We're living through crypto's dot-com moment right now. That much is clear. But there's a critical difference: during the dot-com bubble, you were buying equity in actual companies. Even the worst performers had assets, infrastructure, revenue attempts. In crypto, most tokens are like penny stocks without the stock. No equity, no cash flows, no residual value if the narrative fails. The market structure itself is fundamentally different. Here's what most people miss: a protocol can succeed AND the token can still go to zero if there's no value accrual mechanism. Adoption ≠ token value. This is the insight the market is only now pricing in. The exceptions exist. $ETH burns fees, $BNB captures exchange revenue, $CC has burn/mint equilibrium tied to actual network usage, some DeFi protocols distribute actual fees. But they're a small minority in a sea of pure speculation vehicles. The world just figured this out. This doesn't mean crypto can't reinvent itself. Speculation cycles return. Liquidity flows back. But the 6-12 month question isn't if new narratives emerge. It's which projects will have built real value capture mechanisms when liquidity returns, versus which are just waiting for the next greater fool. The distinction matters now more than ever.