Shuyao Kong - 10 Things I Hate About Crypto - TOKEN2049 Singapore 2025

Good to see you guys. Uh my name is Shu Yao Kong and I am one of the co-founders of Mega East. But today I'm not here to talk about Mega East. Actually, who from the audience know about Mega East? Okay.

In fact, then I really don't need to talk about Mega. Uh, I'm here today to talk about an iconic love story which is 10 things I hate about you. Anyone here who has actually watched the movie? Actually, Zach, you're the only one.

Oh, old. Okay. It is a classic uh American romantic comedy from 1999, but few people knew that is actually a modern adaptation of a Shakespeare play called Taming of the Shrew. So I recommend anyone who loves classic to actually go read the original play was fantastic. What does this have to do with crypto?

Uh before I go into the why, let me talk a bit about the plot of the movie. So here we have three characters on the screen. On the upper left, this good-looking guy who looks like a douchebag. He is a douchebag. Um, so he's really trying hard to date this girl, uh, below him, uh, sweet looking young girl.

But then there's a problem here. This sweet youngl looking girl, um, cannot date unless his her older sister, which is the grumpy girl on top of her, uh, actually has a date. Uh, this is probably parental control in the 1990s. So, in order for this douchebag to date this sweet looking young girl, he actually came up with a scheme. He paid this rebellious looking uh boy, Patrick, to actually date the older sister.

So, the idea is that if the older sister finally finds someone to date, then he can go date the younger sister. Sounds all good, right? And as romcom goes, they fell in love. There was a bit of a trouble. They kind of love and hate each other.

But the moment she discovered that he was paid to date her, obviously she had a breakdown moment. But what happened was that even though she knew that the original motivation was incorrect, she still fell desperately in love with him. And at the end of the movie, she recited a poem from Shakespeare, which is 10 things I hate about you. So here it says, "I hate the way you talk to me. I hate the way you drive my car.

I hate the way you're always right. I hate it when you lie. And what I really wanted to highlight was the ending. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close.

Not even a little bit. Not even at all. So why do I bring this up? I think that every single true love includes the part you hate. Just like in crypto, there are things that we absolutely all hate about this industry.

But somehow we are all here. So today I want to list the 10 things I hate about the crypto to remind you why we're all here in the first place. It's a very complicated love and hate relationship. So the first thing I hate absolutely the most is cycles. So in the bull market everybody thinks that crypto is going to trillions.

Everybody wants to build in the protocols. But then during the bare market everybody would claim the death of crypto for a hundth time. So I hate cycles so much because the bull market brings in capital, the bare market brings despair and you're always in this extreme mood swing. But despite I hate about cycles, I also love cycles because what bare market does is it filters out the tourist. It en it allow people to bond with each other because in the moment of despair, you're able to realize who's actually here for the win of crypto.

So hate cycles but also a lot of cycles at the same time. The second thing I hate is that crypto is all about money. I mean on this screen you can see that the average holding time of this person is 45 seconds. So bro literally just je every 40 seconds 45 seconds right? Uh some of you here are probably trench traders as well.

So it's sometimes become a little bit bothering that people just come here to make quick cash but it also reminds me what blockchain actually is. Blockchain is nothing but an asset ledger and money is the core to what blockchain is. In the previous talk the cell founders mentioned that you know what internet is missing is the original money layer. So without money in a blockchain, we might as well just have Amazon database. So hate the money aspect, but also love that it's cool to blockchain really is.

The third one is spectrum. Any Brits out here? Oh, we have no British. Okay, the Brits are spectrum. But actually crypto is all about spectrum too.

So people would say about you know this pot is decentralized when it's in fact extremely centralized. So spectrum becomes something that people use to cope with reality. So I hate aspect of that, right? You just say it's a spectrum as if it doesn't matter. But on the other hand, I don't really mind it.

When people think about decentralization as a spectrum, it shows that people at least care. People at least are trending toward a future that's ultimately decentralized and censorship resistant. So hate spectrum but also love the fact that is there's a degree of freedom in our industry. So next one rotate uh this might be uh very befitting during the bull market because during the bull market what we're getting is people just rotate to the flavor of the week right I mean flavor of this week is plasma I have no idea what flavor of the week is for next week. uh people rotate and I absolutely hated it because unless you are writing in the narrative you are actually irrelevant but what I also love about rotation is that there's always something new about the industry about the market and every single rotation is basically the market sending you feedback and sending you data point to either correct your mistakes to correct your stereotype or basically guide you to go somewhere that's actually where the market needs so hate the rotation s but appreciate them still there rotating.

The next one is I really hate the fact that crypto is still small and sometimes getting frowned upon. I'm sure that some of you go on dating website you would never put crypto out there, right? It's a bit of weird. Um and compared to big tech, I mean compared to AI, we are a teeny tiny industry. So I hate the fact we're stereotype, we're small.

But in the meantime, I love the fact that we're small because it means that you and I are still very early in the industry. There are still lots of opportunity. If people have stereotypes, it is our responsibility to correct them. So the next few is something that's really dear to my heart and I hate them with all my guts. Uh is terrible crypto UIUX.

Uh I mean I listed a few example here. Every time I bridge money between different networks, I think I'm about to have a heart attack. Every time I see a wrapped token, I just wonder what's wrong with my life. Why are we seeing different rap token on different chain that actually the value never uh match with each other? Um I still remember DeFi summer where I pay $500 to pay a transaction.

I just hoping the coin will moon thousandx probably it didn't. So I hate about all of these, but I also realize that each one of this is a market opportunity to build something. And as a diehard builder, I cry in front of terrible UX, but I also smile in my heart knowing that they will get better and they are already getting better day and day. But what I hate the most among all is actually inaction. It's inertia.

is people complain that crypto is full of scammers and don't want to do anything to change it. In 2025, after eight years being in crypto, I still see people come and go. I still see people farm attention and farm liquidity and never contribute to the industry and they complain about things. And that's what I hate the most. But as every hate comes with love, the love in me knows that I can fix him.

The reason we're all here is because crypto is all about changing what we disliked. Remember the reason we came here because we want to send money more easily, more cheaply. We want to own our own data. And if we want to shoulder our responsibility, we got to have this naive optimism that I can fix him no matter where he is. I would end my presentation with the original poem, but mostly I hate the way I don't hate you.

Not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all. Thank you guys.