5 Minutes
Samani’s claim: Web3 is dead, but crypto isn’t
Kyle Samani’s blunt assessment — that “Web3 is dead” and only DeFi and DePIN remain — has reignited an important debate about where blockchain value really lies. The Multicoin co-founder posted the comment on X on June 1, 2026, framing Web3 as a marketing label that has lost its practical meaning while highlighting decentralized finance and decentralized physical infrastructure networks as the sectors still delivering measurable use.
Context: who is Kyle Samani?
Samani is a prominent investor associated with Solana, Helium and other crypto infrastructure plays. Although he stepped back from day-to-day duties at Multicoin earlier in 2026, he remains active in the industry and affiliated with Forward Industries. His view carries weight with builders and institutional watchers who track crypto infrastructure, token economics, and market adoption.
What Samani means by DeFi and DePIN
DeFi — decentralized finance — encompasses blockchain-native financial services: lending, trading, automated market makers, stablecoins, custody solutions and composable protocols. DeFi’s value proposition is permissionless access to financial primitives that can run without traditional intermediaries.
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What is DePIN?
DePIN stands for decentralized physical infrastructure networks. These projects link real-world hardware and services — wireless networks, distributed storage, edge computing, IoT sensors and similar infrastructure — to blockchain-based token incentives. Instead of only building digital apps and communities, DePIN aims to align token economics with tangible goods and services in the real world.
Why these sectors still matter
Samani’s argument is not that crypto is finished; rather, he suggests that the broad Web3 branding no longer explains where real value is emerging. DeFi continues to show clear on-chain utility: liquidity, programmable financial contracts, and novel settlement rails. DePIN, meanwhile, bridges blockchain economics with physical infrastructure, creating measurable, revenue-driven use cases rather than purely speculative token communities.
Recent market research supports this focus. Large banks and analysts cite tokenization, stablecoins and asset-backed products as the next phase of on-chain growth, while mature DeFi protocols are positioned to handle increased institutional flows and tokenized asset activity.
Market signals: tokenization, ETFs and stablecoins
Institutional interest in crypto has shifted product mix toward regulated instruments: ETFs, tokenized assets and dollar stablecoins. Standard Chartered and other firms have projected significant growth in tokenized assets by 2028, and many expect regulated on-ramps to lean on DeFi plumbing to provide settlement, liquidity, and custody services as token markets mature.
TradFi’s role and the identity debate
StarkWare CEO and Zcash co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson has warned that crypto faces an identity pressure as institutional players enter while some early crypto veterans depart. That tension reflects real trade-offs: TradFi participation brings liquidity, compliance and distribution power, but also challenges the countercultural narrative of self-custody and open networks that defined early crypto.
For builders, the core question becomes practical: can crypto projects prove useful in real markets? Samani’s post argues that finance and infrastructure provide the clearest answers, whereas the more nebulous promises once associated with Web3 have failed to scale into universal product-market fit.
What this means for developers, investors, and users
- Developers should prioritize on-chain utility that maps to measurable real-world outcomes — financial primitives, interoperability, and infrastructure tokens that pay for concrete services.
- Investors will increasingly evaluate protocols on revenue models, regulatory clarity, and measurable adoption rather than hype around broad Web3 narratives.
- Users benefit when tokens align with usable services: cheaper settlement, more resilient networks, or new infrastructure capacity paid via native token economics.
Conclusion: focus on measurable value
The debate over whether Web3 is dead is ultimately semantic. What matters for crypto’s next phase is demonstrable utility. DeFi and DePIN currently offer the most concrete pathways to on-chain value: programmable finance and tokenized infrastructure that can be measured, monetized, and scaled. As institutional capital and tokenization projects expand, the industry will likely keep testing which on-chain models survive in real markets — and which labels fade with time.
Source: crypto
Comments
Armin
Finally someone said it! Web3 was a buzzword balloon, DePIN actually touches things, DeFi moves money - curious how TradFi will change the game, regulators incoming 🤔
coinpilot
Is Web3 really dead or just the marketing? Samani onto something - DeFi + DePIN show measurable use, but community apps still exist, imo we re just pruning hype
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