jakiro
Jessy, bitchain vision
“They asked me for 50,000 U at the booth.”
After learning the offer, Jack, the head of a Bitcoin DeFi project, decided not to buy a booth at this year’s Bitcoin Asia main venue.He started chatting with me with his project at the Bitcoin Summit side exhibition stand on the same floor of the Bitcoin Asia exhibition hall of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. His project did not get much financing, and 50,000 U is not a good deal.
This is my second year of participating in Bitcoin Asia, and it is also Jack’s second year of participating in the exhibition in Hong Kong.The difference is that last year he bought a booth at the main venue, but this year he only came to attend side meetings.
After participating in the exhibition for two consecutive years, my most intuitive feeling is that compared with last year, there are too fewer exhibition projects at the main venue this year.During the Bitcoin Aisa conference held in May last year, the Bitcoin ecosystem has not yet shown signs of a bubble burst. “Ecological prosperity” and “a lot of projects”, and various second-layer chains, DeFi protocols, NFTs, and chain games are emerging one after another.This year, there are about ten booths scattered in the exhibition area. “The booths are not sold out this year,” an exhibitor told me.
Unlike last year’s project categories, the most exhibited this year are mining machine manufacturers and their channel vendors, as well as several top wallet projects that have also been here last year.Being able to participate in the exhibition continuously not only means that the project is still operating, but also means that it has stable cash flow and is willing to pay for its promotion on Bitcoin Asia.Most of the once hot “Bitcoin Ecology” have been short-lived.
Although there are few exhibitors and the scene is not as lively as last year, there are still many audiences.This year, the Bitcoin ecosystem is no longer a hot topic, but topics such as “DAT”, “RWA”, “stablecoin”, and “mining” are still attracting attention.The arrival of CZ and Trump’s second son ignited the atmosphere in the entire venue.
The overall decline of the Bitcoin ecosystem
A chain game project team that had a large booth in the main venue last year told me that their projects had basically stagnated.Back then, they promoted a DePIN mining concept – the sold game console promised to mine while playing games, but the project did not issue coins in the end.
“There is no way to be scolded. I dare not issue coins, and the price of coins cannot be protected.”
This is the dilemma of many Bitcoin ecological projects: even if the coins are issued, it is difficult to give investors an explanation – the coin price continues to fall.ABCDE, an investment institution that once held a heavy investment in Bitcoin ecosystem, announced the suspension of investment in new projects in the first half of this year.According to statistics, the six coin-issued projects it invested in all performed poorly, including well-known projects such as Merlin Chain and Babylon, which fell sharply from its highest point.
Jack also expressed a similar view: most of these projects are “Pangshi” who make money and disappeared in just a few months.At the Bitcoin Asia conference, the absence of the Bitcoin ecological project at the main venue is a reflection of this reality.
In contrast, the Bitcoin mining track is more certain.However, with the increasing difficulty of mining and changes in supervision, this heavy asset industry is no longer as hot as before.Since Bitcoin halving in 2024, mining rewards have decreased by 50%, and network computing power has reached a new high, resulting in the revenue of mining units falling from about 0.12USD/TH to 0.049USD/TH.In the first half of 2025, the cost of mining a Bitcoin rose by more than 34% year-on-year to more than US$70,000.Mining companies are also seeking new ways out, including IPOs, transformation into crypto treasury companies, etc.A miner staff member told me that manufacturers are under great pressure and hope to show up and promote cooperation, but the market is still stock competition.
Although the pressure is high, selling mining machines or providing one-stop services for mining farm construction is essentially a more real economy track in the circle.Have a stable profit model.It is more likely to live long.
Another person who participated in two years was the top wallets like Unisat and Xverse. Because they were stuck in the niche of the wallet in the Bitcoin ecosystem, they could still be maintained, but confusion is still the main theme. A staff member of Unisat told me, “The Bitcoin ecosystem is at a low point now, and we don’t feel that there is any direction. But we still have to participate in the exhibition, and we also need to continue to expose and build brands.”
The new hot spot is DAT
In contrast to the Bitcoin ecosystem recession, DAT has become a hot topic at present.Several heavyweight guests mentioned in their speeches, including Zhao Changpeng and Blockstream founder Adam Back.
This year, various crypto treasury companies have emerged, using financial means to raise funds and then purchase cryptocurrencies. The company’s stock price is closely linked to the market value of cryptocurrencies.The guests believe this is a way to make crypto assets more accessible to traditional financial investors and is more attractive than investing in cryptocurrencies directly.
The arrival of Trump’s second son Eric Trump is another hot topic in the audience.As the finale guest, his speech was extremely infectious and the response was enthusiastic.In his speech, he criticized Biden for his incompetence, praised the Trump administration for its prosperity for cryptocurrency, and predicted that Bitcoin would reach $1 million per coin.Previously, he also attended the WebX2025 event held in Japan, with a compact itinerary.
Thanks to these heavy guests, although the booth area is deserted, the number of visitors is still large.The participation of traditional financial practitioners outside the circle has also increased significantly.A friend of the securities firm told me: “For traditional financial people, the crypto industry is now a hot commodity.”
As a traditional financial center, Hong Kong has launched crypto businesses this year, and the stablecoin pilot has also attracted a lot of attention.Even though the number of exhibitors in the main venue has dropped sharply, the attention and popularity of the crypto industry has remained unabated.
However, perhaps it is precisely because of the high attention of Bitcoin Asia events that the guests’ speeches at the venue are more concise. For example, Zhao Changpeng’s speech at the border meeting held by the University of Hong Kong has output more critical and constructive opinions on Hong Kong’s current policies than what he said at the Bitcoin Aisa venue.
According to the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission executive director Ye Zhiheng and Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang have withdrawn from Bitcoin Asia’s activities because they received instructions not to contact Eric Trump, the son of US President Trump.
This may also show that Hong Kong, on the one hand, hopes to embrace encryption as a financial center to attract more industries and capital to land.But on the other hand, it cannot completely get rid of the constraints of the overall environment and is still cautious and restrained in policy expression.Bitcoin Asia’s lively and desertedness is not only a microcosm of the industry cycle, but also a section of Hong Kong’s swaying role in the crypto world.
