“I AM NOT building a new financial system. I built a casino.” This sharp acknowledgment from Ken Chan, former co-founder of the Aevo derivatives protocol, is making waves across Asian crypto communities this week.

What started as a post on X has now crossed language barriers, being presented to Chinese communities by local news media and widely shared among Korean traders, garnering millions of views along the way.

From Ayn Rand to Disillusionment: A Libertarian's Journey through Crypto

Chan's acknowledgment is not just criticism — it unfolds a personal ideology. He describes himself as a "full-eyed libertarian" who donated money to Gary Johnson's presidential campaign in 2016 after being radicalized by Ayn Rand's novels. The ethos of Bitcoin's cyberpunk directly speaks to this worldview. "The ability to cross the border with a billion dollars in mind is and always will be a powerful idea for me," he writes.

Nevertheless, eight years of experience in the industry have undermined this idealism. Chan recounts how the Layer 1 wars — the flow of capital into Aptos, Sui, Sei, ICP, and many others — have not produced any significant progress in creating a new financial system. Instead, it has "literally burned everyone's money" in the quest to become the next Solana. His verdict is ruthless: "We don’t need to build a Casino on Mars."

According to his LinkedIn profile, Chan left Aevo in May of this year. His personal website states that he is currently working on KENSAT, a personal satellite project. It is scheduled to launch on Falcon 9 in June 2026. His acknowledgment comes six months after his departure. It occurs while the AEVO token is trading at about 45 million dollars in fully diluted market capitalization — having fallen approximately 99% from its peak.

The "Casino" metaphor lands against a backdrop of market fatigue

Chan's central metaphor — that crypto has become "the largest, online, multiplayer casino 24/7 that our generation has ever invented" — penetrates through the technical complexity with vivid clarity.

Timelines enhance the message. After the market turbulence in October and ongoing volatility, participants across the region are facing fatigue. Chinese media characterized the viral spread as a reflection of "collective anxiety amid a liquidity shortage and a vacuum of narratives."

Responses in Chinese were mixed. Some sharply retorted: "The same eight years — some reach the top, others leave the stage. Wasting time is your own problem." Others went further than Chan himself, with one commentator writing: "The entire crypto circle is foolish, without exception. After more than a decade, what blockchain product has the average person actually used?"

Korean responses reflected similar fatigue. "Aside from stablecoins, there’s no real use case," noted one trader. Another was more blunt: "At the bottom of crypto, there’s no one creating new value for society — just scammers buzzing to suck money from retail investors."

Generational anxiety finds a voice across borders

Perhaps most striking is Chan's warning that the "toxic mentality" of the industry will lead to a long-term collapse of social mobility for youth. This concern resonates deeply in East Asian societies. Traditional pathways to wealth — real estate, stable employment — are becoming increasingly inaccessible. Crypto promised an alternative; Chan suggests it may exacerbate the problem.

Korean analyst KKD Whale offered parallel reflections without directly addressing Chan's post. "The era when one could stand alone with just one core skill is coming to an end," he wrote, recalling a talented colleague who could compress eight hours of work into one but never deepened his expertise. The skill has become obsolete; the person has left.

While Chan questions what the industry has built, KKD Whale questions what individuals within it have accumulated. Both arrive at the same troubling conclusion.

Chan concludes with a quote from CMS Holdings: "Do you want to make money or do you want to be right?" His answer: "This time I choose to be right."

Six months after leaving the project he built, and with AEVO trading for a fraction of its former value, the question remains: Is this clarity of retrospect or the convenience of exit? The viral journey of his acknowledgment suggests that many others are asking themselves the same question.

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