Crypto Industry Enters ‘Show Me’ Era as Users, Revenue Gain Importance

The cryptocurrency industry has moved beyond a growth phase driven by vision statements and white papers and into one where projects are judged by actual users, revenue and transaction volume, Paul Cafiero, a partner at a16z Crypto, wrote.

On June 23, Cafiero said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the industry has entered a “show me” era. Vision, minimum viable products and strong teams alone are no longer enough to win market validation.

He attributed the shift to the deeper entry of traditional financial institutions into the market. Cafiero cited BlackRock’s launch of a tokenized money market fund, Fidelity’s launch of a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund, and JPMorgan’s operation of a blockchain-based payments network.

Large financial institutions are no longer simply observing the crypto industry and are now launching actual products, he wrote. As the world’s largest asset manager moves into tokenized Treasuries, the standards demanded by markets, the media and partners have also risen.

The question is no longer what a project is building, but what it has built and who is using it, Cafiero wrote.

To gain trust, projects will need to present concrete metrics such as real-world service adoption, mainnet transaction volume, active users, revenue and retention, he added. The strongest proof of product-market fit is not a launch announcement, but an organic user community formed before promotion begins.