When it comes to ICP, the past four years have been a rollercoaster of joys and sorrows. The project that once carried the halo of "decentralized AWS" and "Ethereum killer" has plummeted from nearly $700 to around $3, a decline of over 99.5%, becoming a textbook example of a "cautionary tale" in the industry. With $1.87 billion in funding and Silicon Valley VCs flocking to invest, it peaked immediately after launch—such a stark contrast, everyone should have a sense of it.

Why has it been so disastrous? Ecosystem development and technological implementation have indeed lagged, but the real reason players have been most critical is its unique token economic model. Looking across the industry, most mainstream projects have staking lock-up periods of up to 1 year, some even allow instant access at any time. In contrast, ICP's approach is entirely different—locks for a minimum of 6 months, up to 8 years, with over 13% high yields tightly bound to these ultra-long-term locks. It's akin to forcibly "sealing" users' funds, and you can imagine how low the acceptance of this is in the crypto community.

Now, a turning point has arrived. The DFINITY Foundation recently released the Mission70 white paper, directly addressing these issues. Simply put, the core of this white paper revolves around two keywords: "change" and "adapt."

Let's look at the key reforms. The previous anti-human staking rules have been completely dismantled and rebuilt. The token release cycle has been halved from the original setting, and staking options have become much more flexible—no longer limited to "8-year lockups." What does this mean? It means ordinary users finally have breathing room, no longer forced into the suffocating "eight-year commitment." From one perspective, this is DFINITY compromising with the market, acknowledging that the previous model was indeed problematic.

But is this reform a "return to the right path" or just a "temporary stopgap"? That’s a question worth pondering. On one hand, the foundation's proactive reforms indicate they recognize the severity of the issues and are willing to make adjustments for past mistakes. On the other hand, whether they can regain market trust through this round of reforms depends on subsequent execution and actual progress in ecosystem development. Changing rules alone is not enough; genuine technological breakthroughs and application ecosystem deployment are essential.

For ordinary participants, the message from this reform is straightforward: funds previously "trapped" by staking rules now have a chance to be reallocated. But don’t get carried away by short-term policy adjustments. Observe for a few months to see if the ecosystem truly improves and if major applications are developing—that’s more meaningful than just rule changes. Opportunities do exist, but as always, do thorough due diligence and avoid blindly following the crowd.