"Entrepreneur's Confession: Why I Abandoned Web3 Payments" (Author: Yokiiiya) — A serial entrepreneur, after on-the-ground research and building an MVP, chose to "stop pursuing Web3 payments." The core insight is that this is not an industry where "building a good product wins," as payments compete not on features, but on banking relationships, licenses, capital efficiency, and long-term risk control capabilities.

The article frankly states that many seemingly profitable businesses are essentially earning "risk premiums," and points out that Web3 payments are not a front-end revolution, but rather a "back-end upgrade" involving improved turnover efficiency—a "decades-long engineering project." Although the author sees "structural opportunities" in regions like Latin America and Africa, because "long-term stable banking relationships" and "pressure-resistant structures" and other resource endowments fall outside their capability boundaries, they made a "judgment adjustment" after entering the market. Ultimately, they believe "payments solve liquidity problems" and represent a "gateway" rather than an "endpoint." In the future, they will pivot to exploring what happens after liquidity flows—specifically "where money settles" and higher-barrier capital management systems like asset allocation. Read the full article: