Directionally Right But Still Wrong.

RM argues that crypto's core ideas are directionally right but have been articulated differently than early advocates expected, with people leapfrogging to new uses. Drawing on a 2014 experience in Hong Kong and a 2016 stay in Shanghai, where WeChat showed an alternative mobile future, RM says the future "articulates itself unevenly." The essay points to chain and wallet abstraction and mini apps as more advanced than expected, and to DeFi activity concentrating in trading and memecoins, which RM compares to e-sports. It also cites Stripe's embrace of stablecoin payments as crypto-like but not shaped as the author envisioned. RM concludes that progress will come through fragmentation and specialization.