The crypto talent exodus is real But it's not because of the 24/7 culture or market volatility The real problem is simpler: they've spent years building products nobody wanted I've seen incredible engineers burn 18 months of effort on NFT marketplaces that launched into empty rooms Product managers who optimized user flows for apps with 12 daily active users Designers who perfected interfaces for protocols that never found product-market fit The exhaustion isn't from working hard. It's from working hard on things that don't matter Most crypto projects fail because founders fall in love with their solution before understanding the problem. They hire great people to build the wrong thing beautifully That's why so many talented people leave crypto feeling defeated. Not because they couldn't handle the pace, but because they realized they were running nowhere fast This is exactly why we need a utility season, not another memecoin cycle. When speculation dominates, the best builders waste their time chasing trends instead of solving real problems. Real utility creates sustainable traction. Memes create temporary distractions.