The show will go on. But let's hope we have learned something this time around.

The carnage on crypto continues as token prices keep plummeting and layoffs from the likes of BlockFi, Bybit, Coinbase, and Crypto.com continue. More than $2 trillion market cap has been wiped out in a matter of a few months, and crypto crash has been dominating the headlines with no end in sight.

Some might say, volatility is nothing new as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have always been known for being highly volatile assets. Perhaps that’s why some of us rang the alarm bells when firms such as Fidelity began introducing them in defined contribution plans for retirees.

For some in the VC world, however, the crypto winter is a good thing as it presents an opportunity to dig in while the prices are low. A16z recently announced it had raised $4.5 billion for its fourth and latest crypto fund to invest in Web3 startups, bringing the total to $7.6 billion to-date.

Among one of the companies that the crypto division backs is Adam Neumann’s most recent startup, Flowcarbon. Neumann believes that he can fix climate change by creating a marketplace to buy and sell tokenized carbon credits on the blockchain. But can reducing inefficiencies in the infrastructure for carbon credits truly save the planet, or are we simply playing a numbers game and doling out “Get Out of Jail Free” cards??

I have my doubts. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.?

Oh have we not learned?

Take Celsius for example, which froze withdrawal recently as the crypto industry battles the market downturn. Alex Hern summed it up succinctly when he asked the simple question: “If you have a $1,000 balance at Celsius, how much money do you have?”

Unlike an actual bank where retail depositors are protected through deposit insurance, who is there to protect those who have money in an insolvent crypto bank?

“People who thought they were millionaires with their money safely in bank accounts have discovered they weren’t millionaires, didn’t have money and weren’t even storing it in real bank accounts.”

And what about those who can ill-afford to lose, such as the bitcoin nation, El Salvador? It made headlines as the first country to make cryptocurrency legal tender in September 2021. Unfortunately, more than half of the nation’s bitcoin holdings are now gone. It does make me wonder if the money would have been better spent addressing poverty or other economic woes that the country faces.

But of course, as with everything in fintech, the party is far from over, with Visa announcing their partnership with Latam-based fintech players to offer crypto-enabled cards. The deal will allow cardholders to pay with crypto or purchase crypto through VISA-enabled outlets, and offers cash back benefits in bitcoin of up to 5%.

It sounds interesting. And thankfully, as Richard Turrin pointed out, Visa didn’t try to lump the illusion of financial inclusion benefits with the deal. This is not to say I am ready to buy a meal with crypto though, however.?

But viewing this from a different lens, remember how Napster and BitTorrent enabled piracy but also fundamentally transformed how we purchase and interact with media? Regulation will come to crypto, whether we like it or not. How the future will unfold remains to be seen. But I am cautiously optimistic that the industry will evolve to something better, just like how we went through the growing pains of the digital economy in the past two decades.

Rinse and repeat. The curtain falls, until the next act. The show will go on.

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From this week's One Vision podcast ...

Is cryptocurrency a gamble or an investment? Can it truly be an enabler of financial inclusion? Recently, Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo, remarked that "crypto can be worth something as long as someone believes it's worth something."?

From cryptocurrencies to stablecoins to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), what is the next version of capital markets and what does the future hold? In this episode of One Vision, we chat with Richard Turrin about the aftermath of the Terra Luna crash, the ripple effect for decentralized finance, regulatory differences between regions, and potential path forward.?

"?Crypto, capitalism, and the moral compass: Is the party over? "

Give this a listen and let us know what you think.

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If you are interested in more?#BeyondGood?stories of inspiration and hope, check out our book Beyond Good?here.

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