Eowyn Chen on Crypto’s Wild Ride: Decoding Market Cycles, True Decentralization, and When the Masses Finally Get It

Crypto's not dead—it's just reloading. Eowyn Chen, one of the sharpest minds in digital assets, breaks down why boom-bust cycles are crypto's brutal gym membership and how decentralization keeps getting hijacked by 'trust us' middlemen.

Market cycles: Survival of the cringiest

Every four years, crypto reinvents the wheel—and the bubble. Chen unpacks why retail investors keep buying the top (thanks, FOMO) and how institutions now treat Bitcoin like a volatile ETF with extra steps.

Decentralization theater

'Permissionless' networks keep sprouting permissioned backdoors. From validator cartels to VC-controlled tokens, Chen exposes the five-star decentralization we didn't sign up for.

The adoption mirage

Sure, your barber asks about crypto—right before asking for cash. Chen separates real adoption (lightning network in El Salvador) from hype (NFTs of apes doing ape things).

Wake-up call: The next cycle won't save your bad trades. But understanding these forces just might—unless you'd rather blame 'market manipulation' again. (Wall Street veterans are currently laughing into their iced lattes.)

Defining Trends in Crypto Market Cycles

Market cycles in crypto are periods during which certain patterns in price movements and investor sentiment can be observed — whether optimistic or, on the contrary, pessimistic. These cycles are often associated with a four-year timeframe, mainly because of the Bitcoin halving events. Every four years, the block rewards for miners are reduced by 50%, decreasing the amount of new Bitcoin entering the market. This mechanism is widely seen as one of the primary sources that define the market cycle. Within broader market cycles, there are shorter-lived phenomena known as trends or narratives — such as DeFi, NFTs, memecoins, ICOs, play-to-earn games, liquid staking, and more.

As Eowyn Chen noted during the panel, the crypto industry has always been shaped by two underlying cultures: theand the. The computer culture is about building innovative tools like decentralized applications and applying smart contracts across various industries. The casino culture is based on speculation and short-term financial excitement — like trading, memecoins, ICOs, and so on. And in the current cycle, the casino culture clearly dominates.

Many crypto trends follow a similar lifecycle pattern. It often starts with the launch of a bright, attention-grabbing product that sparks a wave — like memecoins, which were originally meant to be just fun. But over time, things often go too far, shifting toward pure speculation and profit-driven behavior. At that point, the trend begins to collapse, and the cycle comes to an end — then something else is created and the process starts over.

“But then when the financial aspects get over the board, it becomes a very pure FORM of PVP — it’s a musical chair who gets to leave early.”

And indeed, this pattern has been seen in previous trends as well. For example, during the massive popularity of ICOs/token sales, the original idea of fundraising eventually turned into a speculation game of “who can exit fastest” by the time the trend ended. This was also evident in the NFT trend in 2021-2022, which faded along with the bear market and was dominated by speculative intent.

What Decentralization Really Offers to Users

Decentralization is often associated with security and sovereignty — the idea that users fully control their crypto assets and interact with them independently. But is decentralization the ultimate goal of crypto products? As Eowyn Chen points out, decentralization is a design principle, not the endgame itself. There are situations where centralized solutions are appropriate and can meet user needs more conveniently.

Another important aspect is that what decentralization truly offers is optionality — the ability for users to choose how much control they want. The degree of decentralization applied depends on the context, the product’s purpose, and the needs of its users.

For us, we choose to build a self-custody wallet because we put ourselves into the context of a world where there are already many custodial solutions. It’s easier to go custodial, but sometimes it’s less secure—especially if you choose custodial in a black swan, extreme moment.

We see self-custody as the most important fundamental individual option users need to keep. Just like—I’m from the US, so I WOULD use the US reference of the Second Amendment about having a gun. Someone might say, “Oh,” but fundamentally, you’re not going to carry your gun every day. But if you live in the countryside, you don’t have a good police force or good security—you want to have your means to still protect yourself.

It’s the same with self-custody. You’ll have lots of banks, great centralized exchanges, great custodians to safeguard you, but there might be moments when things don’t go well. You want to have a last resort, to have self-custody, to be able to still say, “I can be confident this is mine.”

Returning to the optionality that decentralization provides, we can consider another example where users choose convenience at the cost of some control. This is clearly seen in the real-life example of GPS navigation, where users rely on the app to guide their route but lose the ability to memorize it mentally. This choice highlights the Core value of decentralization — giving users the power to decide for themselves. This principle of optionality applies broadly, ensuring people have the freedom to choose what works best for them in different contexts.

The Path to Mass Adoption in Crypto

Mass adoption in crypto means the point at which blockchain technology and digital assets become widely accepted and used by the general public, beyond niche communities and early adopters.

Undoubtedly, while cryptocurrencies are already widely known — with bitcoin ranking among the top ten most capitalized assets in the world and crypto assets increasingly regulated by governments — true mass adoption has still not arrived. In this part of the article, we will explore the key areas of innovation that can bring blockchain technologies closer to achieving mass adoption.

Three Core Angles of Innovation in Crypto

Eowyn Chen highlights three main angles to focus on for driving innovation that leads to mass adoption:

• Technological Change: One of the most important factors currently undergoing numerous changes and experiments. In the example of Trust Wallet, the main task is solving the user experience issue during onboarding, and its resolution will be a key moment for mass adoption.
• User Segmentation Change: For mass adoption, it’s important to reach the level of convenience that users are used to in Web2. Trust Wallet is moving in that direction — for example, with one of its recent updates, FlexGas, which allows users to pay gas fees using stablecoins, TWT and BNB.
• Business Model Change: At the moment, there are innovations that are only possible through blockchain technologies and smart contracts — such as micro-incentives, fair attribution, and real participation in value creation. Progress in this direction will also move crypto closer to mass adoption.

More on Eowyn Chen and Trust Wallet

Eowyn Chen is the CEO of Trust Wallet, the world’s leading non-custodial Web3 wallet with over 200 million users. Trust Wallet offers users the ability to store, buy, and sell cryptocurrencies (supporting over 100 blockchains), as well as interact with the DeFi sector through a simple and user-friendly interface.

Passionate about accelerating crypto adoption on a large scale, Eowyn is dedicated to empowering individuals with financial access and opportunities within the decentralized economy. With a background in growth marketing, product management, and fintech, she has become an important figure in the cryptocurrency industry. Eowyn continues to drive the sector forward by focusing on giving users full control over their digital assets.

Watch the full episode of Proof of Talk 2025 | Trust Wallet | Eowyn Chen’s LinkedIn profile