Crypto

Crypto Community

March 8, 2026

AI Summary / TL;DR

The crypto community has been shattered—almost destroyed—because trust has been destroyed too. A real community only works when people can trust each other.

Crypto Community

The crypto community has been shattered—almost destroyed—because trust has been destroyed too. A real community only works when people can trust each other. But crypto has been flooded with scams, rug pulls, and nonstop bad actors. And the worst part is that many of these scammers face little to no consequences. When people see that, they naturally stop trusting anyone.

So now everyone has their guard up. On an individual level, that can be a good thing. If your guard is up, you're less likely to get scammed. But on a group level, it creates a different problem: friction.

When there's friction, every interaction becomes harder. Every transaction feels risky. Every conversation gets discounted. People question motives. People assume the worst. And when trust is gone, it becomes almost impossible to build anything together.

That's why crypto doesn't feel like one big community anymore. Instead, it feels like tons of small communities, often fighting each other. People are divided into tribes, competing against each other, instead of being supportive and united around a shared goal.

Back in 2017 and even 2021, it felt different. There were still scams back then too, but there was also more of a shared spirit—mass adoption, growth, building, lobbying, and promoting crypto and Bitcoin. People felt like they were part of something bigger.

Now that feeling is mostly gone. Even though crypto has more mainstream adoption today, the community itself feels smaller. More people are "in crypto" as a market, but fewer people actively participate in the community. Fewer people are trying to contribute. Everyone is fighting for themselves, instead of acting like part of a shared movement.

I don't know if that's good or bad. But that's how it feels right now. And the only thing we can really do is go with the flow.

Still, when everyone keeps their guard up, friction keeps growing. And if that friction keeps growing, I don't think we can go back to building a community like we had in the past.


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