technology is slowly becoming part of the mainstream, woven into products, portfolios, and policy debates. We’re on the brink of a new era – one where crypto stops being a niche and starts becoming infrastructure.

But it looks different than many of us imagined.

Rising interest from financial institutions, inflows of ETFs – and somewhere along the way, we gave up on teaching our parents how to set up a crypto wallet. Adoption isn’t coming from individuals anymore. It’s coming from the giants.

It’s a moment to pause and ask: what are we giving up in exchange?

This question was at the heart of a panel I hosted during ETHWarsaw, a conversation about the real cost of adoption and the values we can’t afford to lose along the way.

Watch the full video here:

The early days of crypto were driven by cypherpunks, developers, and digital anarchists. They were loud, idealistic, and often unhinged, and that chaos was part of what made the movement powerful.

Today, the space looks different. The newcomers are less technical, more pragmatic.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a sign that crypto is growing up.
But it also shifts the culture. From rebellion to efficiency, from ideology to product-market fit.

If Ethereum’s culture becomes indistinguishable from traditional finance, we’ll have won adoption at the cost of identity.

In this new landscape, builders hold the keys.
They decide whether crypto remains neutral and open, or becomes another walled garden.

Freedom and neutrality must be protected through design, not slogans.

The ethos that shaped Ethereum in the first place – openness, decentralization, permissionlessness – won’t survive by accident. It has to be intentionally preserved in how we build, what we prioritize, and what tradeoffs we accept.

If crypto is to fulfil its mission, it can’t rely on ideals alone.
Most people won’t adopt technology out of belief, they’ll adopt what works.

A great example that was brought up during the panel is WhatsApp. It’s end-to-end encrypted, but your grandmother doesn’t use it because she cares about privacy. She uses it because it’s easy and useful.

The same should be true for crypto.
If self-custody is a core value, then wallets must be both self-custodial and friendly to an average person.

We don’t need people to work harder for values.
We need to make values work for people.

Technology alone won’t carry the ethos forward.
Culture lives in people: in how we talk, teach, and onboard others.

Don’t just tweet about crypto. Normies aren’t even there.
Invite your friends to a meetup. Explain what’s exciting about it.

Real interactions build real curiosity.

Adoption is no longer a dream. It’s happening, fast.
The real challenge is making sure it doesn’t erode what made this space worth building in the first place.

We can, and should, build tools that are simple, beautiful, and accessible.
But we need to remember why we build them. Why we are here.
It’s our responsibility to design systems that protect users, preserve freedom, and scale without compromise.

We wanted adoption.
Now it’s here.
Let’s make sure it still feels like crypto.