Final Ultimatum! The crypto world is facing a critical choice: become the accelerator of the "Leviathan," or preserve the last escape route for humanity?

Regarding the ultimate form of crypto assets, I have thought about it for a long time. Can the ideals of cyberpunks be realized? Is libertarianism feasible? Does cryptocurrency itself have a future? My views have been wavering. Today, I want to discuss its philosophical positioning. This is more like a declaration, answering the fundamental question of “why we are here.”

Frank Herbert’s Dune was one of my most admired works. Although today the Culture series may have surpassed it, God Emperor of Dune, the fourth novel, profoundly shaped my understanding of progress, diversity, and the proper form of the world.

The core argument of the book is that the only way for humanity to survive is to maintain diversity. The “Golden Path” is a millennia-spanning plan: first impose a stable shackles on humanity, and once released, humans will develop a deep hatred for stability and any form of centralization. As the book states, the goal is “to give humanity a lesson carved into their bones: comfort in protection is no different from total death, no matter how long it lasts.”

We are inherently drawn to stability, eager to organize against chaos. We instinctively build empires, whether nations or corporations. We know all empires will eventually collapse, all companies will perish, yet we do so tirelessly, each time on a larger scale. However, the larger the scale, the more devastating the collapse. More dangerously, this extreme empire-building may lead humanity to extinction, or make us unable to resist external shocks due to over-concentration, or cause internal “evolution” to abandon our existence as a society.

History thus cycles: from chaos to self-organization, to empire, then to collapse. The most important lesson I learned from the Golden Path is: during the integration phase, we must embrace diversity and reject empires, no matter how tempting the stability (and promised prosperity) they offer. Today’s nation-states are filled with “comfort in protection.” The same applies to today’s corporations and financial machinery. I believe both are slowly pushing us toward an inevitable collapse.

It should be clarified that this is not an opposition to capitalism or progress. Quite the opposite, the current system is becoming increasingly devoid of capitalist spirit, replaced by poor and lethargic nationalism. Several possible future “Leviathan” forms include: anarcho-capitalism (business wins, government steps back), nationalism (nation-states control everything), and fascism (collusion of government and business empires).

So, what is another path? What system does not offer “comfort in protection,” but instead forces individuals to prioritize sovereignty and independence? What system attempts to transcend national borders, ignoring closed financial systems? What system views “insecurity” as a feature rather than a flaw? The answer is: cryptocurrency.

I have been in this field for nearly nine years, and I have never felt so confused, as if there’s nothing worth looking forward to ahead. On the surface, we seem to have obtained most of what we once longed for: institutions have entered, technology has been adopted. But I always feel something is missing—not just price issues, but a kind of “soul” dissipation, a confusion about “what exactly are we doing.” Meanwhile, the outside world keeps moving forward, with a hotter new thing (artificial intelligence) already emerging. We are completely lost.

Of course, not everyone is like this. Some believe the rise of stablecoins is a victory. Some celebrate decentralized perpetual exchanges defeating the “old relics” of traditional and centralized finance. Others are trying to build their own empire at the intersection of DeFi and traditional finance. We see the resurgence of “enterprise chains,” with enterprise blockchains again touted as “great.” Yes, some are excited, but I am not, even though my firm Wintermute profits from integrating with traditional finance.

My lack of excitement stems from seeing several diverging paths ahead, only one of which is feasible and worth walking.

First path: traditional finance acquires crypto. Widespread use of stablecoins, enterprise chains with KYC, and “decentralized” exchanges. Financial machinery runs faster, with fewer middlemen. $BTC becomes digital gold, mostly held by sovereign governments, corporate treasuries, and ETFs. Or, global CBDCs are adopted, with our financial privacy fully controlled. The technology might be excellent, but we lose completely. This is the most probable path.

Second path: governments surrender to blockchain. Everything runs on permissionless ledgers, KYC/AML systems are abandoned. Crypto is taxed only when exchanged for fiat, with tokens valued in trillions of dollars. A free and glorious world. But this is a purely imaginary world; we win only in dreams. The least likely path.

Third path: uncomfortable coexistence. We build a parallel, fully independent system alongside the existing one. Individuals can exist in both worlds simultaneously; governments cannot touch it because it is designed to be isolated. We win outright. The probability of this path entirely depends on us.

I have no interest in the first path. It merely makes the existing machinery (whichever “Leviathan” wins) run more smoothly. I know some believe the second is possible, but that’s pure fantasy. Governments cannot give up sovereignty, just as companies cannot voluntarily relinquish monopolies. Casinos cannot freely open on $SOL. The CFTC cannot ignore KYC on Hyperliquid or go unregulated. Need I remind you? Which centralized stablecoin issuer cannot freeze assets by court order? Unless the entire socio-economic system collapses, this will not happen.

Therefore, only the third path remains. You can call it metaverse, cyber nation, DAO, or cultural tribe. They all share the trait of existing independently, often in conflict or even opposition to the “real world” political and financial systems.

Our biggest problem is that many have never truly internalized the lessons of the Golden Path. Especially for those living in Western countries, who have gradually become accustomed to progress and convenience, never truly experiencing the loss of sovereignty. Ironically, between 2022 and 2024, we experienced the closest approximation: on one side, SEC and CFTC regulatory pressure; on the other, centralized institutions (FTX/Alameda and some VCs) nearly buying up most of the crypto space. And what did we learn? The opposite.

We did not double down for freedom; instead, we believed that as long as the right people are in the right positions, we can win. We have also complained for years about poor user experience, $BTC’s inconvenience as a payment tool, and endless hacking incidents. Could it be that we are all wrong? That these inconveniences are precisely the costs we must pay for sovereignty? A culture we should actively embrace?

I do not think MetaMask is the pinnacle of innovation, nor do I expect everyone to engrave seed phrases on metal plates. What I want to say is that our goal in optimizing user experience should not be for the 50% of the world that doesn’t need sovereignty, but for the 50% that truly does—whether it’s people witnessing democracy eroded and fully controlled by governments in developing countries, or residents of developed nations with increasingly strict privacy laws, resembling certain models (like Europe and the UK).

Our goal should not be to fight “regulation” or “governments.” It should be to create something they cannot control at all. The key is to avoid reliance on any choke points: fiat onramps, app stores, DNS, centralized order books, social media platforms, and of course, centralized stablecoins. What we build should not be shut down by a court subpoena or a bureaucrat’s switch. Tax authorities should not target our non-compliant tokens unless we convert them into fiat.

Ultimately, we must create a place where ordinary people can survive without needing anyone’s approval. Specifically: embrace permissionless, sovereign protocols, not black-box off-chain solutions; restore DAO to its original purpose—building genuine communities, not manipulated governance by centralized entities; learn to either avoid reliance on centralized infrastructure or switch quickly if cut off; make algorithmic stablecoins great again—we were wrong to indulge in Ponzi models; DAI and UST’s ideas are not flawed; and finally, enable direct crypto transactions with privacy protections.

God Emperor of Dune ends with “dispersal”—the god emperor dies, and humanity scatters into the void. After 2022, we should have dispersed, should have remembered the lessons. It’s not too late to start now. We cannot always choose where we are. Some are trapped in nations, unable to leave; some are bound by their responsibilities. My pessimistic prediction is that in the coming years, the reasons to escape will only increase. That “Leviathan” will grow ever larger, and repression deepen.

A complete escape into a “better” parallel crypto world is currently impossible, even if it exists. But at least, we can start rebuilding some things—providing future generations with a way out, while allowing the real world and the crypto world to coexist. Tools for escape are the only things worth building. When someday crypto is no longer popular (which will happen), it will still operate unaffected by the outside world. More importantly, it will give meaning to what we do and build.

Most of us will still choose to coexist with the empire—due to responsibilities, comfort, money, or other pursuits. That’s understandable, no problem. A small remaining group will go create an exit and reclaim what we have already lost.

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