In December 2017, I wrote my first blog piece titled “Are we in a cryptocurrency bubble? A comparison with the Dotcom bubble” discussing why I thought crypto was in a bubble and what the potential consequences would be.

Three years and one bear market later, we’re beginning to hear cries of a DeFi bubble, with many wondering whether last Thursday really was the top. In this daily, I’ll analyse some of the similarities with 2017, and explain why I don’t think this past Thursday was anywhere near the top.

Speculation: Crypto’s Killer App

Speculation is arguably crypto’s first killer app. The ICO boom was only the most extreme example of this, but crypto’s history is dotted with boom and bust cycles, dating back to Namecoin which in late 2013 underwent its second bubble, rising from $0.6 to $15 in less than a month. Later on in 2014, projects like Mastercoin, Maidsafe and others underwent similar dynamics.

Ethereum dramatically simplified both the ease of conducting these sales as well as the number of use cases that could credibly be built. As such, it was speculation on steroids.

Projects from spaces as far out as the dentistry industry scrambled to come up with contrived ways to add so-called “utility tokens” to their ecosystems (or as Gregory Rocco so aptly put it: futility tokens), with investors tripping over themselves to buy them. Despite their futility, these tokens soared, prompting more projects and more investors to join the industry until the inevitable bust came.

While the recent food coi