Wintermute CEO warns: "Crypto is forgetting its original purpose amid price obsession"

Evgeny Gaevoy, chief executive officer (CEO) of Wintermute, a global crypto-asset (cryptocurrency) trading firm, recently pointed out that the crypto industry is moving in the wrong direction.

According to Coinpedia, a crypto-focused media outlet, Gaevoy said in a recent interview with Fortune that "the crypto market is dominated by a 'bull market' mindset," adding that "the original vision of decentralization is gradually fading."

Bitcoin (BTC), the bellwether crypto asset, is a prime example. Gaevoy said that "Bitcoin was an alternative to government money, designed around independence from the existing financial system and libertarian values," but assessed that "recent industry trends are focused less on that philosophy and more on integration with mainstream finance and expectations of higher prices."

He added, "Stablecoins (crypto assets pegged to fiat currencies) are indeed a real use case, but in effect they are strengthening dollar hegemony."

He also flagged that the level of real-world adoption of crypto assets has fallen short of expectations—technical competition between networks continues, but applications are not emerging.

Gaevoy said, "The debate over whether Ethereum (ETH) or Solana (SOL) is superior continues, but they have not been adopted across most of the real economy," explaining that "total value locked (TVL) on the Ethereum network is $100 billion, but most of it is circulating only within the crypto ecosystem."