GSN CEO says era of crypto ‘Easy money’ is over

The era of “Easy money” in crypto is over, Ryan Kirkley, CEO of blockchain financial infrastructure firm Global Settlement Network (GSN), said in an interview with CoinDesk. Kirkley said projects that raised excessive funding at unrealistic valuations without securing sustainable revenue have recently been shutting down in succession. He added token-based governance and fundraising structures worsened the problem, making it harder for projects to pivot their business direction while encouraging overly optimistic narratives and excessive incentives. In Kirkley’s view, those failures were a disaster foreshadowed during the 2020-2021 fundraising boom. He added the market is now going through a process of separating real crypto demand from hype. Promising areas include stablecoins, neobanks, institutional-grade crypto wallets, and payment and settlement infrastructure, while social tokens, memecoins, and some Web3 gaming segments are likely to face tougher market scrutiny.