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 consistently gained public recognition and praise through a continuous stream of innovative ideas. The startup term "Minimum Viable Product" (MVP) happens to share the same abbreviation as NBA star Jalen Brunson.

But over the past ten years, especially in recent years, the tech industry has undergone a revolutionary transformation: simply having an MVP, brilliant ideas, and a top-tier team no longer impresses the public. The crypto industry has been hit hardest, compounded by regulatory inquiries, numerous 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 seriously entering the crypto space — BlackRock issuing tokenized money market funds, Fidelity submitting crypto ETF applications, JPMorgan using proprietary blockchain for settlement — the industry’s public opinion has completely shifted. People are no longer just asking what crypto is, but are now exploring: how can we gain genuine 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 core logic of industry communication was “pie-in-the-sky storytelling”: the vision itself was 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 achieved today. Today, this logic has completely failed.

The root cause of this shift in communication logic is due to 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 concepts to launching tangible products; third, the AI industry, which seems to have exploded overnight, is actually decades in the making, now releasing mature products for mainstream consumers in bulk.

Large institutions are no longer just observing the industry or limiting related activities within innovation departments—they 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 tests 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 quality and performance from top projects.

On the policy front, the industry has also officially entered the mainstream spotlight. Last year, the GENIUS Act was smoothly passed, and now the comprehensive regulatory framework of the CLARITY Act is about to be submitted for full Senate vote. Subsequent project communications will also see further adjustments. 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 has already matured.

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

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 phrase—“We are creating Y products for X community, which is a significant sector”—must now be supplemented with a second layer, which I call the Performance Verification System: a comprehensive set of evidence that transforms vague, abstract visions into credible, tangible results.

What does a complete Performance Verification 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 choices. In the past, a simple partnership announcement could substitute for project progress; today, only the partnership itself can substantiate business growth and credibility. In other words, a leading institution, protocol, or platform chose you among many competitors, and you can clearly explain why.

• Detailed, hard data that is publicly available. Publish real mainnet transaction volumes (not just testnet data), active wallet addresses, revenue, user retention curves. Avoid vague statements like “rapid growth”—provide specific percentages, timeframes, and benchmarks. Industry journalists are increasingly professional and will verify data via on-chain analysis platforms like Dune or 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 and the core reasons why users (including other industry clients) continue to retain the product.

I believe the most convincing evidence of product-market fit is not a launch event but the organic, sustained growth of a 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 and promote the project through word of mouth, that’s a valuable asset.

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

Insights for Early-Stage Projects’ Communication

In the early stages, when the product is not yet mature but the vision is clear, teams often choose to promote with grand visions and declarative content. This approach is sincere and harmless in itself.

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

A safer communication strategy is to focus on the 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 are more convincing than a strategic investment of millions; a protocol with $50 million in trading volume within 90 days is far more credible than vague promises of future massive trading.

External messaging must also be precise and restrained. “We are building the future of payments” is just a vision statement, not proof of achievement; “We have reduced cross-border settlement time from 3 days to 4 minutes, with three companies already using it commercially” is a real, tangible achievement.

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

Long-Term Perspective

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

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

You can still publish white papers and industry declarations, but these alone are no longer enough. Visions still hold 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, tangible 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 grow more professional, the standards for evaluation will permanently rise.

Top builders in the industry have already realized that this change is actually beneficial for projects that focus on real work. If you have genuine business growth, complete data, and heavyweight partners, the higher industry threshold will naturally filter out noise, making your project stand out even more.

The key question is: Is your communication strategy aimed at showcasing real achievements, or are you still only promising future potential?