2017 Crypto vs. 2025 Crypto: We Became What We Swore to Destroy

By Cryptonator`s | Cryptonator`s Junk Box | 10 Mar 2025

Ah, 2017 crypto. That was when men were men, women were women, and everyone ran sketchy mining rigs in their parent’s basements. Back then, the goal was simple: flip off the banks, dodge the IRS, and stack satoshis like your life depended on it.

Fast forward to 2025, and what do we have? Degens worshipping meme coins, hoping Daddy BlackRock pumps their bags, and politicians playing market makers like they are running a hedge fund or launching meme coins themselves.

What happened to the cypherpunks? Where is the decentralization? And why the hell are we celebrating government-approved Bitcoin ETFs like we just won a revolution?

Let's take a trip down memory lane and see how we went from rebels to Wall Street’s favorite little gremlins.

The Good Ol’ Days: When Crypto Had a Spine

Back then, the only ETFs people cared about were Extra Trappy Forex scams. We weren't out here waiting for the SEC to bless us with their approval. No, we were too busy with stuff like:

Running full nodes on ancient ThinkPads
Mining Bitcoin in the dorm room and accidentally setting off the fire alarm
Avoiding KYC like Neo dodging bullets
Arguing about block sizes for 16 hours straight
Shilling projects that had actual use cases

If you told a 2017 Bitcoiner that in 2025, people would be celebrating a Wall Street-backed Bitcoin ETF like it was the Second Coming of Satoshi, they would have laughed you out of their Telegram group.

The Great Memeification of Crypto

Now? Crypto is just a giant meme casino with extra steps.

Half of the market is praying for Elon Musk to tweet about their bags, while the other half is buying coins named after farm animals, celebrities, or whatever new AI-generated nonsense drops that week.

And let’s talk about Elon. The man who once said “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto” now treats the entire market like his personal slot machine. He tweets “XRP” at 3 AM, and suddenly half of Crypto Twitter quits their job.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who once called Bitcoin a scam, is now running ads about how he is the most pro-crypto president ever. Man saw the polls, realized crypto bros vote, and suddenly he is out here talking about “the beauty of decentralization.”

This is our reality now. Instead of anarchy and freedom, we have billionaire influencers, politicians, bankers, and oligarchs playing puppet masters while the Degens cheer them on

The Great Sellout: When We Became TradFi’s Plaything

Once upon a time, crypto was a movement against centralized power, especially against the banks. Now, we are out here begging for regulation, celebrating when banks buy Bitcoin, and acting like SEC approval is the same as financial freedom.

Larry Fink (Mr. BlackRock himself) once said “Bitcoin is for criminals.” Now he is out here launching ETFs and telling CNBC that Bitcoin is the future. Bro, we heard what you said in 2017. Keep that same energy.

Even Ethereum, the backbone of decentralization and smart contracts, has turned into a playground for institutional staking. Instead of proof-of-work warriors, we have proof-of-stake politicians, and let’s be real that some of these validators have more power than central banks at this point.

Crypto was supposed to be an exit from the traditional system. Instead, we built a backdoor for Wall Street, and now they are running the show.

My Final Conclusion

I get it, 100x meme coins are fun. Who does not love turning $50 into a down payment on a Lambo (or a McChicken, depending on the market that day)? But let’s not forget why crypto was created in the first place.

It was not for hedge fund managers to add Bitcoin to their “diversified portfolio.” It was not for politicians to flip-flop every election cycle. And it was not for regulators to “protect” us from making generational wealth.

It was about sovereignty. Censorship resistance. Real use cases.

So maybe it is time to: