coinIX at EthCC9: Which Crypto Categories Are Dying?

Crypto moves fast. Narratives emerge, attract billions in capital, dominate conference stages and then quietly fade away. At EthCC 9 in Cannes, we asked some of the industry’s leading founders, investors, and builders a simple question: “Which crypto categories are dying?”

The experts featured in this article include:

• Mike McCabe, product lead at 0xbow (Privacy pools)
• Marcus Rein, Senior Developer Relations at Edge & Node (The Graph)
• Gauthier Vila, Founder of ZyFAI
• Loring Harkness, Head of Commercial at brainbot (Shutter Network)
• Alejandro Dopico, co-founder of Sail

**Mike McCabe, product lead at 0xbow (Privacy pools): **Personally, I hope we move away from the cycle of coins with no real utility suddenly reaching multi-billion-dollar valuations before collapsing again. I’ve never been a huge fan of that trend. I’d really like to see the market shift its focus back toward meaningful infrastructure and long-term value creation.

**Marcus Rein, Senior Developer Relations at Edge & Node (The Graph):** I think we’re already seeing signs of it. The multi-chain narrative and the L2 hype were huge just a couple of years ago. But now, with Ethereum scalability improving significantly, it’s becoming harder to argue that L2s alone are the future.

We’re seeing some L1s carve out very specific niches, and ecosystems like Solana developing their own strong positioning. But many L2s struggle to differentiate themselves.

Simply offering cheaper scalability is no longer enough. Unless L2s clearly define their identity and value proposition, I don’t see them maintaining strong relevance five to ten years down the line. That said, I’d be happy to be proven wrong; they do serve a purpose. But they need stronger differentiation.

**Gauthier Vila, Founder of ZyFAI:** There are simply too many L1s and L2s right now that raised massive amounts of capital but have very little real usage. I think many of these chains will slowly fade away. Users will likely consolidate around a smaller number of dominant ecosystems like Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and a few others. That’s probably one of the biggest challenges in the industry right now.

We’ve also already seen NFT gaming and metaverse hype cool down significantly. Maybe real use cases will emerge later, but for now, many of those sectors are facing serious challenges. Even meme coins seem to be cooling off a bit.

But honestly, I love these periods in the cycle because this is when real builders focus on creating real products with genuine utility. There’s less noise, fewer distractions, and higher quality conversations. That’s exactly what I feel here in Cannes right now. These are the times when true builders keep building, and that’s what makes it such an interesting moment for investors.

**Loring Harkness, Head of Commercial at brainbot (Shutter Network):** I wouldn’t say anything disappears. It evolves. Experiments succeed or fail, but the learnings persist. Nothing is wasted. Speculative NFTs may fade, but utility-driven NFTs remain valuable — in DeFi, memberships, and digital ownership.

**Alejandro Dopico, co-founder of Sail:** I think we’re going to see a major shift away from traditional app-heavy ecosystems. In the future, we probably won’t rely on dozens of apps on our phones for every individual task. Instead, we’ll increasingly use agents that perform actions for us. I also think user interfaces themselves are going to change dramatically.

Rather than humans directly interacting with applications, agents will increasingly operate in the background on our behalf. So I believe agents will be one of the defining technological themes not just in crypto, but broadly over the next two years.

Watch the interview on coinIX YouTube channel:

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Since 2017, coinIX Capital GmbH, headquartered in Hamburg, has been at the forefront of analyzing blockchain projects and cryptocurrencies, facilitating investments in this dynamic sector. Comprising specialists with extensive experience in asset management, venture capital, and cutting-edge technology analysis, the coinIX team manages a portfolio boasting over 20 investments in blockchain startups alongside crypto assets. Shares of coinIX GmbH & Co. KGaA are listed on the free market of the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange and are also traded on the Berlin and Munich stock exchanges.

About coinIX COINVEST SCI1

Launched in June 2022, coinIX COINVEST SCI1 is an open domestic special AIF under the KAGB. As a sub-portfolio of coinIX COINVEST Investment Stock Corporation with variable capital, its assets are managed by coinIX Capital GmbH, acting as a registered capital management company. Available for subscription by professional or semi-professional investors, the fund has the flexibility to invest up to 100% of its capital in crypto assets, aiming for a diversified portfolio of digital assets actively managed through ongoing selection processes.

Additional income streams are generated through staking and other blockchain-native mechanisms. With the ISIN DE000A408Q55, subscriptions to the fund are only available directly through the investment company, with private investor acquisition prohibited.

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