"But have we *earned* it?"

Vitalik famously posed this question in late 2017, when the crypto market cap first reached $500 billion.

We're past $1 trillion now. Let's see what has changed in crypto, especially in Ethereum and DeFi, since then.

A thread. 👇

2017 and 2018 were marked by vaporware.

Projects like Dentacoin, which promised, uhhh, great things but had little to show for it, garnered hundreds of millions in value.

Look where they are now.

Literal billions in market cap reduced to ashes. And that's good.

We've seen the capital allocated to these ghost projects seemingly flood toward quality.

Bitcoin dominance currently sits at 67% after bottoming at 33% in January 2018.

Ethereum dominance is also up from its lows.

Projects with big promises and no execution were flushed out.

Not all of the vaporware has been flushed out.

Many coins in the top 50 have yet to deliver on promises they made years ago.

But this is changing as coins like AAVE and SNX enter the crypto market's top 20.

Not much has changed about bitcoin on a technical basis, but on a fundamental basis, I think it's stronger than ever.

The confluence of money printing, political uncertainty, and more is driving the need for a scarce reserve asset not controlled by any central party.