Kyle 离开了加密行业，我有点伤心。自从他退出这个行业后，我一直在想他，回忆起我们一起工作的时光。加密行业充满了挑战和机遇，但也伴随着许多不确定性。希望他在新的道路上一切顺利，也希望未来还能再次相遇。

Kyle’s departure is essentially a “value choice.”

Article by: Dora B Dream, Deep Tide TechFlow

*This article expresses personal opinions

On February 5th, a morning that started with a sharp decline, I was scrolling through Twitter as usual when suddenly a statement from well-known crypto VC Multicoin partner Kyle Samani about his exit popped up in my feed. My finger paused on the screen for a few seconds, my heart skipped a beat—why him?

I know Kyle, to be precise, I “know of him.”

In my junior year of 2020, I first read Multicoin’s “call” thesis paper, which was eye-opening. The thesis-driven approach left a deep impression on me.

So this is how VC can write—no PPT-style “we believe in the long-term value of XX track,” vague statements, but rather like a trader’s thinking—clear long/short logic, no beating around the bush, sharp opinions.

Kyle’s image on Twitter has always been very distinct: aggressive, mean, offending many.

He dared to publicly short Ethereum’s scalability roadmap when everyone else was bullish, confidently bet on Solana when others doubted it, and after the FTX explosion and Multicoin’s heavy losses, he was the first to openly disclose losses and review decisions transparently.

Many in the Western crypto circle dislike him, thinking he’s too arrogant, but I’ve always felt that this industry also needs people like him.

Now he’s gone. Turning to AI, longevity tech, robotics. I suddenly feel a bit sad: even Kyle doesn’t want to play anymore—what’s really going on with this industry?

When Kyle Leaves

What makes me sad isn’t another VC shifting to AI—who isn’t talking about AI these days?

What saddens me is that it’s Kyle from Multicoin, a person I see as very determined.

What is the investment logic of most crypto VCs? Spreading bets widely, gambling on tracks, saying nice words but never making firm judgments, or just following the trend.

Open the investment reports of well-known institutions, and it’s always “we believe in the future of decentralization,” “we’re optimistic about XX innovation,” but you’ll never see a firm statement like “we believe Project A will outperform Project B.”

That’s not caution; that’s worldliness. No matter who wins, they can always say, “See, we’ve already positioned ourselves.”

Kyle or Multicoin isn’t like that. He dares to make “life-and-death judgments.”

In 2017, he publicly said Ethereum’s sharding roadmap was a dead end. He once bet on EOS and lost. In 2018, he put his chips on Solana. In 2020, he strongly supported Helium, believing DePIN is the only crypto application that can land outside finance.

Yes, he missed many opportunities and made big mistakes—EOS and FTX are painful lessons. But he’s never hidden it; he discloses losses openly, admits mistakes without hesitation.

He’s not the smartest VC, not the most gentle evangelist, but he’s among the most “authentic.” His departure symbolizes the fading of “honesty and sharpness” from this industry.

That Deleted Tweet

What I care about even more is a tweet he posted before leaving, which he quickly deleted.

He said: “Cryptocurrency, in essence, isn’t as interesting as many crypto enthusiasts hope. I used to believe in the Web3 vision, in dApps. Now I don’t. Blockchains are mainly asset ledgers, which can reshape finance but have limited potential in other fields.”

Why delete so quickly? Because speaking out makes you a “heretic.”

Why did he still post it? Because he’s a person caught between faith and reality, having spent 8 years and hundreds of millions of dollars, and finally reaching this conclusion.

I understand this feeling too well, because it’s also been my mindset this past year.

When I entered in 2021, what did we believe? Decentralized social would overthrow Twitter, on-chain identities (DID) would give users control over their data, GameFi would let players truly “own their assets.” Back then, everyone’s Twitter timeline was full of discussions on “how Web3 will change the world,” each new project seemed like an entry to the future.

And what about 2025? Friend.tech is dead, Lens Protocol is unused. ENS has become a hype tool; besides wallet addresses, no one really uses DID. The collapse of Axie and StepN proved that “X to Earn” was just a Ponzi scheme in disguise.

But Kyle didn’t completely deny everything. He still believes in stablecoins, DeFi, RWA—these financial applications—and in projects like Helium, and still bets on Zama’s fully homomorphic encryption tech.

The question is: do these things still need “faith”? Or just rational calculation?

Some say Kyle’s departure is a betrayal; I see it as “disenchantment.” From a Crypto Evangelist to a Crypto Realist. This transformation might be the coming-of-age ritual the industry must go through.

Last Time We Lost Money, This Time We Lose Confidence

In 2022, when FTX exploded, the entire industry hit rock bottom. Luna went to zero, Three Arrows Capital went bankrupt, the market halved again and again. But at that time, there was still a belief: The market crashed, but we were not wrong. As long as we persisted, the bull market would prove everything.

Back then, we still believed in Ethereum’s “endgame narrative,” from PoW to PoS, from single chain to modular, thinking it was the only way to become the “world computer.”

We also believed in Solana’s “performance revolution,” thinking that if we endured the bear market, high-performance chains would win.

We believed in Web3’s “paradigm shift,” thinking the next chapter of the internet would be decentralization.

And now, in 2025?

Objectively, the data is much better than the last low point: BTC once broke $100,000, ETFs got approved, crypto is more closely linked with Wall Street.
But subjectively, the feeling is completely different—prices are higher, but confidence is lower.

The “culprit” or “truth mirror” is AI.

When ChatGPT was released in 2023, everyone was talking about “how AI will change the world.” Meanwhile, what was crypto discussing? “Should L2 sequencers be decentralized?” One was talking about productivity revolution, the other debating technical details.

Over the next two years, AI’s progress was dazzling: Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT—three giants competing, with new breakthroughs every day. Recently, everyone’s obsessed with OpenClaw.

And crypto? More and more L2s and chains, but no one can clearly say “why do we need 100 L2s,” even Vitalik has reflected on past mistakes. NFTs, GameFi, SocialFi—fads that come and go.

Today, the biggest innovation in this cycle is actually Meme Coins and “re-inventing gambling.”

I often ask myself late at night: AI is redefining productivity with technology, crypto is redistributing wealth through financial games. The former creates, the latter transfers. What are we really building?

Kyle’s departure is fundamentally a “value choice.”

He chose to pursue AI, longevity tech, robotics—fields that truly “expand human frontiers.” And crypto, at least for now, feels more like an upscale casino.

But I Still Don’t Want to Leave

By now, you might think I’m about to announce I’m quitting too.

But no, I want to place one more “bet.”

Kyle can leave because he’s financially free and can chase bigger dreams. But for someone like me, a young person, crypto still means: a relatively fair “social mobility” channel, a “permissionless” testing ground—no degrees, no background, no connections needed—just cognition and courage. An emerging industry not yet fully monopolized by elites.

More importantly, maybe the grand narrative of Web3 has failed, but that doesn’t mean crypto is valueless.

The revolution in financial infrastructure has already happened: stablecoins’ daily settlement volume surpasses Visa, DeFi enables people worldwide to access financial services and RWA 24/7.

Most critically: I still haven’t figured out my own answer.

Kyle spent 8 years concluding that “Crypto is just an asset ledger, nothing more, nothing less.”

But I’m still just a rookie. Why should I judge now?

Maybe in a few years, I’ll leave too, just like him. But at least for now, I want to stay at the table and see if this industry still hides some possibilities we haven’t seen.

In years to come, crypto might no longer be the “revolution that overturns everything,” but rather the value settlement layer of the AI era.

By then, I’ll order a coffee, chat again, and reflect on the scenery along the way.