Looking back at the two cycles from a narrative perspective, what are the differences between the two bull markets?
In 2020 and 2021, everyone thought Crypto = Internet. All industries should be reinvented with Crypto. Crypto represented a new production relation. The giants' metaverse forcibly extended the industry's lifeline. However, there were too few targets in this metaverse. Huge liquidity needed to find targets.
Therefore, hot money could only flock to worthless cryptocurrencies.
In 2024 and 2025, Crypto = Fintech 2.0.
Therefore, a bunch of GameFi, SocialFi, and various ZK, FHE, etc., struggled to launch, including various AI companies that jumped on the bandwagon.
So, the biggest winner of this cycle was Hyperliquid.
Fintech 2.0 is also fine; each cycle has its own rules.
The previous version was Silicon Valley games; this version is New York games.
(P-Xiaojiang's meme games don't count.)
A bunch of Perp... Dexes, aggregators, RWA, on-chain US stocks, and the like have all emerged.
I can confidently say that the last wave of buyers were companies like Meta, while the new wave will see buyers like HFT, traditional market makers, and traditional exchanges.
However, this new wave can't be called simply taking over; it's more of a symbiotic relationship. Robinhood allows you to buy BTC, Binance allows you to buy US stocks, and Hyperliquid's HIP-6 has even been released.
Welcome to Wall Street.