Type: Opinion / Analysis Author: Owocki Published: December 2025
Overview
The regen web3 space has reached a critical inflection point. After years fueled by subsidized token flows, quadratic grants, and retroactive funding, the wells have run dry. Treasuries have shrunk, the bull market cover is gone, and the ecosystem didn't achieve lasting adoption during the boom years.
The Problem
The 2021-2025 era of onchain public goods funding has stagnated. Liquidity that once flowed freely has dried up. Projects sprouted everywhere during the boom — some took root, many did not — but the overall results were underwhelming. Well-intentioned mediocrity was tolerated. The dapps that were built, with few exceptions, failed to achieve meaningful adoption or product-market fit.
The ecosystem now resembles an old western town built next to a river that changed course. The water is gone, and the remaining options are unappealing:
- Join the casino — pivot to memecoins or speculation-driven work, but sacrifice mission alignment
- Run events — but scaling requires cozying up to nefarious sponsors and treating people like cattle
- Build infrastructure — another Alt-L1 or L2 nobody uses, funded by VC money
- Pivot to AI — but does the world need another GPT wrapper, and what won't be automated soon?
- Leave — tap out entirely and prioritize something else
The Path Forward
If regen web3 is going to survive, the ecosystem must pivot from hope to horsepower, from optimism to agility, from memes to serious execution. The thesis:
Build useful applications that create real demand for blockspace. Ideally applications that connect people peer-to-peer in positive-sum ways. If done well, there may be opportunities to tokenize and decentralize ownership. This is the new water source — not charity, not vibes, not airdrops, but actual usage that pays for itself.
Growth Areas to Build In
Internal to Ethereum:
- Open source tooling
- Privacy infrastructure
External crossovers:
- AI x Crypto
- Stablecoins
- Enterprise adoption
- Quantum / Robotics / IoT crossovers
- DeSci (Decentralized Science)
- Ethereum Localism
- 2025-era DAO tooling
- d/acc (decentralized acceleration)
- Consumer apps
- Crowdfunding platforms
GTM or GTFO
The skills required are entrepreneurship skills — building AND go-to-market execution. The ability to allocate capital to the most promising projects, double down on what works, and scale.
These are teachable and learnable skills, but only for live players who band together and dare to dream they can make it work.
Key Principles
- No more token flows based on social connections or vibes — merit and execution matter
- No more well-intentioned mediocrity — the bar must be world-class
- No more tolerance for misalignment — focus on building and scaling apps that achieve PMF and revenue
- Prioritize survival — keep building towards the horizon, keep improving, be a live player
- Revenue equals liquidity — working applications that people actually use are the new wells
The Crossroads
One path is slow decline. The other is rebuilding into something resilient, antifragile, and worthy of the ideals that brought people here in the first place. The choice is binary: leave for greener pastures, join the casino, or grow up and get to work.
If we want a renaissance, we have to dig new wells — new aqueducts, new sources of liquidity and revenue flow. The shovel is working applications that people actually use.
