Let me explain.

Back when I first got into crypto, the websites were trash.
The logos looked like someone made them on Microsoft Paint.
The whitepapers were barely readable.
And the people?

Weird. Brilliant. Paranoid. Obsessed.
And honestly? Beautifully unpolished.

It Wasn’t About VC Money or Branding

There were no slick marketing videos.
No billion-dollar layer 2s with token unlock schedules.
No AI x Crypto x Metaverse projects with three launchpads and a Discord mod named “Growth Wizard.”

It was just chaos.
Messy, confusing, unpredictable chaos.

But it felt real.
Because the people building it weren’t trying to impress you.
They were trying to free you.

Somewhere Along the Way… It Got Polished

Now crypto looks clean.
UI/UX is smooth.
Everything has a roadmap, a funding round, and a tokenomics explainer PDF.

You know what we lost?

Soul.

We lost the awkward forums.
The rabbit holes that led to nowhere.
The weird tokens with no use case except “we thought it was funny.”
The sense that you were part of a rebellion — not a tech startup pitch.

I Don’t Want to Go Back. But I Don’t Want to Forget.

Yes, it’s great that crypto is more mature.
That it’s onboarding the next billion.
That institutions are finally paying attention.

But please, let’s not scrub it clean until it’s just another Web2 in disguise.

Let’s remember the weird.
The DIY.
The "I don’t trust you so I built my own wallet in Rust" energy.

Because that’s what made this space alive.
Not the money.
Not the brands.
The madness.

Keep It Weird

If you’ve been here long enough to miss the rough edges — I see you.

And if you’re new to the space?
Don’t just chase what’s shiny.
Dig deeper. Talk to the builders. The skeptics. The ones who write smart contracts at 2am because they believe something better is possible.

This space was built by weirdos.
And it’ll survive because of them too.

If this brought back a feeling, drop a tip.
And if not? Just promise me one thing:

Don’t let crypto get too clean.