a16z crypto: The cryptocurrency industry has entered the "seeing is believing" era

Author: Paul Cafiero, Head of Crypto Communications at a16z; Source: a16z crypto; Translation: Shaw, Golden Finance

For decades, the tech industry has always gained public recognition and praise through a continuous stream of innovative ideas. The startup term "Minimum Viable Product" abbreviated as MVP happens to be exactly the same as the initials of NBA star Jalen Brunson from New York.

But over the past ten years, especially in recent years, the tech industry has undergone a revolutionary transformation: merely having a minimum viable product, brilliant ideas, and a top-tier team is no longer enough to impress the public. The impact is most severe in the crypto industry, compounded by regulatory inquiries, a large number of negative projects making headlines, and the public’s heightened vigilance in discernment. The overwhelming noise in the industry has taught people to actively filter information.

When traditional financial (TradFi) institutions start to seriously deploy in the crypto space — BlackRock issuing tokenized money market funds, Fidelity submitting crypto ETF applications, JPMorgan using self-developed blockchain for transaction settlement — the industry’s public opinion has completely shifted. People are no longer just discussing what crypto is, but are beginning to explore: how can one truly gain recognition within the industry?

We are currently in this new phase, where the rules of industry communication have quietly been rewritten, and all practitioners must adapt.

Welcome to the “Show Me Era.”

What has changed, and why now?

In the early days of crypto development, the logic of industry communication was essentially “pie-in-the-sky storytelling”: the vision itself is the product. Projects could go live with just a white paper and tokens, and media and crypto communities would actively pay attention. Everyone bet on the future potential of the project, not on tangible results already achieved. Today, this logic has completely failed.

The root cause of this shift in communication logic is driven by three overlapping factors: First, the market’s decades-long skepticism towards crypto technology has continued to ferment and deepen; second, traditional large financial institutions are entering the crypto space on a large scale, moving beyond conceptual discussions to launching tangible products; third, the artificial intelligence industry, seemingly exploding overnight, is actually decades in the making, now releasing mature products for ordinary consumers in bulk.

Large institutions are no longer just observing the industry or limiting related activities within innovation departments but are fully deploying at scale: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink embracing the tokenization space, Fidelity building comprehensive custody and ETF infrastructure, JPMorgan launching the Onyx blockchain network, Franklin Templeton launching on-chain money market funds.

These are no longer experimental trials but mature products with complete traditional financial compliance frameworks, institutional client bases, and strong balance sheets as support.

The large-scale entry of traditional finance has raised the bar for “legitimate and trustworthy projects” in crypto. As the world’s largest asset manager engages in sovereign debt tokenization, media, partners, and markets naturally demand higher proof of performance from quality projects.

On the policy front, the industry has also officially entered the mainstream view. Last year, the GENIUS Act was smoothly passed, and now the comprehensive regulatory framework of the CLARITY Act is about to be submitted to the Senate for a full vote. The external messaging of projects will also undergo further adjustment. If the CLARITY Act is enacted, founders will be able to disclose project details more specifically and thoroughly—something that was impossible in the past.

Whether the industry is ready or not, crypto is already moving toward maturity.

This directly reshapes the industry’s communication environment: outsiders no longer ask “What are you doing?” but instead inquire: “What have you actually implemented? Who is using it in practice?”

In practical terms, a compelling story alone can no longer move the market; concrete proof is required.

A New Performance Verification System

The old effective promotional rhetoric — “We create Y products for X groups, this track is of great significance” — now must be supplemented with a second layer, which I call the performance proof system: a complete set of evidence that transforms hollow, abstract visions into credible, tangible results.

What does a complete performance proof system include?

• Substantive partnerships with real implementation value, not just negotiations. There should be genuine technical integrations, deployed on-chain contracts, and partners willing to publicly endorse your reasons for choosing you. In the past, a simple partnership announcement could substitute for project progress; today, only the partnership itself can substantiate business growth and be convincing. In other words, a leading institution, protocol, or platform chose you among many competitors, and you can clearly explain why.

• Publicly available detailed hard data. Publish real mainnet transaction volumes (not just testnet data), active wallet addresses, revenue, user retention curves. Avoid vague statements like “rapid growth,” and instead provide specific percentages, timeframes, and baseline comparisons. Industry journalists’ professionalism continues to improve, and they will verify data through on-chain analysis platforms like Dune and CoinMarketCap; if data cannot withstand on-chain verification, the project’s narrative will lose credibility.

• Signals of genuine product-market fit. Clearly identify the user base of the product and the core reasons why users (including other industry clients) continue to retain it.

I believe the most convincing evidence of product-market fit is not a launch event but the organic, continuously expanding native community formed before PR campaigns.

If the project’s most loyal users are all investors or token holders with financial incentives, that’s a red flag—these users are motivated by financial gain. But if users find the project through word of mouth and actively seek it out, that’s valuable content worth promoting.

All effective proof comes from external endorsements formed before PR efforts: third-party collaborations, security audits, independent industry research. The most persuasive proof is never self-produced hype but third-party recognition of the project’s value.

Implications for Early-Stage Projects’ Communication

In the early stages, when the product is not yet mature but the vision is very clear, teams tend to choose to promote with grand visions and declarative content. This approach is sincere and has no inherent problem.

But in today’s market environment, it only makes outsiders perceive the project as high-risk.

A more prudent communication approach is to structure the narrative around already achieved results. Prioritize presenting the most reliable data, even if the scale is small: 1,000 daily active users who don’t know the founders at all are far more convincing than a strategic investment of tens of millions; a protocol with $50 million in trading volume within 90 days of launch is far better than vague promises of “huge future trading volume.”

External messaging must also be precise and restrained. “We are building the future of payments” is just a vision statement, not proof of results; “We have shortened cross-border settlement from 3 days to 4 minutes, with three companies already in commercial use” is real, tangible evidence supporting the vision.

For dedicated communication teams and founders responsible for external messaging, the core practical logic is: narratives should be based on facts, not forced storytelling to package facts. This content creation demands higher standards and rigor, but only such content can truly resonate with the market—especially now.

Long-term Development Perspective

This does not mean visions are no longer important. Mature crypto projects always communicate in two parallel tracks: showcasing existing results and explaining the broader long-term value behind the product. The key difference lies in the order of storytelling and the proportion of content.

In 2021, the industry could accept an 80% vision and 20% results ratio; now, that ratio has been completely reversed.

You can still publish white papers and industry declarations, but relying solely on these is far from enough. Visions still have value—they deepen the understanding of on-chain data and provide long-term perspectives for media and analysts—but grand visions must be supported by solid results to gain market recognition.

The “Show Me Era” is not a short-term industry correction. As the crypto audience (media, institutions, retail investors) continues to improve in professionalism, the standards for evaluation will permanently rise.

Top builders within the industry have already realized that this change is actually beneficial for projects that focus on steady progress. If you have real business growth, comprehensive data, and heavyweight partnerships, the higher industry threshold will automatically filter out noise, making your project stand out even more.

The key question is: Is your communication strategy aimed at showcasing actual results, or are you still only painting future promises?