Binance co-founder He Yi wrote an article today summarizing the changes in the cryptocurrency market since 2017 and pointed out that previous money-making strategies are no longer effective in the current market. She stated that the current infighting between rug pull studios and L2 projects has turned into a farce, indicating that the era of rug pulling may be coming to an end. In addition, she once again responded to the criticism that Binance frequently lists VC project tokens with overvalued valuations, causing retail investors to become victims.
(Table of Contents)
ICO/IEO Era: Making money by grabbing shares and being quick
Collaboration between top projects and rug pull studios created beautiful data
He Yi: The era of rug pulling may be coming to an end
He Yi, co-founder of Binance, entered the cryptocurrency market in 2014 and co-founded Binance with Zhao Changpeng in 2017, accumulating over 10 years of industry experience. Today, she published an article on Binance Plaza, summarizing the money-making methods from 2017 to the present and pointing out that the current market environment can no longer rely on past methods to profit.
He Yi first pointed out that during the ICO era in 2017, crowdfunding directly replaced venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE). The bull market from 2017 to 2018 was supported by early influential investors (OG), and investing in projects supported by these OG platforms was profitable as long as they could grab shares.
By 2021, the rise of DeFi made the market more diverse, and investors could make money by quickly investing in various projects. During the IEO (Initial Exchange Offering) period, investors could negotiate with project teams to secure a share for users, resulting in generally lower pricing for listed projects. The investment strategy during this period was “buy new, not old.”
However, He Yi immediately stated that IEOs are now considered legally risky in most countries and can only be done through airdrops. This means that market pricing will depend on supply and demand. If the circulating supply is large, the opening price will be lower, and the project’s performance will be relatively stable, such as BB and Lista. However, compared to 2021, the current market lacks sufficient washing processes, resulting in rapid price increases and a lack of stability.
He Yi further explained the market phenomenon of this year. She mentioned that this market rally was mainly initiated by the launch of Bitcoin ETFs and driven by collaboration between some top projects and rug pull studios. They jointly created beautiful data to attract more VC funds.
Yesterday, KOL @Aunt_ww tweeted, criticizing Binance for deviating from the fairness of the cryptocurrency by frequently listing VC project tokens with inflated prices and overvalued valuations, diluting market liquidity, and turning retail investors into dumping bags for VCs.
In today’s article, He Yi also addressed this point. She first acknowledged that if we observe the top VC players in the market, their scale is over a billion dollars, which indeed pushes up the pricing of good projects. However, she stated that these projects with abundant funds and users have the confidence to list not only on specific platforms but also on many centralized exchanges (CEX) that are eager to list them or decentralized exchanges (DEX), or even launch on their own chain’s DEX. Therefore, she emphasized:
He Yi then pointed out that the market has indeed changed today. She said:
He Yi questioned whether the market would be healthier without VC investments and project parties. She pointed out that in every market cycle, there are a few projects that can survive the ups and downs, but most of the top projects fail along the way. Whether it is web2 or web3, successful entrepreneurial projects are few, and projects that can cross the divide and survive the cycles are even rarer. Therefore, she reminded that investing carries risks, and caution is required when entering the market.
Related Reports
Friend.tech starts token airdrop, $FRIEND briefly exceeded $160 and then retraced, why is there no official response?
He Yi’s growth story: Psychology major, former teacher, host… Binance now relies on her more than ever.
He Yi’s touching support letter: Your Honor, please allow me to show you the real Zhao Changpeng, CZ.