Crypto’s Rocky Balboa Moment
When FTX blew up in 2022, most politicians and bureaucrats had two reactions:
- Pretend they never heard of crypto.
- Blame "lack of regulation.”
Paul Atkins? He had a different take.
FTX, he said, didn't collapse because of "too little regulation." It collapsed because the U.S. made it impossible to build good crypto companies here. So the bad ones set up shop overseas.
Direct quote: "The collapse of FTX was this international debacle that happened because, I think, the U.S. didn’t make our rules accommodating to this new technology."
Now, Atkins is heading up the SEC.
Quick flashback: Atkins was an SEC Commissioner in the early 2000s, back when people still thought "Sarbanes-Oxley" was a type of medieval torture device.
Even back then, Atkins wasn't the "regulate-everything-that-moves" type. He was the guy saying, "Maybe not everything needs a thousand pages of rules?"
Fast-forward again to the 2017 crypto boom.
While others were busy calling Bitcoin "rat poison," Atkins was helping launch something called the Token Alliance — an industry group trying to write clear guidelines for crypto.
Atkins co-chaired the Alliance and pushed the idea that not every token is a security, and not every crypto entrepreneur is a wannabe Bernie Madoff.
He said, and I quote: "The Token Alliance will serve a much-needed role in helping the industry establish for itself appropriate guidance for this new and exciting asset class."
Translation: "Let's not regulate this into oblivion."
Crypto’s Rocky Balboa Moment
Sure, NFTs and most memecoins are toast.
CryptoPunks might survive.
Bored Apes probably won’t.
Tulip #71 is definitely dead.
But underneath the ashes of the last bubble, something real is stirring:
- Real-world assets being tokenized.
- DeFi evolving into actual financial infrastructure.
- Bitcoin being treated not like magic internet money — but like digital property.
The same way the Dutch saw an explosion of financial innovation after the tulip crash…
Crypto is rebuilding after four years of onslaught—stronger, smarter, leaner.
And this time, it's happening with Washington’s blessing, not in spite of it.
Three reasons to be bullish:
- Big Money is Quietly Moving in: They won't shout it from CNBC headlines, but asset managers and hedge funds are stacking up crypto while retail investors panic. Ask yourself why.
- Regulation Is (Finally) Happening: A few years ago, crypto enthusiasts feared regulation. Now, they're begging for it. Why? Because regulation means clarity.
- Crypto Is Eating Finance: Banks are expensive. Western Union is slow. Stock exchanges are closed on weekends. Crypto tackles all this. And it’s happening now, right under our noses.
If you're reading this and thinking, "Bull market confirmed”...
Maybe. Maybe not. Yet.
This isn’t a magic switch.
It’s the start of something — but like anything real, it’ll take time to unfold.
(That said… the smartest players are already positioning themselves.)
Of course, regulatory clarity will create winners and losers.
That’s how it always happens.
But after studying the ones actually building, here’s what we see:
This isn’t a graveyard.
It’s a construction site.
It’s Rocky at the end of the 12th round.
Bruised. Bleeding. But smiling.
The next markets are beginning to bloom — quietly, stubbornly, piece by piece.
