Is there a hidden reason behind Kyle Samani's withdrawal from the scene?

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)

It has only been a few days since Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani announced his exit from the scene, yet the goodwill he accumulated over years in the crypto industry has been rapidly eroded.

“Burning bridges” is truly disgusting

Objectively speaking, Kyle Samani has made positive contributions to the cryptocurrency industry over the years, whether it’s through genuine financial support to early projects (not discussing motives, only impact), or through narrative guidance and ideological evangelism at the conceptual level, all of which have directly or indirectly influenced the industry’s direction.

From a results-oriented perspective, Kyle Samani has indeed achieved incredible “big results” in the crypto space that most people can’t imagine. Based on this alone, it’s quite reasonable for Hasseb Qureshi to call him “the best investor in the industry,” or for Mable to refer to him as a “top player.”

• Odaily note: Hasseb Qureshi is a partner at Dragonfly Capital, who once said “Investing is like a sport, and Kyle Samani is the highest scorer in history, unmatched,” see “The man who calls the shots best, then leaves the crypto world”; Mable is a former partner at Multicoin Capital and co-founder of Trends. After Kyle Samani’s exit, she wrote a viral article titled “The game continues, just Kyle’s version is gone.”*

But precisely because of this, the recent days after Kyle Samani’s departure, during which he frequently displayed a “disgusting face,” are even more irritating.

First, on the day he announced his exit, Kyle Samani responded to Stix founder Taran, saying: “Cryptocurrency is not nearly as interesting as many (including myself) once thought. I used to believe in the Web3 vision, in DApps, but now I don’t believe anymore. Blockchain is fundamentally just an asset ledger. It will reshape finance, but that’s all — it won’t have much more impact.”

This post was deleted by Kyle Samani seconds after posting… Well, clearly this was a genuine thought he had never expressed before, but knowing he deleted the post at least shows he understands that “burning bridges” isn’t very decent.

Unfortunately, he didn’t stop there. On February 8, Kyle Samani once again attacked an industry that once helped him succeed: “Hyperliquid almost embodies all the flaws of cryptocurrency. Its founders fled their home country to start it, openly facilitating crime and terrorism, the system is closed-source, and it still requires permission.”

Although Kyle Samani’s outspoken nature has always been a controversial label on him, this time his nonsensical and factually contradicted “mindless rant” is clearly indefensible. Moreover, since he now considers himself an outsider, this statement appears even more abrupt. Previously, Kyle Samani’s outrageous remarks at least had some support from certain groups (such as supporting Solana or criticizing Ethereum long-term), but this time, he is outside the industry, completely negating the entire crypto space.

The development of the situation was predictable: Kyle Samani successfully triggered industry outrage.

People who lost money in crypto can criticize the industry, which is understandable—people need to vent their emotions; but Kyle Samani, who made huge fortunes and achieved social mobility within crypto, and then, right after announcing his departure, hurriedly turned around to step on it, makes it hard not to see him as hypocritical and disgusting.

To put it bluntly, this is a classic case of “complaining after eating well” — Kyle Samani wants to take the benefits the industry has given him, yet is eager to cut ties with it. Where does such a huge benefit come from?

Eerie dissonance, does he have a hidden agenda for leaving?

Another strange point is that Kyle Samani chose to target Hyperliquid this time; but on the other side, Multicoin Capital continues to increase its bets on Hyperliquid.

In the same week Kyle Samani announced his departure, on-chain analyst MLM detected multiple large buy transactions from addresses suspected to belong to Multicoin Capital for HYPE.

Crypto Banter founder Ran Neuner also found that in the future investment thesis announced last weekend by Tushar Jain, co-founder of Multicoin Capital, Hyperliquid was listed as the third main line under “Global Financialization,” while Kyle Samani’s long-time favorite DePIN was not mentioned at all.

Ran Neuner hypothesized that Kyle Samani’s departure might not be voluntary, but due to conflicts with Tushar Jain, ultimately forcing him out, and because of non-compete clauses, Kyle had no choice but to exit the crypto industry…

Although this speculation lacks factual evidence, it seems to better explain the previous dissonance and Kyle Samani’s sudden attitude shift — do you believe a top brain who has long been involved in crypto suddenly realizes the industry is hollow? or are you more inclined to think Kyle Samani, full of resentment and unable to profit from the industry anymore, chose to turn hostile?

Whether out of faith in the industry’s future or residual recognition of Kyle Samani’s past achievements, I personally lean more toward the second possibility. The truth of the matter may only be revealed someday when no one cares anymore.

Does the crypto industry have a future?

In recent years, we’ve seen many talents shift from crypto to AI, but the departure of a symbolic figure like Kyle Samani still deals a heavy blow to the entire industry’s confidence.

So, does the industry really have no future? That’s not a question that can be answered with a personal opinion alone. After Kyle Samani’s departure, several truly influential thought leaders have explained why they remain optimistic about the future of the industry.

Tushar Jain remains confident, his published eight major investment themes at Multicoin Capital still focus on crypto.

Haseeb Qureshi believes that Kyle Samani’s departure is the most genuine sign of the industry maturing; pioneers and settlers are often not the same group — this is a natural law of human nature — “I still very much believe in cryptocurrency. I know it’s strange to say this in a turbulent market, because people have little patience for dreams that may only be realized in ten years. The era of dreamers is over, but the era of doers is coming, and that’s neither good nor bad.”

a16z Crypto partner and Web3 pioneer Chris Dixon drew an analogy with the development of the internet, rebutting Kyle Samani’s view that cryptocurrencies can only reshape finance — “Infrastructure and distribution networks often precede new application categories. The internet didn’t start with social media, streaming, or online communities; it began with packet switching, TCP/IP, and basic connectivity. Only when hundreds of millions of people went online did new cultures and economies emerge. Cryptocurrency is likely to follow the same pattern. A reasonable guess is that we need to onboard hundreds of millions through payments, stablecoins, savings, and DeFi applications first, then we’ll see meaningful adoption in media, gaming, AI, or other more distant fields.”

The future is created by people. As long as more people share the same consensus, the flame of crypto narrative can reignite.