The Entrepreneurial Logic of Web3 in the New Landscape of Global Trade

Changes in the Macroeconomic Environment - A New Order is Being Formed

Reconstruction of Financial Order

Since Trump took office again, a series of unexpected economic policies have triggered turmoil in global markets. The most shocking is the escalation of tariff policies: starting from April 2025, the United States will generally impose a 10% tariff on imported goods and levy higher "reciprocal tariffs" on 60 countries. This has led to a sell-off of U.S. Treasuries, severe fluctuations in U.S. stocks, and a significant decline in the U.S. dollar index.

The international economic system centered around the United States is facing the risk of collapse after World War II. The rise of emerging economies has weakened the advantages of the U.S., massive debt is eroding the credibility of the dollar, and breakthroughs in technology by countries like China are causing anxiety among the American elite.

Against this backdrop, the U.S. decision-makers have begun to construct a new trade finance order to maintain their dominant position. Their strategic goals include: combating major competitors, weakening the momentum of other countries leveraging globalization benefits for rapid development; seeking new value anchoring for the shaken credit of the dollar.

It is noteworthy that the U.S. government's attitude towards cryptocurrencies has undergone a significant shift. After taking office, Trump publicly expressed concern about virtual currencies, and some factions within the Republican Party have gradually embraced Bitcoin, viewing it as "digital gold" to hedge against dollar risk.

Bitcoin and Gold: The New "Double Anchor" of the US Dollar

The United States is attempting to create a new credit foundation for the dollar with "dual asset anchoring," which includes traditional gold reserves as well as emerging Bitcoin reserves. This strategy aims to strengthen the credibility of the dollar in the new order through a combination of physical assets and digital assets.

In March 2025, the U.S. government released a series of significant measures in the cryptocurrency sector: Trump signed an executive order announcing the establishment of a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" and a "U.S. Digital Asset Reserve." The next day, the White House held a cryptocurrency summit, where Trump stated that "establishing a Bitcoin reserve is like establishing a virtual Fort Knox," viewing the Bitcoin reserve as the gold of the treasury in the digital age.

The United States intends to use Bitcoin alongside gold as anchor assets for a new financial system. Market rumors suggest that the U.S. plans to accumulate control over approximately 1 million Bitcoins (, accounting for 5% of the total supply ). If the U.S. dollar can partially anchor to physical gold and digital gold (, Bitcoin ), the U.S. is expected to gain an advantage in future global financial games.

Market Environment Adjustment and "Second Half" Entrepreneurship Opportunities

In the past year, the global cryptocurrency market has experienced a shift from frenzy to calm. The market has entered a deep adjustment and clearing phase, with many projects lacking real value support disappearing without a trace. However, for entrepreneurs who firmly believe in the long-term value of blockchain, this moment is actually the best time to build a bottom, gather strength, and nurture new opportunities.

In the current "second half" environment, entrepreneurs should consider: simple traffic strategies are no longer sustainable, and in their place is an entrepreneurial logic centered around core value. The following directions hold new opportunities:

• Bitcoin ( BTC ) ecosystem: Financial innovations around the Bitcoin network ( "BTC Fi" ), infrastructure upgrades, and the reconstruction of real assets and payment networks based on BTC.

• Other public chain ecosystems: Innovations that return to efficiency and the essence of profitability on public chains such as Ethereum, breaking away from simply "competing for traffic" and creating sustainable decentralized finance ( DeFi ) applications oriented towards products.

• Real-world assets ( RWA ) and payment finance ( PayFi ): Combining on-chain technology with real assets and payment scenarios to develop a new model supported by stable cash flow.

• Cryptocurrency Concept Stocks: Pay attention to the rising trend of "blockchain concept stocks" in traditional capital markets, as well as the new path of Web3 startups moving towards stock market listings.

Entrepreneurial opportunities around BTC

Around the BTC network, we see three major entrepreneurial opportunities:

1. BTC Fi(Bitcoin Finance): Creating new types of financial assets on the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin is no longer just a static store of value, but is evolving into a foundational platform for issuing various financial assets. The recent rise of protocols such as BRC-20 and Runes has sparked a craze for issuing token assets on the BTC mainnet. Representative projects like Bedrock and Solv focus on building decentralized financial services such as lending, trading, and derivatives on the Bitcoin network.

2. BTC Infra(Bitcoin Infrastructure): Reshaping the intelligent infrastructure on Bitcoin. The industry is attempting to create a smart contract layer for Bitcoin similar to Ethereum, including EVM-compatible Bitcoin sidechains or Layer2, as well as solutions native to the Bitcoin protocol family( such as the RGB protocol, Lightning Network, etc). Representative projects like Unisat, Merlin, B², etc., focus on building Layer2 for Bitcoin, middleware tools, and more.

3. BTC-Powered RWA & PayFi: Unlocking the Potential of Bitcoin in the Real World Asset and Payment Sectors. RWA based on the Bitcoin network is gradually emerging, such as the tokenization of U.S. Treasury bonds, physical assets, etc. At the same time, the "PayFi" model, which relies on payment infrastructures like the Lightning Network, is bringing Bitcoin back to the payment stage. Representative projects like LNFi focus on enhancing the practical application efficiency and user experience of Bitcoin in RWA and payment scenarios.

Entrepreneurial opportunities surrounding other public chains

Apart from Bitcoin, other public chains ( such as Ethereum, BSC, Solana, etc. ) are also nurturing new entrepreneurial logic and opportunities in the field. After experiencing the DeFi boom and the public chain wars, the industry has begun to return to rationality, leading to two major trends:

1. Return to the underlying logic of "making money": whether it's borrowing, trading, market-making, or derivatives on the chain, as long as it revolves around capital circulation, there will always be ways to validate business models and profit paths. In the current environment, only businesses that can "make money" have the confidence to withstand economic cycles.

2. The public chain ecosystem is shifting from "traffic volume" to "efficiency", with product-oriented entrepreneurship on the rise: capital is more inclined to favor practical projects that enhance efficiency and improve user experience. Whether it’s new decentralized trading platforms, better-yielding market-making mechanisms, low-risk lending protocols, or secure and efficient on-chain asset issuance platforms and data service tools, as long as they can address real needs and establish viable business models, they are more likely to attract attention.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship Model: Cash Flow Driven Path Selection

Whether in the Bitcoin ecosystem or other public chains, creating sustainable cash flow has become a watershed for whether entrepreneurial projects can go far. Traditional capital markets are starting to evaluate crypto startups by the standards of mature enterprises, with "cash flow" and "profitability" becoming key assessment criteria.

Currently, some cryptocurrency projects with real business models are becoming a bridge connecting Web3 and traditional capital markets. These projects typically have clear sources of revenue, stable cash flow expectations, and good compliance adaptability, which is why they are receiving significant attention from traditional institutions.

Several sub-sectors worth paying attention to include:

• DePIN: By managing real-world resources such as computing, electricity, bandwidth, etc. on the blockchain and combining economic incentive mechanisms, a distributed infrastructure network aimed at the physical world is constructed. Representative projects include PEAQ, Jambo, OORT, Swan, etc.

• AI+Crypto: By combining AI Agents, on-chain identities, and micro-payment mechanisms, it promotes data interaction and resource scheduling between agents. Projects like Footprint focus on data analysis engines, while DeAgent.ai builds decentralized AI Agent protocols.

• RWA( Real World Assets ): The tokenization of on-chain assets such as US Treasuries, corporate bonds, and real estate continues to advance. Representative projects like The PAC provide asset mapping services under a compliant framework.

• PayFi( Payment Finance): In 2024, the trading volume of stablecoins will exceed $15.6 trillion, surpassing Visa for the first time. Projects like Aisa are combining stablecoins with AI wallets to build a payment infrastructure that supports automation and real-time settlement.

For entrepreneurs, the lesson brought by this trend is to design business models with a cash flow orientation. Consider how to generate stable income early in the project, rather than solely relying on token appreciation or subsidizing money-burning expansion. Only when your project has a real-world revenue and profit model can it attract both crypto-native funds and appeal to more conservative traditional investors.

Cryptocurrency Concept Stocks: Structural Integration into Mainstream Finance

The wave of "cryptocurrency concept stocks" emerging in traditional capital markets is an important sign of the integration of the cryptocurrency industry with mainstream finance. These publicly listed companies participate in the blockchain industry in various ways, providing investors with diversified investment targets. Based on differences in business models and focuses, cryptocurrency concept stocks can roughly be categorized into the following types:

1. Asset-driven ( BTC reserves as the core ): These companies consider cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as a core part of their balance sheets. Typical representatives include MicroStrategy in the United States, as well as Semler Scientific and Boya Interactive.

2. Mining concept stocks ( computing infrastructure direction ): These companies directly participate in cryptocurrency mining and related businesses. Representative companies include Marathon Digital, CleanSpark, Riot Blockchain, Core Scientific, TeraWulf, Hut 8, etc.

3. Infrastructure and solution providers: Companies that provide underlying blockchain hardware, cloud services, and technical solutions, with typical representatives including Canaan (, Bitdeer, BitFuFu, etc.

4. Exchange-type concept stocks: compliant cryptocurrency trading platforms or custodial services, such as Coinbase)COIN(, Bakkt)BKKT( in the United States.

5. Payment Concept Stocks: Developed from traditional payment giants, incorporating blockchain payments into their business landscape, represented by companies such as Block), former Square(, and PayPal.

The rise of cryptocurrency concept stocks has prompted more and more entrepreneurs to rethink their financing paths. Besides token financing, the path of stock issuance is becoming an important supplement for the new generation of Web3 projects—especially for companies with stable revenue and a clear compliance framework, where longer-term and more robust capitalization methods are emerging.

Some companies are validating this path through practical cases. For example, Boya Interactive )00434.hk( has successfully achieved a value reassessment in the public capital market through a dual drive of holding coins and business transformation. Meanwhile, Walnut Capital )00905.hk( represents another approach—intervening in crypto assets and Web3 projects through an investment holding method, planning to connect traditional securities, non-listed funds, derivatives, and the new blockchain asset system. Hongya Holdings )01723.hk( has also carved out a path transitioning from traditional main business to digital asset management. In addition, Nano Labs )NA.Nasdaq(, as a leading blockchain hardware manufacturer in China, announced at the beginning of 2025 that it would use part of its dollar reserves to purchase Bitcoin, officially incorporating BTC into its strategic asset allocation system.

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) Stock-based Web3 entrepreneurial path: coins, stocks, dual-track advancement

In the face of the above trends, especially the successful demonstration of cryptocurrency concept stocks, Web3 entrepreneurs have new thoughts on financing and development paths. Overall, there are three optional paths for Web3 entrepreneurship, each with its own advantages and disadvantages:

1. "Coin" Path ### Crypto Token Financing (: Financing and incentivizing the community through token issuance. This path has high flexibility and quick startup, making it suitable for rapid validation of early products and community building. However, its disadvantage is that it is highly sensitive to market conditions, with financing amounts and token valuations significantly affected by fluctuations in the crypto market.

2. "Equity" Path ) Equity Financing and IPO (: Following the traditional path of entrepreneurial companies, introducing equity investment, focusing on business landing and revenue growth, and seeking IPO or acquisition exit once the company matures. In this approach, startups accept investments in the form of equity, which is more in line with regulatory frameworks and is also more easily accepted by conservative institutional investors.

3. "Dual-track" path ) tokens + equity parallel (: balancing both cryptocurrency and traditional financing methods, leveraging their respective advantages in stages. The usual practice is to issue tokens first in the early stages.