StarkWare co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson has called the current stage the worst for the crypto industry in all his time in the field. According to him, he has not seen so many teams shutting down, leaving and cutting costs since 2013. That is exactly what gives him more hope than ever before.

Ben-Sasson admitted that the difficulties have affected StarkWare itself: a couple of months ago the company cut staff. He does not go into the topic in more detail, but he calls what happened a "cleansing," without which a new market boom is impossible.

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Why project shutdowns are a good thing

According to Ben-Sasson, in previous downturns market participants comforted themselves that weak projects would eventually be weeded out, but that never happened — until today. This time, he notes, the industry is going through a genuine cleansing for the first time.

At the same time, the head of StarkWare stressed that it is not only weak teams that are leaving. Among them are strong projects too, and he is genuinely sorry to see them struggle to survive and shut down.

In the specialist’s view, a "new summer" will not arrive without cuts in the market. He considers this painful purge useful for the industry in the long run.

Where the new wave of interest will come from

The main challenge Ben-Sasson posed is where the next wave of interest in crypto will come from. In his opinion, historically it will be neither artificial intelligence nor corporate blockchains.

He links the future to his own financial innovations — it is precisely this that, in his words, he is working on and genuinely believes in. His position echoes earlier public statements that corporate blockchains without the principles of decentralization and self-custody of assets are doomed. Ben-Sasson concluded his stance with an appeal to members of the crypto community, offering them to share their thoughts on what will become the industry’s new engine.

Source: BeInCrypto