Forward Industries chairman and Multicoin co‑founder Kyle Samani now says the big dream of Web3 is over. In a recent exchange captured by community users and later summarized by several outlets, he wrote that he “once believed in the Web3 vision” and in dApps, but “now I don’t.” Instead, he argued that blockchains are “essentially asset ledgers” that will reshape finance and that DeFi and DePIN are the only real growth areas left.
Samani has not walked away from crypto itself, though. He remains chairman of Solana‑focused Forward Industries and has said he is still “mega long SOL, mega long crypto,” even as he steps back from day‑to‑day work at Multicoin. Yet his line that “Web3 is dead” signals a sharp turn from one of the sector’s loudest Web3 believers and suggests that capital may keep shifting toward financial infrastructure, stablecoins and real‑world networks instead of consumer apps.
Eli Ben‑Sasson Sees A Crypto ‘Identity Crisis’
StarkWare CEO and Zcash co‑founder Eli Ben‑Sasson has described the current moment as an industry‑wide identity crisis. In a recent interview, he said Ethereum and the wider crypto space are living through a “clear mental split,” where long‑time “OGs” are leaving after years of disappointments while traditional finance moves in. According to him, banks, asset managers and other institutions are now “absorbing the industry,” which challenges crypto’s original story as a rebellious system for economic freedom.
Ben‑Sasson noted that this phase follows a long bear market, heavy ETF outflows from Ethereum and a visible lack of leadership across major projects. He argued that many of the harshest attacks on Ethereum come from early insiders who built it and now feel let down, even as the protocol remains, in his view, the “best of the worst” options for a global settlement layer. Therefore, he thinks developers will not abandon Ethereum, but they do need to update its story for a world where Wall Street is no longer an outsider.
Together, Samani’s and Ben‑Sasson’s comments point to a narrower, more serious crypto future. Samani’s focus on DeFi and DePIN suggests most real value will come from on‑chain markets, stablecoins and infrastructure that moves real assets, data and connectivity, not from games and social apps trying to “Web3‑ify” everything. Ben‑Sasson’s “TradFi bear hug” idea, meanwhile, implies big institutions will use blockchains as plumbing for a new financial stack, rather than as a revolt outside the system.
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