imo, this liquidity is precisely what's stifling widespread crypto adoption. Speculators kill long term growth of any project and punish actual users the most.

imo, this liquidity is precisely what's stifling widespread crypto adoption. Speculators kill long term growth of any project and punish actual users the most. GameFi is the perfect example - prices go up as speculators pile in. Actual gamers suddenly can't afford to play (which is why you have gaming "scholarships" - an absurd idea). Most projects that have earmarked tokens for their employees suffer as well. As the token goes through the speculative pump and dump, employees with locked in tokens can watch their networth go from millions to nothing - without being able to do anything about it. Employees constantly jump ship because after the dump, they realize that their locked in tokens are worth very little - and when the vesting ends, they market dump it all to get whatever profit they can. As the price craters, the project finds it harder and harder to attract new talent. I've seen this happen with so many projects that I now appreciate why we don't have exchanges for new businesses. Can you imagine what the startup world would be like if every startup was listed on a stock exchange immediately after it was founded? You'd have speculators pumping up the stock price based on rumor and/or fact ("YC invested! Sequoia is in!"). Employee vested ESOPs would go from millions to nothing and hiring future employees would be extremely hard since their ESOPs would be worth nothing.