🧱 Cycle 2 (2021–2025): The Age of the Architecture The Infrastructure Renaissance. Following the initial bust, the noise cleared, forcing the ecosystem to mature. This cycle was defined by moving away from raw speculation and focusing on building robust, scalable foundational tech. It saw the rise of layer-2 networks, the integration of account abstraction (making wallets invisible to everyday users), legal frameworks for digital intellectual property, and the quiet embedding of NFTs into institutional backends, gaming, and real-world ticketing.
