Ken Chan, co-founder of the decentralized trading platform Aevo, has criticized the cryptocurrency industry, likening it to the world's largest 24/7 online casino. Chan expressed regret over spending eight years pursuing libertarian ideals and the cypherpunk spirit, only to find the market driven by speculative investments. He lamented that investors are blindly funding numerous first-layer blockchains, hoping to find the next big success like Solana or Ethereum, leading to inflated market caps for many inactive projects. In response to Chan's remarks, Mason Nystrom of Pantera Capital suggested that if Chan views the crypto space as a casino, he should consider stepping away. Nystrom argued that the cryptocurrency industry is actively building a new financial system with a wide range of applications, countering Chan's critical perspective.