Why Builders Prefer an Extended Bear Market for True Innovation

Why Do Builders Want a Deeper Bear Market?

After conversations with numerous builders in the crypto space, it was surprising to discover that they weren't pessimistic about the impending bear market. In fact, they'd prefer it to last longer. Why? Let's delve into the reasons behind this.

Fragmentation of Market Cycles

From the 'pseudo-innovative' inscription craze of 2023 to the BTC layer 2 narrative that East and West VC wouldn't touch, to the AI Agent MEME asset issuance frenzy on Solana, and the series of artificial bull runs stirred up by BN, the entire bull market has been fragmented into short bursts of attention. One could argue that a 'true bull' never arrived, or that a 'fake bull' never left. But the familiar days of DeFi Summer and NFTs breaking into the mainstream, a kind of 'super bull' that could drive innovation within the market and increase outside adoption, have become unattainable.

Meme Dominance and Stifled Innovation

What's most disheartening for builders is that when MEME Super Cycle voices dominate, the MEME culture has evolved into a 'narrative black hole', frantically consuming the entire market's focus on 'technological innovation'. Imagine that when PumpFun spawns tens of thousands of micro MEME coins daily, and when a MEME project can easily reach $100M or even $2B in market cap, everyone has become accustomed to the zero-sum thrill of PVP games, with absolutely no patience to learn what a Sequencer is, what an Intent execution network is, or what a ZK Coprocessor is. This has caused many long-term builders to lose their 'sense of purpose'.

Short Liquidity Window and Damaged Genuine Projects

What's even more critical is that because the exit window with ample liquidity is very short, projects that are being built realistically are delayed due to fixed plans like the roadmap and Tokenomics design, while some VC-created or exchange-internal projects specifically designed for narrative will find every means to absorb liquidity from valuable projects first. When the genuine narrative projects are built, the market has already exhausted liquidity, and the TGE breaks the price. Investors are forced to break the pot and engage in insider trading manipulation, bear all the insults, and withdraw miserably in the least dignified way. You should know that without ample liquidity, the probability of a price pump that justifies everything is extremely slim.

True Innovation Takes Time

More importantly, genuine technological innovation needs a long period of time to validate and implement PMF, but the changing market environment is not at all conducive to innovation. The real problem is that a project, from technological breakthrough to product development to ecosystem implementation, originally takes at least 2-3 years, or even a full cycle to truly build a brand barrier. But in the new environment, within a time window of only 3 months, everyone is scrambling to increase TVL, generate hype, and rush to TGE. Who has the patience to watch projects slowly validate PMF? Therefore, the market inevitably enters an absurd cycle: true innovation needs time, but the market doesn't give time; those who stick to the long-term perspective are eliminated, while those who capitalize on opportunities can cash out and leave.

Conclusion

They never want a helpless 'deep bear', but they want to completely eliminate the 'noise bull' that hinders true innovation.