According to Walden, these values ​​will be replaced by more practical and commercial goals such as speed and legal compliance as corporate adoption increases. In his blog post published on September 30, he stated that values ​​such as “censorship resistance, open source, permissionlessness”, which guided the development of blockchains in the early period of Bitcoin, are no longer as prominent as they used to be.

The first blockchain projects, especially Bitcoin and smart contract platforms, were inspired by the cypherpunk movement. This movement arose in the 1980s as a reaction against government surveillance and censorship.

Cypherpunks advocated creating a more open and free technology ecosystem against the internet’s restrictions that endangered freedom of expression and privacy. Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, is also thought to be part of this movement, or at least strongly associated with these values.

However, according to Walden, with the evolution of blockchain technology, these values ​​are being pushed into the background over time. In the early days, the main purpose of blockchains was to create a system that was independent of central authorities and resistant to censorship.

However, Walden states that at this point today, smart contract platforms are now driven by factors such as performance, cost and profitability. This transformation occurred during the integration of blockchain into the mainstream finance and technology world.

In his blog post, Walden highlights popular use cases such as stablecoins, tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN).

He states that these applications do not need to be completely decentralized and permissionless as in the past, but simply use the decentralized structure of blockchains for openness, interoperability and final transaction confirmation (settlement).

According to Walden, this change should not be perceived as a development contrary to the nature of blockchain technology. Walden states that this is not the end of cypherpunk blockchains, on the contrary, we have come to the end of the first phase of the blockchain. He acknowledges that the crypto industry is increasingly commercialized and this requires some compromises.

For example, some compromises are made regarding decentralization so that crypto wallets and applications reach users more quickly and easily. However, these concessions can be considered a positive development as they enable crypto to reach wider audiences.

Walden likens this situation to changes in the mainstream music world. Over time, basic values ​​were compromised in the music industry, but in this way a wider audience was reached.

Walden states that artists strike a balance between adhering to their principles and commercial success, thus taking culture one step further on a larger scale. He says that a similar process is taking place in the crypto world.

Walden acknowledges that some of the original value may be lost as the crypto ecosystem becomes commercialized, but argues that this development presents a greater opportunity. As crypto reaches wider audiences, it has the potential to create a greater impact. Walden states that this process shows that the real opportunities of crypto are just beginning.