2026: The Great Crypto Cleanup. And honestly, I think it was long overdue. For years, we've seen hundreds of protocols promising to revolutionize crypto. Millions raised from VCs, huge valuations, airdrops, points campaigns, and endless marketing. > The problem? Many were building products nobody actually needed. And now the bear market is bringing all the skeletons out of the closet. Just look at the projects shutting down, winding down, or abandoning their original products in 2026: > L2s & Infrastructure - Sophon : ~$70M raised (including node sales) - Blast : $20M - Abstract : >$11M raised by Igloo - Botanix: ~$8.5M+ - Moonbeam / Moonriver: migrating to Base -Polygon zkEVM: network shut down > DeFi & Trading - Everclear / Connext : ~$27M reported - Router Protocol : ~$4.1M - Satori Finance: ~$10M - Cascade (ex-Perennial) : $15M - Dango: $3.6M, shut down in under 4 months - StandX : TGE cancelled - Hotstuff: trading discontinued - Loopring: DEX discontinued - Tally & Parsec: operations winding down And these are just some examples. Raising millions doesn't mean you've built something people actually need. During bull markets, incentives can attract thousands of users, massive TVL, and impressive trading volumes. But when the airdrops end and the attention moves elsewhere, reality catches up. And I believe perp DEXs could be next. Right now, we're seeing an explosion of new exchanges, points programmes, and airdrop expectations. I use several of them myself, and I'm bullish on decentralized derivatives. But let's be realistic. There are simply too many perp DEXs competing for the same traders. When incentives disappear, many will struggle to retain users. And I wouldn't be surprised if, a few years from now, we're looking at another long list of failed exchanges. Only those offering real value, better execution, deep liquidity, and sustainable economics will survive. And that's perfectly fine. Crypto doesn't need hundreds of protocols doing exactly the same thing. It needs products people actually want to use, even when there are no rewards. Less hype. More utility. This isn't the death of crypto. It's a much needed cleanup. And I doubt we're anywhere near the end of it.