Kathleen Breitman of Tezos on 5 crypto trends that need to die—and 1 big reason for optimism

Tezos cofounder Kathleen Breitman (Credit: Courtesy of Misan Harriman)

As someone who's worked in crypto since 2016, it was heartening to see the industry attract unprecedented amounts of attention and capital in the last two years. This felt like a long-awaited validation of the industry. Cryptocurrencies looked poised to compete with traditional financial services as capital flooded into the market, stodgy venture capital funds finally started to invest in the space, and acronyms like “NFT” became mainstream.

But the last eight months have shown that much of the fervor was built on houses of cards. The collapse of the market has not been easy on anyone, but one silver lining is that it has led to some overdue self-reflection among industry leaders.