“Number Go Up” Culture Is Killing Crypto’s Cypherpunk Dream, Wintermute CEO Warns
TLDR: Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy says crypto is now driven by a “number go up” mindset over cypherpunk values. Gaevoy argues stablecoins reinforce U.S. dollar dominance rather than building a truly decentralized financial system. Despite Ethereum’s $120B+ in TVL, Gaevoy says most of it is “stuck money” with little real-world application use. Gaevoy warns that deeper TradFi integration could permanently erase the original cypherpunk dream of decentralized finance. Cypherpunk ideals once drove the creation of Bitcoin and decentralized finance. However, Wintermute founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy believes the industry has moved far from those origins. Speaking on Fortune’s Crypto Playbook podcast, Gaevoy argued that crypto has been consumed by a “number go up” mindset. He also raised concerns about stablecoins reinforcing dollar dominance and the limited real-world adoption of decentralized applications, even as blockchain valuations remain high. The Shift Away From Decentr...