Move Over, Degens: Clem Chambers Says the Next Bull Run Has a New Darling, and It’s Not Your Sh*tcoin

Crypto bull runs over the past five years have mostly been a glorified casino with better charts—token speculation, meme rallies, and a parade of “100x or delete” CT influencers pointing at altcoins like they’re psychic. But the next cycle? According to Clem Chambers, founder of ADVFN (basically Europe’s OG financial nerd hub), we’re finally graduating from gambling to something resembling actual usefulness. Revolutionary, I know.

Speaking at BeInCrypto’s Markets Intelligence Council, Chambers dropped the kind of truth bomb that makes degen traders clutch their leveraged ETH positions in panic. "That era has probably ended and certainly is coming to an end. And then that will be replaced by use cases," he said, sounding less like a crypto influencer and more like someone who remembers what ‘value’ means. Spoiler: it’s not just price going up because more monkeys are buying.

The Trade Is Crowded, The Utility Isn’t

Let’s be real: the token casino is oversubscribed. Bitcoin and Ethereum are now the blue-chip bouncers of the club, thanks to ETFs and institutional FOMO. Everyone else? Mid-tier tokens are gasping for attention like forgotten altcoin Discord bots. Meanwhile, actual infrastructure—tokenized real-world assets, stablecoin rails, blockchain-meets-AI nonsense—is quietly building something that resembles a real economy. Shocking, I know. These layers actually generate fees, usage, and in some cases, gasp, revenue. Wild concept.

Forget Tokens, Think Products

Chambers didn’t mince words: "Forget Fi and look for apps, not Fi, apps, applications of tokens and blockchains." Translation: stop staring at your DeFi APYs like they’re horoscopes and start asking, “Does anyone actually use this besides a bot and a degenerate from 4chan?” The next wave isn’t about yield farming your way to a Lambo—it’s about apps people use without even realizing there’s a blockchain involved. Imagine: utility so smooth, you don’t need a 20-tweet thread to explain it.

And sure, the market still twitches to the rhythm of speculation—retail traders are still chasing pumps like it’s 2021 and FTX was still solvent. But beneath the noise, things are shifting. BlackRock’s tokenizing funds like it’s no big deal, stablecoins are creeping into real payments, and dev activity is flooding into AI-data protocols and decentralized physical networks. Venture money? Following the smoke. The party’s moving to the back room, and you’re still yelling “wen moon?” at the front door.

But let’s not pretend it’s all rainbows and on-chain revenue. User retention for most app-layer projects is about as reliable as a Telegram group after a rug pull. Monetization? Often an afterthought, like privacy in Web3. And yes, speculation still drives the charts—because nothing says “maturity” like gambling on a token with a cartoon fox as its logo.

Still, the signal is getting louder: if the last few cycles were about who could scream “next Bitcoin” the loudest, the next act might actually reward builders over bullshitters. Chambers’ point hits hard—usage is becoming the new hype. Whether that sticks depends on whether these apps can escape crypto’s echo chamber and do what any decent product should: work for people who don’t own a hardware wallet.