2017 was the year everyone wanted to launch the next big blockchain project.
Initial coin offering (ICOs) changed the game.
Projects could raise millions without going through traditional investors.
Ethereum became the launchpad.
Whitepapers multiplied.
Tokens launched every week.
And suddenly, getting in early felt like the opportunity.
But there was a problem.
A great story could raise millions before anyone proved the product actually worked.
Some projects built something real.
Many didn't.
Eventually, the ICO boom collapsed.
But it left something important behind.
Ethereum had shown the market that crypto could be more than Bitcoin.
It could be a platform.
And that idea became the foundation for the next major narrative.
During which narrative did you join crypto?
Every cycle, we find a new story to believe in.
ICOs.
DeFi.
NFTs.
Play-to-Earn.
Move-to-Earn.
Tap-to-Earn.
Memecoins.
AI.
RWAs.
For a while, that becomes the meta.
Money follows.
Attention follows.
Everyone starts building around it.
Then the market moves on.
But what actually survives after the narrative dies down?
I’m going back through crypto’s biggest narratives to look at what people believed, what actually happened, and what was still standing after the hype disappeared.
Let’s start our journey from 2017.