Today I saw that JD's stablecoin will be the first to support stablecoin payments on JD's Hong Kong and Macau sites. This has led me to think about the different layers of the crypto space:

In the innermost layer, the crypto native inner cycle includes Bitcoin, on-chain, DeFi, etc. This area seems to be filling up quickly, with little space left.

The next layer out includes areas that traditional finance has not satisfied, such as exchanges, stablecoins, privacy, ICOs, etc. This area is dominated by crypto institutions and extends into traditional fields.

The layer beyond that is more about large institutions integrating crypto functionalities, such as Twitter integrating NFT avatars, JD integrating stablecoin payments, and Futu Tiger integrating OTC and trading, etc. Historically, there have been many attempts in this area, but most have failed.

Looking back, trying to use the innermost layer to do things in the outermost layer, such as disrupting social media, now seems destined to fail; conversely, trying to use the outermost layer to do crypto is also mostly destined to fail.

Currently, the industry has developed to a stage where the second and third layers are eroding each other, and the real hope still lies in the second layer.