Crypto Assets Cultural Renaissance: From Marginal to Mainstream

In 2024, Singapore hosted the largest global Crypto Assets conference, attracting numerous participants.

Key Points Overview

In 2022, the Crypto Assets industry experienced multiple collapses, including events like FTX and Three Arrows Capital, but the subculture surrounding Crypto Assets is reviving.

Crypto Assets subculture combines idealism with opportunism, attracting a young, tech-savvy group, but there are also frauds and scams within it.

As regulation strengthens and institutional interest grows, Crypto Assets are gradually gaining legitimacy, attracting talent from traditional finance and technology sectors. However, some industry insiders are concerned that this may lead to the loss of the original spirit of the Crypto industry.

Singapore - If you ask anyone working in or investing in the encryption field about the industry outlook for 2022, they might fall silent for a moment.

That year, the Crypto Assets industry experienced a series of shocking headline collapse events. At that time, one of the largest Crypto Assets exchanges in the world filed for bankruptcy, and a Crypto Assets hedge fund in Singapore went bankrupt, owing creditors over $3 billion. The value of some Crypto Assets plummeted, leading to a total evaporation of $45 billion in market value.

Crypto Assets prices have plummeted, layoffs are sweeping across the entire industry, and many observers predict that the crypto winter is coming.

Three years have passed, and the atmosphere of the industry has indeed changed.

Driven by the friendly cryptocurrency policies of the U.S. President and the gradual adoption of Crypto Assets by large financial institutions, the value of Bitcoin soared to an all-time high, breaking the $100,000 mark, and peaked at $140,000 in January this year.

The world's largest crypto conference is expected to welcome 25,000 participants in October in Singapore.

In 2022, when the conference was first held in Singapore, it attracted only about 7,000 participants, and the event venue occupied only one floor of the convention center.

By 2025, the scale of this conference will expand to five levels, highlighting the rapid development and increasing influence of the Crypto Assets industry.

The practitioners in the crypto circle have made a strong return, moving forward like a hot knife through butter. Among the 15 people interviewed, the overall sentiment is optimistic, even filled with a celebratory atmosphere.

"After Trump's election, the Crypto Assets industry has been advancing rapidly," said 29-year-old Kaushik Swaminathan, who is the head of strategy at a Web3 security company. Web3 is a term used in the industry to describe the new generation of the internet driven by blockchain technology.

"When prices rise, people feel wealthy. When people feel wealthy, they tend to do some extravagant things," said the liberal arts graduate. "Although the broader tech market may be experiencing contraction or hiring slowdowns, the Crypto Assets industry seems to be just the opposite."

He mentioned that the recent encryption conference held in Cannes attracted 6,400 attendees. This city in the south of France is known for attracting wealthy individuals and celebrities, and during June it was "occupied" by "people from the crypto circle" with venues including yachts, castles, and Michelin-starred restaurants.

"If you're attending a 'working conference' on the French Riviera in the summer, it means things might be going quite well," he remarked. "The confidence in the crypto circle has never really disappeared, and when the trading price of Bitcoin exceeds $100,000, people are more willing to participate in such luxurious activities."

Crypto Brothers Culture - Originating from the ridicule of the central bank through internet memes and the countercultural idealism of decentralized finance - is gradually penetrating mainstream society.

Despite being mired in scandals, it is now gaining the support of recent graduates who once aspired to enter traditional finance or large tech industries.

Anti-establishment Wave

The cryptocurrency industry blends idealism with opportunism, giving rise to a unique "anti-establishment" culture that is starkly different from traditional technology and finance sectors.

41-year-old Singaporean Crypto Assets enthusiast Imran Mohamad recalls that in 2010, a passionate entrepreneur gifted him a USB drive containing Bitcoin. At that time, Bitcoin was still an obscure technology, discussed only in some fringe online forums, and valued at just a few cents.

"I don't know where that USB drive went," said Imran, the current head of the Asia-Pacific market for a blockchain company. "If I had the foresight back then, maybe I wouldn't need to be having this interview today."

Subsequently, Imran Mohamad's intermittent relationship with the Crypto Assets industry aptly reflects the multiple cycles of boom and bust in this field. During the 2017 initial coin offering (ICO) boom, he operated a marketing company serving crypto clients.

"For most of these companies, nothing has really materialized," said the business school graduate. "The ones who truly profit are those who mint the tokens - and then they disappear without a trace."

These publicly accessible online sales are driven by social media hype and revolve around white papers, which outline how the proceeds will be used to develop "hot new tokens" and how much profit investors can gain by buying in early.

Due to having to threaten some Crypto Assets clients with legal action for not paying fees, he developed a distaste for the industry. Later, he returned to the Crypto Assets industry in 2022 as the head of marketing for a trading platform - until the platform was hacked, resulting in the loss of assets worth over $50 million. Although the platform eventually reimbursed the creditors' losses, he pointed out that these investors still missed out on potential profit opportunities.

Such experiences are not uncommon in the encryption industry, where insiders often harbor complex feelings of "fear of missing out" ( Fomo ), filled with optimism deep down, and even accept malicious behavior as the norm.

Unlike traditional industries, professionals in the crypto industry typically do not introduce themselves through LinkedIn or submit business cards; instead, they tend to connect via Telegram and X or establish contacts in activities that blur the boundaries between work and entertainment.

Young Singaporeans like 31-year-old Aneirin Flynn are typical representatives of this subculture's free-spirited style. As the CEO and founder of a Crypto Assets network security startup, he hired an engineer who had previously hacked into his company for discovering vulnerabilities in the company's code.

In the crypto assets industry, many people operate under anonymous identities, avoiding the use of real names or photos, fearing being "doxxed" or suffering from hacking attacks.

"He was unwilling to reveal his real name or where he was from at the time," Flynn recalled, later discovering that the hacker was from Egypt. After months of collaboration and building trust, the hacker ultimately proved to be a "good guy".

He added: "Today, he has become the backbone of our company. He is a strong man with a thick beard, has children, and is the friendliest person I have ever met."

However, he also admitted: "But it is indeed possible that he could be a bad person."

Even the company founded by Flynn was inspired by a hacker attack he suffered in 2022 due to trusting the wrong developer, resulting in a loss of about $20,000 - he suspects this was because he trusted the wrong developer. After obtaining a Class A certificate, he dropped out of college and joined a startup.

He pointed out that although Web3 advocates for an idealistic and "trustless" internet future without central authority, the reality is that "this means you can only rely on yourself."

Due to the widespread presence of fraud, face-to-face interactions have become increasingly important for crypto assets workers like Flynn.

Therefore, while others may prefer to network by participating in events surrounding the annual conference, he prefers to connect by hosting events called "Sweating Together and Understanding How We Operate Under Pressure."

A certain crypto conference is a microcosm of the diverse culture in the crypto industry. This event held in Singapore attracted speakers from various fields, including the co-founder of Ethereum from Canada, an F1 driver from the UK, a whistleblower from the US, and a rapper from Australia.

Insiders reveal that the real activities do not take place on the conference stage, but are concentrated in various peripheral events, such as invitation-only social gatherings and parties. At the exhibition site, participants can experience a cold water pool or ride a mechanical bull, and these activities are only a few meters away from the discussion panels.

Resistance Coin

The origin of the anti-mainstream energy in the crypto industry is located at the intersection of fringe internet communities, technology, and finance.

"Crypto Assets are essentially a rejection of financial institutions and central banks," said Dr. Andrew Bailey, a philosophy professor at the National University of Singapore and author of the book "Resistance to Currency." "Those attracted to this idea often hold a skeptical attitude towards other types of institutions and regulations."

The concept of modern Crypto Assets was born after the financial crisis of 2008, when libertarians, anarchists, and some criminals sought decentralized alternatives to address what they believed was a financial system no longer serving their needs.

Different generations enter the encryption field in different ways. Early adopters of crypto assets were mostly computer programmers, who may have come into contact with this field through fringe internet communities or online black markets. Later adopters, such as Generation Z and younger millennials, are more likely to encounter crypto assets through viral online memes or influencers promoting successful new pathways.

Dr. Bailey said that disillusionment is a common cohesive force.

Many who embrace this subculture believe they have discovered a realm that can surpass others, thereby achieving short-term substantial profits.

"I don't want to underestimate people's desire for success in a world they perceive as unfair," he said. "The 18 to 24-year-olds I have come into contact with have a strong sense of this. I would say that their feelings now are even stronger than those of their peers 5 to 10 years ago."

As a result, a subculture dominated by young, male, tech-savvy individuals who are dissatisfied with financial institutions or feel disenfranchised has emerged.

Mr. Jeremy Tan, 34 years old, is one of the representations of the public's shift in attitude towards Crypto Assets. This business school graduate is running as an independent candidate in a certain electoral district in the 2025 election, proposing that the government adopt Bitcoin as a reserve coin.

Mr. Tan stated that the end of the 2008 financial crisis gave rise to a new countercultural movement, with "Eat the Rich" and "Occupy Wall Street" igniting his interest in Bitcoin. This interest stems from his impoverished upbringing and the desire to find assets that would not depreciate over time.

"Now, we are seeing similar movements," he said, pointing out that similar economic discontent is driving Singaporeans' interest in Crypto Assets. "The 'Occupy Wall Street' of our generation will be the issues of artificial intelligence and youth unemployment."

This view has also been echoed by other Crypto Assets enthusiasts and advocates. Some complain about not being able to join the "high net worth club", believing that the existing financial system is "unfair", and praise the potential of Crypto Assets to level the competitive landscape by creating a new scene without established experts.

However, the decentralized concept of Web3 does not imply that the crypto subculture can self-regulate or possess a unified ideology.

Although encryption technology was initially envisioned as a "better" alternative to centralized finance, most respondents believe that the growing interest from regulatory agencies and banks is a positive sign.

Mr. Tan also weighed the contradictions of this ideology: "The initial ideology is that currency is being devalued, and we need to use 'resistance currency' to combat the government."

"I believe that the original ideology is meeting its updated form, as stablecoins and Bitcoin make a revolution possible - that is, ultimately relying on technology and mathematics, rather than poor financial planning."

It has nothing to do with "The Wolf of Wall Street"