The death of the crypto startup: RIP 2017 – 2026

- The 2017 dream of launching a token from a bedroom with nothing but a whitepaper and a GitHub repo is officially dead. Welcome to the era of the "licensed corpse," where you need lawyers, compliance staff, and enough capital to buy a small island before regulators let you touch a single customer. MiCA and US licensing have turned crypto startups into traditional finance with better marketing. Venture capital has followed suit, abandoning early-stage chaos for safe, late-stage bets. The barrier to entry is now higher than my debt to Core Dynamics. If you’re still trying to raise millions with just a Telegram group, you’re not building infrastructure; you’re just another meat wallet waiting to be drained by bureaucracy.