Young people who choose Web3 want a different way of life.

Written by: angelilu, Foresight News

Kassy interned at a state-owned enterprise for a while when she was an undergraduate in China, and she commented:

“If I continue to do this kind of work after graduation, I can already imagine what it will be like ten, twenty, or thirty years later.” She said.

“I just think this kind of life is quite boring.”

This May, while studying in Sydney, she and a friend took over the school's cryptocurrency club and organized their first Web3-related event. She considers that day to be her entry into the industry. She is now in her second year of graduate school, majoring in electrical engineering—which was chosen by her family.

I reached out to her to ask one question: Why now? Why Web3?

Over the past year, Web3 hiring has declined, projects have shut down, and money has flowed to other places. According to Tiger Research statistics, there are only about 2,932 active crypto positions worldwide in the first half of 2026, and over 40 companies have laid off a total of more than 7,000 people since 2026. Foresight News reported that 41 Web3 projects were shut down in the first half of 2026.

In the last bull market, most people who entered the industry were attracted by the myth of the benefits of crypto; some quit their jobs and gambled everything, while others used an airdrop to make a down payment...

What allure does Web3 hold in a bear market? This article speaks with four ordinary young people in Web3 who have been in the industry for about a year, discussing their reasons for entering the field.

When I Realized What I Didn’t Want

Whether in the past or now, Kassy, like most people entering the field, seeks “an interesting life.”

Kassy says she doesn’t like “the major chosen by her family,” nor does she like “sitting at a desk”; she has believed since childhood that working from home is an ideal way to earn money.

Andrew, a fellow student pursuing a master’s in architectural design in Melbourne, answered very directly when asked about his major: “I really dislike it, to be honest.”

“Architectural design is closely related to real estate. As everyone knows, real estate is currently in a downward cycle, whether in China or globally.” He said, “And the pay isn’t that great. In the design industry, it’s all about seniority, the older you are, the more desirable you become. So the only way for young people to get promoted in this field is to bide their time and work on projects.”

“This creates a crowded pathway, and there are many older, more traditional individuals who often give lectures and tend to hold conventional views. I don’t like this dogmatic atmosphere.”

Another student, Roxannie, who just graduated this year, is equally pessimistic about her major; she studies new media with a focus on design. “The design direction I’m studying is more front-end,” she said, “and under the impact of AI, front-end jobs are the most easily replaceable.”

She now works in Shenzhen at a project called VoxMarket, a predictive market in the esports vertical, comparable to Polymarket, focusing solely on gaming predictions. She has been in the industry for just over a month.

Another respondent, Lynn, has been out of school for a while and switched careers. Lynn's dislikes are more specific. Previously, she worked as a data analyst at a medium-sized internet company in China with two to three years of experience.

“Many jobs in China are concentrated in high-tech zones or industrial parks; when it’s time to work, everyone rushes to the same place.” She says, commuting takes two hours round trip, with one trip in the morning and another in the evening, and taking the subway is exhausting. Besides commuting, there’s overtime, a stifling atmosphere with hundreds of people in the office, office politics, and clocking in.

“I found it very annoying.” In May of last year, she resigned. In August, she decided to enter Web3 and landed her first job in mid-September.

The four newcomers are in different scenarios but express the same sentiment in different versions. It turns out that path is uninteresting.

Can Web3 offer these newcomers an interesting life?

Kassy: Web3 is My Choice

Having previously organized events during her undergraduate years, when a friend’s club reached out to her to organize crypto-related activities, she took less than a week to agree, even though, at that time, Web3 was just a concept to her—a term used by a friend, along with some jargon she didn’t yet understand. But her status as a “student” gave her a chance to try things out, igniting her passion for exploring a new industry.

Kassy recalls the day she defined as her first day in the industry—the day she successfully organized the crypto event at school, where many people working in Web3 in Sydney attended. There were more professionals than students, including Chinese, Caucasians, and Indians. She said it was the first day she felt a “real sense” of the industry.

The first crypto event Kassy participated in organizing

Can a small act of “rebellion” be accepted by her family? Kassy said her mother was initially quite against it, but her aunt in the finance industry, who is familiar with various trends, was rather excited when she heard that Kassy was doing this club, “She even often asks me for advice, and slowly my mom came to accept it.”

“A catalyst for my entry this year was that I was really hurt by the big A.” Kassy laughed, “So I thought I’d change my focus.” She had been trading stocks and funds for five years since her undergraduate years, so she adapted quickly to trading-related spheres.

She believes trading coins is also a form of financial management, albeit riskier than stocks and funds, “So I wasn’t very bold in my initial investments; I only used a portion of capital that was within my risk control range.”

But Kassy only buys spot. “I find futures uninteresting.” She has never claimed an airdrop nor invested in meme coins on the blockchain. She considers herself a “more conservative” person, and her recent interests are shifting toward quantitative arbitrage.

“As for trading, I think I’ll let those professional traders handle it.”

Besides club activities, she is applying for her first internship. Although interested in trading, she believes AI’s role in trading may increase. Therefore, she leans toward working in marketing, “because I prefer interacting with people.”

I asked her if she would stay in the industry full-time after graduation. She said, “Honestly, if you asked me a month ago, I would have said one hundred percent.”

The twenty percent change relates to a specific person. “Because I have a friend who recently joined an exchange.” She said, “I sense that his job intensity is very high, which gave me some hesitation.”

But she still scored her enthusiasm for the industry a 95, the highest among the four respondents. “Maybe it’s because I just entered the industry, and I feel high enthusiasm for everything.”

Andrew: Higher Pay is Fine

Andrew is also a student; he defines his entry time as about a year ago.

Last July and August, he saw the United States pass the GENIUS Act, and friends in his circle involved in Web3 were sharing news about it. He felt that under favorable policy conditions, this could be a promising direction, so he started considering it.

He also spent his own money to attend Token2049 in Singapore last year and went to an industry conference held in Sydney. He said, “I just wanted to go to broaden my horizons and learn something.”

Andrew took this photo at the Token2049 in Singapore in 2025

When he decided to enter the industry, he chose to “pay tuition,” seeking a research platform, first purchasing an entry-level course, and later buying a membership to read research reports one by one. At first, he couldn’t understand much. “It felt like I was looking at a bunch of gibberish.” Fortunately, he could ask AI about many things he didn’t understand, and slowly he was able to comprehend more and more.

I asked him if he felt the tuition was worth it. “Quite worth it,” he replied. “On one hand, I established a solid foundation of knowledge; on the other hand, I also produced and shared my research findings as a contributing author for this platform, publishing two research reports.”

Compared to a few years ago when newcomers had to struggle through white papers, the development of AI has lowered the entry barriers to Web3.

After entering the industry, Andrew’s first impression was that it was a mixed bag; he encountered situations where he was “almost exploited,” “Their BD brought us in and then PUAed us, saying there was no salary, and that this opportunity was for you to work and learn, and we should learn to cherish it.” He quickly realized something was off and slipped away.

I asked Andrew if he would choose Web3 again for his first official job. “As long as the pay is high, that’s fine.” he said honestly.

Andrew also trades, focusing mainly on US stocks, and has bought options, trying both spot and futures with cryptocurrency. But he has set a rule for himself: no single position should exceed three to five percent of the funds he has at the exchange and every transaction has a preset profit and loss limit.

He has tried meme trading, using “a very small portion of money,” because he knows that he is not good at the fast, emotional short-game. “So it later confirmed that I indeed didn’t make money on memes.”

He scores his enthusiasm for this industry a 70.

In the end, I asked him what options he would consider if he didn’t choose this field.

His first alternative is AI; he is currently collaborating with several partners to operate a fintech community, successfully connecting with some AI startups and hosting related events.

His second option is casual: “If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll just go back to my old profession and resume drawing architecture.”

In contrast, another partner in this community has been in the crypto industry for ten years; he has a completely different perspective from the newcomers. Howard, who is thirty this year, has worked as a back-end engineer for an NFT exchange and as a VC researcher for a year. He said that the money for studying abroad was earned in the crypto space, and he experienced the collapse of FTX, losing millions in the process.

I asked him who he thinks has better opportunities in this industry, younger people versus those around his age.

“The crypto space is very attention-driven. We are no longer Gen Z. How can we communicate to attract more people's attention? I believe that’s something their generation excels at.”

Roxannie: Improving Every Day

Roxannie’s parents think she works as a designer at a design company.

“I didn’t tell them this; otherwise, they would definitely think I joined a scam organization.” She said.

This is her first job. When asked about her reasons for entering the field, she listed three:

First is the money. Before graduating, a friend of hers made money buying coins, which made her start to pay attention to this industry. “After all, making money is the primary motive.”

Secondly, she enjoys not having to clock in. She does not like rushing to the office early only to sit at her desk before she is fully in the zone.

Lastly, timing. She feels that projects that survive in a bear market will have better opportunities in a bull market.

But when asked about the happiest thing in the past month, she gave a different answer.

“I’m improving every day.” She said. Compared to a month ago, she feels she has grown a lot, even faster than friends who work in traditional industries.

This kind of progress often relies on self-exploration.

“No one assigns you tasks; you have to learn on your own. It’s more like self-study.”

She learned much more than she had expected in just over a month.

First, she created an account. The company encouraged her to do so, and many colleagues are influential figures. She aimed her content at outsiders wanting to understand Web3: since information online is scattered, she took charge of organizing it to help them get started.

After doing it for a while, she concluded one experience:

“In the early stages of account creation, you need to view yourself as a tool. Don’t post too many personal opinions; in fact, no one will pay attention to that.”

She understands that this account is also her “social business card.” Web3 operates globally, and in the future, when she participates in overseas events, people may first know her through Twitter. The content of the account and the number of followers will influence whether others are willing to trust and communicate with her.

Shortly after entering the industry, Roxannie began attending in-person events in Hong Kong. Her most direct impression of these events is that they are lively, large-scale, and interesting. The industry she had previously encountered online started to take on an offline form.

Roxannie took this photo at BitcoinAsia in Hong Kong

However, maintaining this business card also brings burdens.

“When you approach this with a purpose, it creates pressure,” she said, “there’s anxiety about traffic as well as topic selection.”

Secondly, remembering people is crucial. “You can’t be face-blind and work in BD.”

She noticed that some people take selfies when meeting and keep the photos; after some time they may greet each other online to maintain the connection.

When it comes to meeting for the second time but not recognizing the other person, “They’ll deduct a few points from you in their mind.” To her, this is a small yet significant detail.

Roxannie with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao

Additionally, she has to differentiate messages. When facing those who flaunt profits or call out trading signals, she begins to tread cautiously.

“Some people don’t even trade themselves; they just flaunt profits to scam you.”

A while ago, when Bitcoin surged, she felt an itch to delve into it and asked a more experienced person. The other person reminded her not to just focus on the profits but also consider how harsh the losses could be.

In trading, she buys spot, having played with some meme tokens on the blockchain but has never engaged in futures.

However, her caution in trading hasn’t changed her plans to continue in the industry.

“Once you choose a field, focus on that field.” She said she doesn’t like switching back and forth between Web3 and Web2. She believes in the underlying logic of this industry and repeatedly emphasizes that trading coins is only part of Web3; decentralization is the concept she values.

As for AI, she also has her own judgment. Compared to traditional industries, she feels her current work is less affected.

“My job is BD, and BD cannot be replaced by AI. Every industry requires interpersonal connections.”

At the end of the interview, I asked her to rate her passion for this industry out of a hundred.

“I’ll give it a 60 for now.”

She added, “If I make money, I could give it an 89.”

She laughed, looking forward to earning her first pot of gold.

Lynn: Just No Commuting Left

Last August, after deciding to enter this field, the first thing Lynn did was enroll in a class.

“It was really very, very terrible; I just wasted a bit of money.” She said, “Fortunately, it wasn’t much, about four thousand yuan.”

Eight classes covered topics like what Bitcoin is, what blockchain is, and what L1 is. She didn’t understand a single class.

“The terms they talked about were things you don’t know in Web2,” she said, “completely unimaginative terms.”

The position she originally wanted was a data analyst—something she could transition into one-to-one. She researched DeFiLlama and Dune but couldn’t understand: cold wallets, hot wallets, tracking wallet addresses, and large holders. She has no financial background, “I’m a complete novice.”

She applied for dozens of jobs. The reason for rejection was always the same. “You have no work experience,” she laughed.

Lynn has changed jobs three times this year.

She said her first job was helping a project that wanted to sell NFTs to acquire customers on Xiaohongshu, gaining two to three hundred people in a month, and she left after completing a month—“I felt that platform was quite similar to Web2, with a lot of social dynamics involved, which I didn’t like.” Her second job started as an intern and ended as an operations director. In June of this year, she switched to her current company.

Now she works remotely for a public chain with hours aligned to the New York timezone. Her income is double that of her previous job in tech.

But the remote life she had envisioned hasn’t materialized.

“I don’t feel it's easier than working offline.” She said. Work and life blur together; there aren’t many moments of traveling with a computer in hand; it often ends up being “either the living room or the bed.”

She recalls her first experience attending an offline crypto conference, candidly stating that it was “demystifying.”

Before setting out, she saved many surrounding activities on the event platform Luma, and the descriptions were very appealing. However, when she sat down to listen, she found much of the content was quite general, similar to opinions she’d heard while casually following the industry. If the goal was just to hear those discussions, the ticket costing over 700 Canadian dollars wouldn’t be worth it.

Lynn at her first offline crypto conference

The two-day agenda was not exactly easy. During the day, she was at the venue, and at night, she returned to continue meetings and handle work, one day staying up until dawn and rushing to the conference again the next morning. Holding the mindset of “now that I'm here,” she packed her schedule full.

But she still found value in the offline interactions. Previously only knowing the project’s official website and official accounts, after meeting in person, she finally knew whom to contact for future collaborations. However, adding contact information doesn’t equate to genuine collaboration. She still intends to participate in high-quality events but will no longer impulsively buy tickets based solely on event pages and guest lists.

After attending conferences, she faces uncertainty in her daily work.

“You have to be mentally prepared for constant job searching,” she said, “because you never know when a project will ‘run away’ or when layoffs will happen.” She knows some peers who work two jobs simultaneously.

She described her state as that of a “groundhog”: always on alert, wondering whether today’s job might disappear, wondering if she should find another one. After finding a job, it’s also hard to take a breather.

I asked her for a score on her passion for the industry.

“Just barely passing.”

Having worked for a year, she feels that Web3 jobs have gradually lost their unfamiliarity. Although the terminology differs, many methods used in operations and planning are quite similar. To earn a higher salary, she has to compete for those demanding, highly competitive positions.

She has started looking towards operations jobs in fields like AI. She worries that opportunities in Web3 are dwindling, and that her existing work experience would be limited should she transition back to traditional industries.

“So even now, I’m seeking opportunities, hoping to step out of Web3. If I find a better job in Web2 or another industry that offers more value than my current Web3 job, I would definitely switch without hesitation.”

Looking back, I asked her if she has any regrets. “I don’t regret it.” She said.

“Because Web3 allows me to work remotely, I can escape commuting and achieve geographical arbitrage.”

Interview Notes

After the interview, I compiled the enthusiasm scores of the four individuals: Kassy scored 95, Andrew scored 70, Roxannie scored 60, and Lynn said “just barely passing.” The two students still in school gave higher scores than the two who are already working full-time. Among these four individuals, the freshness of exploring a new industry stands in contrast to the feeling of relying on it for livelihood.

All four have touched cryptocurrency, albeit in differing fashions. Kassy only buys spot without engaging in futures; Roxannie buys spot and has tried meme coins; Andrew has played with both spot and futures but controls his positions with preset limits; Lynn holds minimal Bitcoin and Ethereum, buying and holding. While making money is undeniably a part of the allure, their narratives encompass aspects beyond trading—job hunting, content creation, event organization, and networking.

They do not seem to fit the mold of typical tech geeks or fervent traders, yet it is evident that Web3 has woven itself into their lives in the form of “a specific job.” Invitations to join clubs, projects looking for BDs, or platforms seeking research authors allow individuals to partake in the work before gradually understanding the technological concepts. Engaging with the industry no longer necessitates a strong technical endorsement as a starting point.

These four samples may not represent all newcomers, but they clarify some specific reasons for entering the field: less commuting, more autonomy, exposure to a broader world, and opportunities arising from self-taught skills. Kassy and Andrew study in Australia while organizing club activities, Lynn works remotely from abroad, and Roxannie in Shenzhen manages accounts for a global business. For a few of them, this signifies a more flexible arrangement between work and residence, with future paths not necessarily bound to their original fields.

These changes come with real costs. Roxannie has to figure out how to effectively conduct BD while also facing pressures of traffic and topic selection; Lynn has escaped commuting but finds her work and life blending together, constantly on the lookout for the next job opportunity. Freedom has been partially realized, yet concerns around income and future prospects persist.

Upon reflection, I believe the question “What makes Web3 interesting?” can be assessed on a more daily level. Making money, growing, meeting people, and arranging life freely are desires that hold true in any industry. However, for these young people, Web3 has shown them another possibility of realization. They are willing to give it a try and are assessing through their own experiences how much of that potential can materialize.

Kassy doesn't wish to see thirty years ahead, and Lynn is already in search of a better-suited job. One seeks to continue exploring while another prepares to pivot elsewhere, yet both want to retain their choices. After our conversation, I felt that besides the trends and technologies, how an industry allows these young people to work and live merits serious discussion.