Alex Krüger says crypto has largely failed as an asset class.
Anthony Pompliano and Gavin Wood have voiced similar concerns.
Many people have pushed back.
Famed crypto investor Alex Krüger has sparked debate after declaring that crypto has largely “failed” as an asset class.
The analyst, who correctly predicted the “Liberation Day” crash, argued that years of poor token economics and speculative excess have undermined the sector’s credibility.
The criticism echoes concerns voiced by other prominent industry figures, including Bitcoin advocate Anthony Pompliano and Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, who have similarly argued that speculative behavior has overshadowed meaningful innovation in the sector.
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In a post on X on June 3, Krüger said the majority of crypto assets have failed to create sustainable value despite growing institutional adoption.
“I largely think of ‘crypto’ as a failed asset class at this point,” Krüger wrote.
He added that “most crypto assets are worthless” or have “dreadful value accrual.”
Krüger claimed that many founders who took advantage of the lack of guardrails were “outright scammers.”
The famed investor also blamed what he called the “Memecoins SuperBullshit Cycle” for worsening market conditions.
I largely think of "crypto" as a failed asset class at this point.
I've written about the causes multiple times. Mainly, most crypto assets are worthless, or have dreadful value accrual, and most founders have abused the lack of guardrails and dumped on people indiscriminately,…
He explained that speculative trading drained capital and attention from more productive areas of the industry.
Despite his criticism, Krüger acknowledged that adoption of blockchain-based technologies continues to expand.
He highlighted growing stablecoin usage, increasing political support for digital assets in the US and the rise of tokenization initiatives as key areas of growth.
According to Krüger, however, these developments are better described as blockchain adoption rather than the crypto asset market.
“These are more ‘blockchain’ than ‘crypto,'” he wrote. “So one could say old ‘crypto’ is a failed asset class, but from the ashes come new beginnings,” Krüger wrote.
“Crypto sucks. Long live crypto.”
Pompliano Warns of ‘Zombie Coins’ and Industry Consolidation
Krüger’s assessment is not the first time these views have been shared in recent weeks.
Speaking after the Consensus 2026 conference in Miami, Bitcoin investor Anthony Pompliano argued that the crypto market was entering a painful consolidation phase that would eliminate many existing projects.
“In the crypto industry, there are millions of coins and thousands of blockchains,” Pompliano said in a video posted to X.
“Does anyone actually believe that millions of crypto coins are going to thrive in the future? I doubt it.”
Pompliano described many projects as “zombie coins and ghost chains,” suggesting that large portions of the market continue to exist despite limited user adoption.
The crypto industry is dying.
That is a good thing.
The resilient and valuable aspects of the industry need to compete on the biggest stage, not stay pigeon-holed in a boutique industry with declining capital and talent. pic.twitter.com/TlVJAG6zFz
He also argued that the culture of the industry has shifted away from its ideological roots.
“The industry used to be defined by hardcore missionaries,” he said. “Now the industry is littered with mercenaries.”
He argued that a cleansing process would ultimately benefit the industry by directing capital and talent toward businesses with sustainable use cases.
Pompliano also suggested that the distinction between crypto and traditional finance is rapidly disappearing as major financial institutions expand their digital asset offerings.
“At the end of the day, crypto is just going to become finance,” he said. “The things that try to stay crypto-only are going to be the things that end up dying.”
Gavin Wood Warns About Hype
Similar concerns were raised more than a year earlier by Ethereum co-founder and Polkadot creator Gavin Wood.
During an appearance on the Empire podcast in April 2025, Wood said much of the crypto industry had become dominated by aggressive marketing rather than technological innovation.
“There’s a lot of hype-driven projects out there in the crypto world,” Wood said.
Adding: “There’s certainly some that are doing some proper software engineering, but actually pushing the original web three crypto bitcoin ideals forward, really not that many.”
Wood argued that excessive hype had resulted in poor capital allocation throughout the sector.
“The problem is that if only one or two boats are deserving to be lifted, hype represents an incredibly inefficient capital allocation,” he said.
“I think they’re very talented in making themselves money,” Wood said of some meme coin founders.
Wood went further, characterizing parts of the industry as an “unlicensed casino.”
“If we start thinking of utility as basically the ability for an elite group of insiders to make themselves a lot of money, then sure,” he said.
Most notably, Wood distanced himself from crypto altogether.
“I don’t think crypto is much of a solution,” he said.
“I consider myself really a sort of web three practitioner. I don’t consider myself a crypto guy, because so much of crypto is about this Mickey Mouse finance.”
Others Argue Crypto Hasn’t Failed — It’s Changed
Not everyone views the current state of crypto as a failure.
Andy C, co-founder of crypto media company The Rollup, said Krüger’s comments reflected a broader realization that only a small number of projects possess sustainable business models.
“We tweeted Return of Fundamentals way too many times,” Andy C said on a podcast responding to Krüger’s remarks. “There are not that many investable assets in this space and saying that doesn’t help my business.”
Rather than viewing the industry’s evolution as evidence of failure, Andy C argued that capital is increasingly flowing toward projects with measurable revenue.
Andy (@andyyy) responds to Alex Krüger's "crypto is a failed asset class" take and goes off on why the Revenue Meta call from a year and a half ago is finally playing out in price:
“HYPE, Venice, Grass, Aerodrome, Sky. These tokens are making money and reallocating it back to the assets,” he said.
Adding: “This is exactly what we’ve been feeling for months to years.”
According to Andy C, the market is entering a new phase in which speculative narratives alone will no longer be enough.
“If you’re not making money, don’t have a real path to revenue, don’t have good tokenomics, don’t have institutional appeal, you’re gonna be stuck in the old era,” he said.
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
