#数字资产市场观察 has recently been reviewing the cycles of bull and bear markets in the crypto space and found that the main players in each cycle are really completely different.

Let’s talk about the most brutal bear market—the one in 2018. BTC crashed all the way from $17,000 to $3,000, and at the time, everyone thought this thing was going to zero. To make matters worse, project teams had raised funds in BTC and ETH, and during the bear market, they still had to pay salaries every month, so the selling pressure was just making things worse. The entire market felt like it was put on pause.

In contrast, the 2023 bear market, while also cold, was much milder. Why? The sources and structure of money changed. The 2017 ICO boom brought in mostly Ponzi-like funds that came in and left quickly; in 2021, the DeFi bubble burst, and with blow-ups like FTX and Three Arrows Capital, a batch of non-compliant funds got cleared out. Now, project financing is basically all in stablecoin USD, so at least paying salaries doesn’t mean dumping assets on the market.

Looking at the narrative evolution: 2017’s highlights belonged to the explosive growth of exchanges and the startup craze around asset issuance; 2021 was DeFi Summer, new public chains launched in droves, the number and quality of developers improved, and GameFi also drew in a large wave of people. This cycle? Layer2 and RWA are starting to take center stage, and interestingly, most of the developers who came in last cycle haven’t left yet—they’re still coming up with new ideas.

So here’s the question—what will be the main theme of the next bull market? Developers are still here, the funding structure is healthier—will we see completely new kinds of plays?

$RLS