The Diversity of the Encryption World: Core Developers, Believers, and Scammers

Cryptocurrency is often seen by outsiders as a corner of the internet filled with scams and fraud. However, for those within the industry, the crypto world is a new field full of opportunities, built on the foundation of open-source software, and has the potential to break the monopoly of traditional finance and tech giants.

So, why do most people think that the cryptocurrency industry is filled with scams? If that is the case, why do people continue to pay attention to this field? What has sparked people's curiosity? Or is encryption essentially just a huge scam?

This article will explain why many outsiders view the industry as a scam through the "encryption industry concentric circle" model. This model can help newcomers to encryption better understand the industry ecosystem, identify different types of participants, and navigate more easily in this complex world.

encryption concentric circle model

I simplify the encryption industry into four concentric circle models:

The core developers are at the center, surrounded by the whole world, while in between are the encryption believers and scammers.

Core Developers

Let us start from the innermost circle. Core developers are the builders and thinkers of this industry who start from the most fundamental encryption principles. They have a deep understanding of the problems the current world faces, how cryptography and blockchain technology can address these issues, and they have profound insights into its future impact. They understand the philosophical, technical, and ethical benefits that this technology can bring to the world.

In this circle, there is the anonymous founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, who incubated the Bitcoin blockchain and then quietly faded away because he understood that Bitcoin would be better without a leader.

Here is Ethereum's founder Vitalik Buterin. Vitalik is a monk of the digital age, proficient in encryption, philosophy, mathematics, and cryptoeconomics. He is dedicated to building public goods and social systems that promote global well-being. Despite his wealth, Vitalik lives a simple life, traveling with just a backpack, as he does not want to consume excessive resources.

The work of core developers is often thankless. Building open-source software is usually undervalued, and the rewards they receive are very limited compared to the value they create for the world.

Bitcoin core developers are working hard every day to improve Bitcoin. Ethereum core developers meet publicly every week to discuss the next steps and how to better serve societal needs with the infrastructure they are building.

These people came into this field because they believe in the mission, they see a better future, and they need to personally participate in making it a reality.

Core developers are purists at the center of the encryption world, and their leadership creates the allure of the encryption world, tirelessly working for the future of the encryption world.

Encryption believer

Adjacent to the core are encryption believers.

These are the most loyal believers in the encryption world. They share the same vision as the core developers and live and work on the foundation established by the core developers.

This circle not only includes ordinary users but also application developers, DAO members, and companies that build interconnected products and service layers around these new protocols.

This circle is filled with settlers, not passersby.

They are citizens of the encryption world, building infrastructure in this new domain. They are testing products in the experimental phase, gradually freeing themselves from reliance on centralized banks by managing assets on the encryption track, and are establishing new digital identities for themselves. These settlers live in an open and free metaverse, building the future with open-source software and the spirit of open source.

In this circle, there are people like Rune Christensen, who recognized the need for a decentralized dollar and founded MakerDAO, even envisioning it before the concept of DAO emerged. Today, billions of dollars in DAI are being used to circumvent poorly managed government currency.

There is also Hayden Adams, who after learning programming, created Uniswap on his own with the help of a $10,000 grant from the Ethereum Foundation, which is a public and free asset exchange system.

Cami Russo is from Argentina and has personally experienced how the malice of the peso's hyperinflation has created a demand for encryption products. DAI, as a native encryption stablecoin, has been widely adopted in Argentina, becoming a tool for locals to combat inflation rates of 50-100%.

Cami studied journalism and founded the media platform The Defiant after gaining an in-depth understanding of encryption.

Anthony Sassano is another prominent supporter of encryption. He creates videos every day to introduce what has happened in the Ethereum ecosystem over the past 24 hours to the world.

These people are responsible for disseminating the progress of the industry. Core developers and application builders often do not excel at self-promotion because their focus is on building the future. The encryption industry relies on the surrounding community to carry out this work.

The reason this community exists is that we all came here for the same reason: to believe that the existence of cryptocurrency is to create a better and freer world, a necessary step for humanity to move towards the future.

This encryption world is something that many people cannot see or understand.

One important reason is that encryption scammers hinder the outside world's understanding of the real encryption world.

Encryption Scammers

Between the encryption believers and the outside world, there exists an obstacle belt - the asteroid belt of encryption scammers, which makes it difficult for the outside to hear the true voices of the pioneers from the encryption industry.

Fraudsters often boast about themselves to shape a grand image. They adopt a polarization strategy and style that is effective in the political arena. Encryption fraudsters are not foolish; they know that the cutting edge of encryption holds immense wealth, and their only purpose here is to seize that wealth.

Encryption scammers are the reason for the poor reputation of cryptocurrency. They are more high-profile and exaggerated than ordinary encryption practitioners. They promote themselves rather than the technology. They often do not care about the technology being built, only concerned with how to profit from it, regardless of how unsustainable or unethical it may be. They deliberately design malicious products with the intent to deceive naive encryption newcomers.

They create paid communities, claiming to share "insider information," but in reality, they just want you to take the fall. If you fall into their trap, they will create complex DeFi projects, which are essentially just transferring money from your pocket to theirs.

Most scammers emerge during bull markets, copying the popular concepts of the time. They launched fake ICOs in 2017 or outsourced the production of shoddy NFT projects in 2021. Scammers keenly look for every profit opportunity and then swarm in.

They have some common characteristics:

• Arrogant personality, boastful, sometimes aggressive. • Form a small but fanatical community around them, creating a kind of personal cult. Followers repeat meaningless slogans, recite carefully prepared lines, and then promote their tokens. They suppress dissent, typical of a human-machine hybrid. • A product or system that is fundamentally unsustainable, even if it appears good on the surface. A flashy new encryption product that is essentially meaningless and will inevitably collapse.

Do we have to coexist with scammers?

The answer is both yes and no.

We cannot directly stop the scammers. When we insist that the value of decentralization is above all else, this is the price that must be paid.

Universal access is a core value that cannot be sacrificed.

Just like the Internet, anyone can freely use the encryption system; it is a public infrastructure in the field of currency and finance that anyone with a network connection can access. Over time, this infrastructure will become increasingly useful, as the financial world of DeFi continues to improve with the growing number of users.

Unfortunately, this permissionless attribute also means it is difficult to prevent fraudulent behavior. Permissionless financial innovation has freed us from the constraints of traditional banks, but it also means it is hard to stop others from engaging in unethical profiteering.

Although we cannot directly stop them, we do not have to coexist with them.

We use education to combat them. As an industry, we really need to better reach the public before the scammers do. This is difficult compared to mass marketing that uses exaggerated strategies. Encryption is complex, and understanding how this industry operates is much harder than simply believing some charismatic individuals promoting their tokens.

The good news is that most people now have a basic intuition to stay away from online junk information and viruses. Eventually, the cryptocurrency field will also develop such immunity.