New Logic of Web3 Entrepreneurship under the New Global Trade Order

The macro environment is deteriorating - a crisis is forming a new order.

1.1 Finance Begins to Enter the Era of Chaos

Since Trump reassumed the presidency, a series of unexpected economic and political measures have caused ongoing turmoil in global markets. Among them, one of the most shocking moves is the escalation of tariff policies: starting April 5, 2025, the United States will impose a uniform "baseline tariff" of 10% on all imported goods and will impose higher "reciprocal tariffs" on 60 countries, including China and Vietnam (with tariffs on China at one point rising to 125%). In the short term, Trump's tariff hammer has led to significant fluctuations in global markets: U.S. Treasuries faced a wave of selling, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries soared to over 4.5%, marking the largest weekly increase in 20 years; U.S. stocks experienced violent fluctuations, nearly triggering a circuit breaker; the U.S. dollar index fell continuously, posting the largest daily drop in several years. Although the U.S. later announced a temporary suspension of new tariffs on some allied countries to allow for breathing room, investors remain deeply concerned about future uncertainties, and the global financial system seems to have entered a "chaotic era."

The post-World War II international economic system centered around the United States (such as the Bretton Woods system and the WTO framework) is facing the risk of collapse: the rise of emerging economies has weakened the relative advantages of the U.S., and the enormous debts and fiscal deficits accumulated over the years are eroding the credibility of the dollar, with its share in global foreign exchange reserves declining. Particularly since China's accession to the WTO, its rapid development has gradually approached or even surpassed that of the U.S. in many technological fields, triggering deep anxiety among the American elite. Breakthroughs by Chinese companies like Huawei in key technologies such as 5G chip design and communication base stations serve as a warning sign to the U.S.: the once significant technological gap has been rapidly narrowed, putting America's traditional advantages in manufacturing at risk, while a younger generation of Americans is increasingly drawn to fields like finance and the arts, showing less interest in manufacturing. This series of changes signifies that the old order on which U.S. hegemony relies is beginning to fray.

Against this backdrop, the US decision-makers have begun to brew the construction of a new trade and financial order to maintain its global dominance. The strategic goal of the Trump administration is not only to negotiate better terms in trade talks but also to "start anew"—by establishing a new rule system to re-establish the central position of the United States. This contains two aspects of intention: first, to strike at major competitors and weaken the momentum of countries like China that are rapidly rising by leveraging existing globalization dividends; second, to seek new value anchoring, providing new support for the shaken credit of the dollar and global trade. In this line of thinking, the traditional credit of the dollar needs stronger backing, and the United States has begun to turn its attention to assets such as gold and Bitcoin, hoping to rebuild the trust foundation of the global financial system.

It is worth noting that since Trump took office, the U.S. government's attitude towards the cryptocurrency sector has undergone a significant shift. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump publicly expressed concern about the development of virtual currencies, reversing his previous critical stance on Bitcoin. Some factions within the Republican Party and certain state governments have gradually embraced Bitcoin in recent years, viewing it as "digital gold" to hedge against the risks of the dollar. It can be said that the U.S. is positioning itself in advance for a potential new financial order, incorporating Bitcoin into its national strategic vision.

1.2 Bitcoin and Gold: The New "Double Anchor" of the US Dollar

As global trade and financial rules face reconstruction, the United States attempts to create a new credit foundation for the dollar with "dual asset anchoring": this includes traditional gold reserves as well as emerging Bitcoin reserves. This strategy aims to strengthen the credibility of the dollar in the new order through the combination of physical assets and digital assets.

Gold has long been widely held by central banks as a means of storing value, and the gold reserves of the U.S. Treasury (stored at the famous Fort Knox) are an important card in the dominance of the U.S. dollar. Today, Bitcoin is being endowed with a similar strategic status—regarded as the "digital gold" of the new era. By the end of 2024, Bitcoin's total market value is expected to be around $2 trillion, which is only about one-tenth of gold's market value (approximately $20 trillion). From a long-term potential perspective, if Bitcoin's market value one day reaches parity with gold, its price still has several times the growth potential. It is precisely because of this growth potential, along with Bitcoin's unique advantages of decentralization, limited issuance (21 million coins), and high liquidity, that the U.S. is beginning to seriously consider incorporating it into the national reserve system.

In March 2025, the U.S. government made a series of significant moves in the cryptocurrency sector: On March 6, President Trump signed an executive order announcing the establishment of a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" and a "U.S. Digital Asset Reserve." The following day, the White House held a high-profile cryptocurrency summit, inviting industry giants such as certain trading platforms and companies, as well as members of Congress and officials. Trump publicly expressed his support for the development of the cryptocurrency industry at the summit, promising to push Congress to quickly pass legislation regarding stablecoins and the regulatory framework for digital assets to provide a clear legal environment. Even more noteworthy, Trump stated at the summit: "Establishing a Bitcoin reserve is like establishing a virtual Fort Knox"—in other words, the U.S. intends to view the Bitcoin reserve as the gold in the treasury of the digital age. This statement marks the formal entry of Bitcoin into the national strategic level of the United States, granting it a status similar to that of gold.

This series of actions indicates that the United States intends to use Bitcoin alongside gold as anchor assets for a new financial system. In practice, the U.S. government has already held a considerable amount of Bitcoin reserves (mainly from sources like law enforcement seizures) and plans to further increase its holdings. Market rumors suggest a target of accumulating control over approximately 1 million Bitcoins (accounting for 5% of the total supply), a scale close to the proportion of the U.S. official gold reserves in the global gold market. Although this goal has not yet been fully realized, the trend is already evident: some U.S. state governments have even taken the lead by approving the purchase of Bitcoin for reserves using public funds; at the federal level, executive orders and legislative proposals are being introduced to "legitimize" Bitcoin. If the U.S. dollar can partially anchor to physical gold and digital gold (Bitcoin) in the future, supplemented by blockchain technology to establish a new international clearing system, then the U.S. is expected to seize the initiative in future global financial competitions and extend the vitality of the dollar system.

Of course, the inclusion of Bitcoin also helps the United States solve its own problems. For example, the massive national debt burden that the U.S. government carries is becoming increasingly heavy, leading to a credit crisis. If the U.S. controls enough Bitcoin reserves and drives up its price in the future, it could cleverly mitigate debt risks by selling part of its reserves to fill the debt black hole. This idea of "using crypto assets to dilute debt" has become a new vision in America's financial strategy. At the same time, the U.S. is also intensifying its efforts in digital currency regulation: a recent bill proposed to bring stablecoins with a circulation exceeding $10 billion under the Federal Reserve's oversight, indicating that the U.S. wants to control the issuance rights and rule-making power of crypto dollars (USD stablecoins) to consolidate the dollar's dominant position in the crypto world. Dollar stablecoins + gold + Bitcoin, together outline the embryonic form of a new order for the dollar—maintaining the dollar's legal status while being supported by physical and digital assets, thereby enhancing its risk resistance.

Market environment adjustment and "what is suitable to do in the second half"

In the past year, the global crypto market has undergone a dramatic shift from frenzy to calm. The total market capitalization of crypto assets has fallen from a historic peak of around $3.71 trillion to about $3.04 trillion (data source: a data platform, data date: 2025.04.23), and the market has entered a stage of deep corrections and clearing. Macroeconomic turmoil (such as rising inflation and interest rates) combined with stricter regulations has caused many projects lacking real value support to vanish during this round of adjustments. However, for entrepreneurs who firmly believe in the long-term value of blockchain, this moment is actually the best time to build a foundation, gather strength, and nurture new opportunities—the bubble from the last cycle has burst, making it a great opportunity to refine products quietly and accumulate strength to stand out.

In such a "second half" environment, entrepreneurs should consider: what is suitable for the second half? Simple traffic strategies are no longer sustainable; instead, the entrepreneurial logic revolves around core value. In the current market environment, the following directions hold new opportunities:

• Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem: Financial innovations around the Bitcoin network ("BTC Fi"), infrastructure upgrades, and the reconstruction of real assets and payment networks based on BTC.

• Other public chain ecosystems: Innovations that return to efficiency and the essence of profitability on certain public chains, breaking away from simply "competing for traffic", creating sustainable decentralized finance (DeFi) and other applications with a product-oriented approach.

• Real World Assets (RWA) and Payment Finance (PayFi): Combining on-chain technology with real assets and payment scenarios to develop new models supported by stable cash flows.

• Cryptocurrency Concept Stocks: Pay attention to the rise of "blockchain concept stocks" in traditional capital markets, as well as the new path towards stock market listing for Web3 startups.

Next, we will analyze the above ideas and explore the specific entrepreneurial opportunities worth paying attention to during the macro pullback period.

2.1 Entrepreneurial Opportunities Surrounding BTC: BTC Fi, BTC Infra, BTC RWA & PayFi

Despite Bitcoin being regarded as "digital gold" for a long time, its mainnet functions are relatively simple. However, a series of recent technological and application advancements are injecting new vitality into the Bitcoin ecosystem. Around the BTC network, we see three major entrepreneurial opportunities:

• BTC Fi (Bitcoin Finance): Creating new types of financial assets on the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin is no longer just a static store of value; it is evolving into a foundational platform for issuing various financial assets. The recent rise of protocols like BRC-20 and Runes has sparked a wave of token asset issuance on the BTC mainnet; a protocol called Taproot Assets (TA Protocol) launched by a company has made it possible to issue stablecoins, bonds, and other financial assets within the Bitcoin ecosystem. This means that the Bitcoin mainnet is expected to undertake more value-bearing functions in the next cycle, upgrading from "digital gold" to a value storage network that supports a rich variety of assets. Representative projects such as certain projects focus on building decentralized financial services like lending, trading, and derivatives on the Bitcoin network, driving the leap in BTC financing and asset issuance capabilities.

• BTC Infra (Bitcoin Infrastructure): Reshaping the intelligent infrastructure on Bitcoin. To compensate for the shortcomings of BTC's native functionalities, the industry is trying to create a smart contract layer for Bitcoin similar to that of certain public chains. One approach is to develop EVM-compatible Bitcoin sidechains or Layer 2s (such as BTC L2 with certain public chain smart contract capabilities) to expand the DApp development space of the BTC network. Another approach involves solutions native to the Bitcoin protocol family, such as the RGB protocol and the Lightning Network, which are Bitcoin-native Layer 2 technologies focusing more on improving privacy, scalability, and payment efficiency, creating a lightweight and cost-effective on-chain execution layer for the BTC mainnet. Representative projects such as certain projects, certain projects, certain projects, etc., focus on building Bitcoin's Layer 2, middleware tools, and enhancing Bitcoin's development ecosystem and scalability.

• BTC-Powered RWA & PayFi: Unlocking the potential of Bitcoin in the realm of real-world assets and payments. RWA based on the Bitcoin network is gradually emerging, such as the tokenization of U.S. Treasuries and physical assets, with Bitcoin providing a globally verifiable settlement mechanism as a settlement layer, endowing such assets with a highly credible value anchoring. Meanwhile, the "PayFi" model, which relies on payment infrastructures like the Lightning Network, brings Bitcoin back to the payment stage— for example, by integrating AI Agents with Bitcoin micropayments, enabling real-time small payments between machines and between people and machines, providing efficient payment solutions for scenarios such as SaaS services and data exchange. A representative project focuses on enhancing the practical application of Bitcoin in RWA and payment scenarios.