In today's capital-dominated, emotionally fluctuating market cycle, Bitcoin is strong, while other projects are lost in volatility. We can't help but ask: does Web3's confidence still exist? Can the market atmosphere of Polkadot still be ignited?

In this episode, we continue to share the insights of the three core members of Polimec and 265 Dots — Flavio, Luca, and Wilhelm, from their live discussion at PolkaWorld, delving deeper into another issue — in the era of capitalism stepping in and idealism stepping back, how can the value of Polkadot be re-understood and expressed?

From the macro funding logic, ecosystem brand building, to the absence of narrative and the pain points in institutional communication, they candidly shared a key consensus:

Confidence is not built by rising prices, but by people taking action.

Who is driving the project? Are they trustworthy? Are they genuinely entering the market? Is the narrative clear? Is the organization professional? These are the core factors that truly shape market confidence.

If you've ever wondered whether Polkadot can still move forward, this discussion might offer you a new perspective.

Continuing from yesterday's article, this is the second part, mainly covering:

  • The real 'vibe' comes from people, not prices

  • JAM is an important evolution, but Polkadot is our common root

  • Idealism steps back, capitalism steps in: Web3 enters the era of asset allocation

  • No matter how strong Gavin is, he is not omnipotent: Who will tell the story of Polkadot?

View the first part of the content: (The confidence repair period of Polkadot: It's not just about code, Web3 also needs vibe!)

Continue reading to see all the content!

The real 'vibe' comes from people, not prices.

Kristen: I understand, but I have another question for everyone. Although the policy environment is generally becoming positive, there is a phenomenon in the market: Bitcoin is performing strongly, while other coins are experiencing high volatility, and market confidence is generally lacking. What do you think about this phenomenon? More specifically, how do you view the current market confidence in Polkadot or DOT? Let's start with Flavio.

Flavio: Okay, I'll try to be concise.

In the past three years, we have been in a very special macro environment: constantly adjusting interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and various countries around the world entering election cycles. These uncertainties have lowered the overall risk appetite of the market, especially under high interest rate backgrounds, where investors tend to favor safe-haven assets.

In such an environment, Bitcoin naturally becomes the first choice: it has the best liquidity, high market recognition, and is the first choice for institutions to enter; it is also the easiest asset to understand and allocate. Thus, we see a large amount of capital flowing from altcoins to Bitcoin and stablecoins. In fact, we have not truly seen a bull market belonging to altcoins yet. Of course, there are exceptions, like Solana, which has performed well in the past two years. I believe this is mainly because they have mastered the 'vibe' — acting quickly, maintaining a fast rhythm, and continuously generating attention. If your product iteration is slow and market actions are slow, the heat and opportunities will dissipate.

As for the 'confidence' issue you mentioned, I believe this is the same for all altcoin projects: you can't expect confidence to return out of nowhere without doing anything. Confidence must be built through 'action'. People like Wilhelm, who drive ecosystem investment, attract institutional resources, build infrastructure, promote compliance, and enhance user education, are key roles in building market confidence.

Although these things won't yield immediate results, as long as we start taking action, we will accumulate momentum. When the results truly materialize, the explosive power will be very strong. So in my view, the essence of confidence comes from 'people' — who is doing things? Are these people reliable? Are they trustworthy? Do they have the ability to turn promises into reality?

If I were an investor, I would first look at who is driving the project behind the scenes — is there a leader speaking out? Are there regular progress updates? Is the team active? Do they have approachability and the ability to convey enthusiasm? Ultimately, this is a question of 'can they make friends'. Trust is the foundation of building confidence.

From the perspective of Polkadot, I believe there is still a lot of room for improvement. We need more people to take the initiative to lead the ecosystem and convey the vision. Currently, the entire ecosystem has a lot of opportunities building momentum, but they haven't been fully amplified yet. So my summary is: everything is on the way, and maintaining patience is very important.

Of course, this is just my personal opinion and does not constitute investment advice. If everyone really wants to hear investment advice, I recommend letting Luca speak (laughs).

JAM is an important evolution, but Polkadot is our common root.

Kristen: Okay, let's hear Wilhelm's thoughts?

Wilhelm: I will also continue the style of everyone, the same old saying: this does not represent any investment advice.

Overall, I feel that the sentiment in the crypto market is increasingly affected by the global macro environment. This has long been within our expectations — as the crypto industry continues to mature, it gradually integrates into the global economic system, naturally becoming entangled with political, geopolitical, and security factors.

A few examples: the U.S. elections, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East conflict, and regional tensions in Asia may seem like macro-political events, but they will affect financial markets like the 'butterfly effect', further impacting the crypto industry. For example, the Russia-Ukraine war seems far from Africa, but both countries are major wheat exporters globally. Once the war continues, it may trigger a food crisis and price surges in Africa — this will lead to significant price increases in commodities such as gold and wheat. As 'digital gold', Bitcoin's performance has become increasingly correlated with these traditional safe-haven assets.

Returning to Polkadot, I believe we also need a strong 'narrative'. It should clearly reflect what we are doing, why it is important, and how it connects to the current world landscape. The narrative is not something that exists naturally; it can be actively shaped by us. Every construction we are promoting now and every vision we are telling is actually part of this narrative-building process.

So in my view, creating an attractive, clear, and resonant narrative for Polkadot is key to the future development of the ecosystem.

Kristen: Recently, Polkadot has actually shifted its narrative focus to JAM and the 'Web3 Cloud Platform'. What do you think about this change?

Wilhelm: As long as they don't rename it 'JAM Coin' someday, I'll be satisfied (laughs).

I have previously expressed that I greatly admire Polkadot's consistency and foresight in its technological path. We have not frequently 'transformed' or 'diverted' like some projects, but have been continuously advancing along a long-term route, which is very rare.

Similarly, I think consistency should also be maintained in brand building. Polkadot itself is our most important brand asset, carrying the trust, recognition, and community perception (vibe) accumulated over the years. These things are hard-earned and should not be easily discarded because of a technical upgrade.

So I believe: JAM is an important evolution, but Polkadot is our common root. What we need to do is to let Polkadot shine again and make it great again. Maintaining brand continuity and continuously promoting the ecosystem narrative is one of our most important tasks going forward.

Idealism steps back, capitalism steps in: Web3 enters the era of asset allocation.

Kristen: Keep this state! So Lucas, what do you think of this topic?

Lucas: Everyone has shared many wonderful insights, and I also want to clarify: this is not investment advice.

I want to talk about the current market situation from a more macro perspective. To put it bluntly: the 'Web3 vision' is no longer attractive to most investors. We can see this trend from the flow of funds — a large amount of money is flowing into Bitcoin, rather than into projects filled with ideals and visions.

Looking back to 2017, the crypto community was filled with ideological discussions, such as the controversy over block size, scaling camp vs. small block camp, debates over the UTXO model, and more. At that time, Bitcoin was imbued with many different 'ideals': some hoped it would disrupt the financial system, while others advocated for integration with traditional finance. The entire market revolved around ideals, filled with enthusiasm.

But now Bitcoin has become a standard asset allocation tool, and the elements of idealism are hardly mentioned anymore. People only care about one thing: can it make money?

You see, traditional investors today might have invested in Bitcoin through ETFs and achieved good returns. Next, they will naturally ask their financial advisors: 'This performs well, can I allocate some more to other assets?' Then Ethereum is recommended because it is the second-largest asset and also has ETFs. This initiates the logic of 'diversified allocation', and the next step is naturally to continue expanding into the infrastructure layer.

As Wilhelm said, when investors start paying attention to the infrastructure beneath the application layer and the global decentralized computing platform, Polkadot will enter their field of vision. Especially for those who already hold Ethereum, they may consider increasing their positions in Polkadot for long-term hedging or diversified allocation purposes.

But the problem is: Polkadot's technology is indeed very strong, but we are not good at 'telling stories'. We always describe technical details in very complex language, which leads the market to not understand what changes it can bring. We urgently need to simplify expressions and focus on telling a clear 'growth story' — using real data and grounded examples to help more people understand Polkadot's actual value.

Flavio: I want to add one more point. Everyone should realize that the entry of traditional institutional capital has fundamentally changed the entire market's investment logic.

Before 2017, we invested in visions, in the dream of 'changing the world', in the utopia of Web3. But today, things have changed. The entry of capital means we need to talk about returns, look at KPIs, and be accountable to LPs. They are no longer paying for 'ideals'; they are investing in 'business models'.

So today's Web3 is no longer a niche movement of idealists, but a realistic, business-oriented ecosystem. We need clear budgets, a defined leadership structure, actual revenue plans, and paths for sustainable development.

Look at those ecosystems that are performing well now; many of them adopted corporate operations and centralized management models early on, achieving tremendous success. In contrast, if you stubbornly cling to 'decentralization above all', you might miss commercialization opportunities and find it hard to integrate into capital market logic.

So we must understand: Web3 has never been a charitable movement, but a business system that needs to be profitable and operated long-term.

We can certainly continue to explore new technological paths and maintain industry-leading innovation, but more importantly, we need to clarify and solidify this matter. Let investors know that we are not 'selling dreams', but 'doing business'.

After all, it is no longer 2017.

No matter how strong Gavin is, he is not omnipotent: Who will tell the story of Polkadot?

Kristen: Thank you all for sharing, and I want to remind you again that none of this is investment advice. Now for the last question, I want to talk about the 'brand building' you mentioned earlier.

Wilhelm and Luca both mentioned that we need to let more people understand Polkadot. But a very obvious phenomenon now is that communication within the Polkadot ecosystem is very active, and everyone has strong confidence in each other, but externally, it seems very quiet, even a bit 'reticent'. What do you think Polkadot should do to break this information bubble and let the outside world truly recognize us? Flavio, why don't you start?

Flavio: I particularly like this topic. Indeed, this is an issue we urgently need to address.

If we only stay in our own circles, praising each other for 'how great we are', while it sounds encouraging, it has no impact on the outside world. To truly convey value, we must first let go of complacency and maintain a humble mindset.

Even if your technology is strong, you cannot become arrogant because of it. What we need to do is proactively help others, understand how other ecosystems solve similar problems, and even consider collaborating with them. The essence of Web3 is actually the connection and collaboration between people.

If you are friendly and willing to communicate, you can go further; conversely, once you get caught up in so-called 'face' or 'position disputes', it will only create barriers. Ultimately, others' actions are not necessarily all wrong, and we can completely learn from other ecosystems.

So I believe Polkadot needs to become more open, less arrogant, and more inclusive. Even acknowledgment of 'competitors' is a form of mindset. As Luca said earlier, 'distribution' is key — if we don't have enough channels for external communication, we will be trapped in our own 'echo chamber' and will never break through the boundaries.

Kristen: You're absolutely right; it is indeed a cultural atmosphere issue. So Wilhelm, what do you think?

Wilhelm: This question reminds me of my experience working at a high-frequency trading asset management firm.

Our traders are very confident in their professional field, but when placed in a public setting, they might not be able to say a word. Technical talent often thrives in familiar environments but explaining complex work clearly to outsiders is a completely different set of skills.

This is one of the reasons we initially wanted to create 265 Dots: to help technical projects translate complex content into language that ordinary people can understand. You can't explain a function with dozens of pages of code, but rather you should be able to clearly state its value in one sentence.

So in my view, there should be different roles within the ecosystem: some people focus on technology, while others are responsible for 'external communication'. The ideal situation is to have partners or institutions speak on our behalf.

The best reputation is not self-promotion but comes from clients voluntarily endorsing you. As Flavio said, humility is important. If more and more users, investors, and partners actively talk about Polkadot, the reputation will naturally be established.

Looking back at the history of Bitcoin, its influence was not built through PR or marketing, but through countless users' word of mouth. Whether it was the scaling debate or route divergence, these discussions ultimately formed a strong social consensus and influence.

Kristen: Yes, ultimately we need to repeatedly and continuously clarify one thing externally: 'What is Polkadot', and we need to use the simplest language. So Luca, what do you think?

Luca: I completely agree with what everyone has said.

The reason why confidence is strong within the Polkadot ecosystem is well-founded. We are technically leading the industry, gathering many top developers in the community, and our roadmap is clear, with a bright future. But why do external people not feel these advantages? Ultimately, the problem lies in information transmission.

We can't expect the engineers writing SDKs or developing JAM clients to also be experts in brand communication. These are two entirely different skill sets.

If we want to interact with institutional investors, we must have someone who understands their needs, knows their compliance framework and decision-making processes, and can express value in a way they can understand. It's not about unilaterally telling them 'Polkadot is great', but about clearly explaining 'why they can invest in Polkadot with confidence'.

We need a group of 'translators' who can convert technical language into 'market language', effectively communicating the achievements and confidence of the ecosystem to the external world, encouraging more people to join and support us.

Kristen: You all made great points. But to be honest, this road is still very long. The atmosphere of the entire Polkadot community is still quite 'tech-centric'.

I remember when Gavin gave a speech in Hangzhou, many people in the audience actually couldn't understand what he was talking about, but they still desperately wanted to rush to the stage for a photo. Because for them, 'I have seen Gavin' and 'I have taken a photo with Gavin' is an honor in itself.

But indeed, some people come to ask me: 'Why isn't he talking about the market or users?' I can only smile bitterly and say: Gavin is simply not the person responsible for discussing these things.

Flavio: That's right, Gavin is not a polymath, nor can he take on everything. Just like in a company, different roles have different responsibilities; he is responsible for the architecture and underlying technology direction.

You see, many of the things regarding institutional investment and collaboration are not heard because these negotiations are conducted discreetly. They are not disclosed frequently like technical releases and are mostly long-term negotiations, requiring time to truly materialize. But once an agreement is reached, the results are tangible.

Technology is certainly the foundation of our industry, the product and infrastructure we need to 'sell'. But if someone naively thinks that 'as long as our technology is good, users will naturally come', that is truly idealistic.

Reality has long told us: it is price that attracts users, not users who drive prices.

We certainly hope the entire crypto industry transitions from being a 'speculative game' to a truly mature, sustainable business ecosystem, turning from short-term hype to long-term investment. But this is a gradual process. We need to have confidence in this process and continue to work hard and make steady progress.

Kristen: Yes, I am also looking forward to the official launch of JAM and Polkadot Hub, hoping to attract more developers into the ecosystem, and I hope to see some products that truly cater to ordinary users, not just developer tools.

Although today's interview time is limited, the content shared by everyone is really profound, and I believe the audience needs time to digest it slowly.

Thanks again to Flavio, Luca, and Wilhelm for their wonderful sharing, and we welcome everyone to continue to follow the Polimec project and their updates. I believe you will not be disappointed. See you in the next episode!

Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrkY2CIYTYo

#Polkadot #Web3