Svmuu News: Nick Tomaino, founder of 1confirmation, published a post discussing the marketing challenges faced by long-termists in the crypto industry. He believes that true builders need to understand and engage “Degen” users while remaining authentic, rather than looking down on speculative culture from a position of superiority.He has been trying to address this issue for the past 15 years and has failed many times. He admits that users with different investment stances might perceive him as “looking down on them,” but since he himself engaged heavily in speculation and suffered losses when he was younger, he does not look down on the “Degen” community.
Nick Tomaino believes that many of the truly predatory participants in the crypto industry are able to exploit “Degen” users for arbitrage precisely because they look down on them. He argues that current crypto market participants can be divided into two main camps:
The first camp: True believers, represented by the leadership teams at Ethereum and Coinbase.These teams have weathered multiple market cycles, continuously building new products and infrastructure. They do not pursue short-term traffic or funding but instead focus on long-term value.
However, the problem with this camp is that they are sometimes overly idealistic, failing to fully participate in high-heat scenarios such as memecoin trading and perpetual contracts, and are relatively lacking in marketing and user acquisition.
Category 2: Hype Men: This includes certain altcoin project teams, executives, and key opinion leaders (KOLs). This group excels at generating buzz, attracting “degen” users, and capitalizing on market trends.
Tomaino believes that some of these participants are more focused on short-term capital and traffic, lack true innovation, and merely use industry narratives to package themselves without actually practicing long-term value. The Hype Men are better at garnering attention and driving trading demand, while the Believers possess greater authenticity and long-term credibility; however, both groups have their shortcomings.In the future, these two cultures will eventually converge. The key lies in whether long-term builders can better understand and attract “Degen” users, and whether traffic-driven players can shift from short-term hype to creating genuine long-term value.The future direction of the crypto industry will depend on which side can influence the other—whether long-termists can steer more speculative users toward building, or whether traffic players will gradually shift toward a healthier, positive-sum ecosystem.