According to Rosie Sargsyan, head of growth at Ten Protocol, most crypto projects will have a hard time building for the long term as they constantly have to chase new stories to attract investors.
In an article titled “Why Cryptocurrencies Can’t Build Anything Over the Long Term” published in X on Saturday, Sargusiai suggested that many crypto founders are paper-handed and switch gears as soon as a problem arises.
“Traditional business advice: Don’t fall for the sunk cost fallacy. If something doesn’t work, change direction. Crypto has taken that and maximized sunk costs,” she wrote, adding:
“Now no one sticks with something long enough to know if it works. First sign of resistance: Pivot. Slowing user growth: Pivot. Funding is becoming difficult: Pivot.”
18-month product cycle for cryptocurrencies
Sargsyan argued that cryptocurrencies currently have an 18-month product cycle in which new stories emerge, money and capital start flowing in, and everyone pivots amidst the hype.
It accumulates over 6-9 months and eventually interest wanes and the founder looks for the next pivot.
“(In the ICO era) this cycle was three to four years, then two years. Now, if we’re lucky, it’s 18 months. Crypto venture funding fell by nearly 60% in just one quarter (Q2 2025), squeezing the time and capital founders have to build before the next trend forces a new turn,” she said.
Sargsyan didn’t necessarily blame the founders of cryptocurrency projects, as he acknowledged that they are playing the “game right,” but the “game itself” makes it nearly impossible to see the project’s ideas in the long term.
“The problem is, you can’t build anything meaningful in 18 months. The actual infrastructure will take at least three to five years. True product-market fit requires iterations over years, not quarters,” she said, adding:
“But if you’re still working on last year’s narrative, you’re wasting money. Investors will drive you away and users will leave. Some investors will even force you to understand the current narrative. And your team will start interviewing on the project that just came up based on this quarter’s featured narrative.”
Hurdles to thinking long-term
One of the key questions was how the project would encourage people to adopt the platform and continue using it in the long term, even after the hype was over.
For example, the hype around sectors like NFTs generally follows boom-and-bust cycles.
Related: OpenSea refuses to pivot away from NFTs, says it’s evolving to ‘trade everything’
Tools like token launches and airdrop rewards for early adopters were essential tools to generate interest. However, without sufficient structure and planning, early investors may end up dumping and abandoning the platform shortly after the token declines.
In response to Sargsiai’s post, Sean Rippel, general partner at venture capital firm FinTech Collective, echoed similar sentiments, but argued that some founders and investors don’t want solutions that encourage broader long-term thinking.
“When I said at a recent industry dinner that I support A16z vesting tokens over five years as part of the new market structure law, a group of investors, operators, and DC influencers looked at me like I was crazy,” he said, adding, “It’s crazy how many founders have gotten rich without building any kind of longevity in crypto.”
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