If the cryptocurrency world cannot articulate a narrative that resonates with the fundamental issues of this era, all cryptocurrencies may face zero value. The author, Klickl Deng Di, is the founder of Yuanbao.com and Taiyi Cloud Technology, and one of the early representative practitioners in China's blockchain industry. In 2016, he was named one of the "20 Leading Figures in Fintech" by Global People magazine. He has held numerous important positions, including Executive Director of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Mergers and Acquisitions Association, Director of the Blockchain Professional Committee, and Head of the China Blockchain Delegation to Davos, deeply connecting industry, policy, and academia. He is also the Co-Director of the Artificial Intelligence Fintech Transaction Research Group at the School of Accounting and Finance, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Director of the Shanghai Fintech Museum. He possesses a combined perspective of entrepreneurial practice, industry promotion, and policy discussion, and is one of the few seasoned industry figures who have traversed multiple complete cycles. Ten years ago, a group photo later known as the "Chinese Bitcoin OG Dinner" captured a glimpse of an era. Years later, some of those at the table have long since left, some have become incredibly wealthy and disappeared into obscurity, while others have drifted and struggled amidst the waves of regulation and the market. Time has passed, and Dundee's entrepreneurial focus has shifted overseas, but he continues to search for a foothold that remains valid for his initial dream of "value interconnection." In 2025, a poster for an industry conference featured a confident statement from Dundee: "2025 will be the first year of large-scale application of Web3. In the next decade, Web3 will profoundly change the face of all industries, just like the internet." Just one year later, in an interview with Crypto101, this early architect of the industry spoke with a tone that had lost its declarative optimism, replaced by a calm and pragmatic understanding honed by the industry's repeated trials by reality. Web3, once predicted to usher in its "first year," is now experiencing a global "narrative crisis": funding, talent, and public attention are flowing from "Web3" to "AI" at an unprecedented pace. The notion that "Web3 is dead" is spreading. The grand story that once promised to disrupt everything and reshape production relations appears abstract and pale in comparison to the reality that AI can directly generate videos, create content, and improve productivity. From proclaiming it as the "Year Zero" to analyzing the "crisis," the immense tension of this past year precisely reflects the rapid and brutal changes in this industry. This thinker, who has remained present throughout, has also undergone a profound shift from "preaching" to "diagnosing," and from "announcing the future" to "building the gateway" in the face of overwhelming reality. ### The Life and Death Question of Web3: From "Changing Everything" to Becoming the "Infrastructure" of AI In 2025, he envisions a panoramic view of Web3 permeating everything like the internet.By 2026, his premise had become remarkably clear: all industries today stand in the shadow of the grand narrative of AI. This is not a competition in regional markets, but a complete shift in the global narrative hierarchy. Faced with the "paradise" that AI paints for all humanity, any regional or localized story easily pales in comparison. Dundee believes that the crisis of Web3 is a "positioning crisis"—it must re-answer the question: what is its irreplaceable and unique role in the new AI-dominated world? His answer is: to become an indispensable "value operating system" in the AI era. This is no longer a general statement about changing all industries, but focuses on several specific, essential entry points: Payment and clearing layer: The cross-border use of AI models, the global trading of computing power, and the cross-border flow of digital content require an efficient, programmable payment network that transcends the boundaries of a single sovereign state. This points to the maturity of global stablecoin protocols. Dundee points out that only when a large amount of value resides in the form of stablecoins on a globally open on-chain network will the massive demand for on-chain assets (RWA) naturally explode, thereby rebuilding a completely new, global on-chain financial ecosystem and generating real on-chain GDP. Liquidity infrastructure: The AI industry requires continuous, large-scale, and global capital and resource allocation. Web3's liquidity protocols and asset tokenization can provide more flexible infrastructure. Market-based allocation of computing power and energy: AI's demand for computing power and energy is growing exponentially. Traditional models are inefficient and have high barriers to entry. Web3 can use decentralized protocols to realize the pricing, trading, allocation, and ownership confirmation of computing power and energy. Ownership confirmation of AI assets: The ownership of models, data, training results, and generated content is ambiguous. Web3 returns value to creators through digital identities, on-chain notarization, and token rights. This logic transforms Web3 from "another disruptor" competing with AI into its efficient and reliable "underlying utilities." You can also understand this as an opportunity to "integrate into the global mainstream"—builders can become partners of multinational institutions in "institutional narratives" such as stablecoins and asset tokenization, participating in the upgrading process of global financial infrastructure. ### Ultimate Concern: Beyond the "Silicon-Based Paradise," Solving the Distributional Redemption of "Carbon-Based Civilization" If the above path is the realistic entry point Dundee found, then his discourse on "distribution" represents a deeper philosophical and civilizational exploration, a true leap beyond his optimistic predictions of a year ago. He sharply points out that the biggest problem brought about by AI is not technology, but distribution.Behind the "paradise" may lurk a "hell": "Those who control top-level computing power and capital are on one level, they are in heaven; while a large number of ordinary people worldwide may be sliding into hell." Thus, Dundee anchors WEB3's perhaps most sublime mission in the AI era: AI is responsible for creating "paradise," while WEB3 must provide "redemption" for "carbon-based civilization." Its core value lies in using decentralized, programmable allocation, and distributed rights to counterbalance the injustices brought about by technological monopolies: granting ordinary people digital identities and on-chain assets, establishing their "property rights" in the digital world. It establishes a decentralized market for computing power, data, and creativity, enabling widespread sharing of value and benefits. It constructs a transparent and trustworthy contribution recording system, building a fair bridge between silicon-based civilization and carbon-based humanity. "If Web3 can break through and offer a narrative to solve these problems, then it will truly respond to our era," he said. "This is the core question of how silicon-based species and carbon-based civilizations should coexist." He believes that if the cryptocurrency world cannot articulate a narrative that resonates with the fundamental issues of this era, all cryptocurrencies may face the question of their value dropping to zero. Web3 must answer: In an era where AI is reshaping everything, what is its fundamental reason for existence? ### A Global Thinker's 15 Years From founding Yuanbao.com in 2014 to driving the listing of Taiyi Cloud, and then to exploring digital identity, brand on-chaining, and global architecture construction, Dundee's practices have often been ahead of the market. This foresight has also shaped his positioning as a "thinker." "Don't create a persona. Never create too many personas for yourself," he responded when asked to define himself. This may be the reason why he can calmly complete the profound evolution of his views over a year. He regards his practices and observations across East and West as a "cognitive experimental field," continuously validating his conjectures about the organizational forms of the digital world amidst the waves of the global market and the gaps in diverse regulations. The poster for the 2025 conference, featuring Dundee, heralded the beginning of a new era. In a 2026 interview, Dundee sought a balancing act for a potentially unbalanced global future. His thought process outlines a clear path from grand pronouncements to pragmatic implementation: in the short term, becoming the "payment layer" and "clearing and settlement infrastructure" of the AI era; in the long term, daring to address the most acute "global distribution" problem of the AI era, becoming an institutional innovation that checks and balances technological monopolies and safeguards social resilience. This path lacks the fervor of a "Year Zero" declaration, but is all the more arduous and necessary. It requires practitioners to move beyond the illusion of disrupting everything and enter into the complex, patient, and globally coordinated reality of building a future.As Klickl Dundee observed, "Only when the virtual and real coexist and complement each other on the blockchain can we achieve a harmonious and balanced digital economy." As humanity collectively rushes towards a "paradise" built by algorithms, how to safeguard fairness and humanity with an alternative logic may be the ultimate narrative for WEB3 to navigate cycles and find its value in the AI era. It is also the most profound response from a true industry thinker to the times. [Klickl Dundee]