Behind the Big Dump of TIA Token: The Encryption Industry Faces a Narrative Crisis

The once highly regarded modular blockchain project TIA has now fallen from its peak to the bottom. As of now, the price of TIA is only $1.62, a big dump of over 90% from its historical high of around $20. This former leader in modular blockchain is now deeply mired in negative public opinion due to founder sell-offs and internal management issues.

The decline of TIA Token not only reflects the recession of the modular blockchain track but also reflects the collapse of the overall narrative in the encryption industry. While the stock market is in a frenzy and the Nasdaq hits new highs, the once-hot concepts in the cryptocurrency world are being debunked one by one, with coin prices generally experiencing a big dump. This indicates that the traditional encryption narrative has become difficult to sustain, and the industry is entering a new stage where real application implementation is truly being tested.

TIA: From Glory to Decline

As a highly anticipated modular blockchain project from the end of 2023 to the beginning of 2024, TIA's Token surged from single digits to a high of $20 during the early small bull market in 2024. However, as market enthusiasm cooled and the project's ecosystem progressed slowly, governance and team issues of TIA gradually came to the surface.

The most controversial issue is the allegations of executives collectively cashing out. According to reports, all executives of TIA completed the token unlocking as early as early October 2024 and began to sell in large quantities. Co-founder Mustafa is accused of selling over $25 million worth of tokens off-market and then quietly leaving.

TIA's marketing strategy has also backfired. Several well-known KOLs have been reported to receive high promotion fees, raising doubts in the community about the project's authenticity. Conflicts within the internal management have further intensified the crisis, with the former head of developer relations being dismissed for alleged misconduct, triggering a public relations storm.

At a time of big dump in coin prices and a crisis of community trust, co-founder John Adler proposed a radical governance model of "governance as proof," attempting to replace the traditional proof of stake mechanism with off-chain governance voting. However, this proposal is widely seen as a stopgap measure to stabilize coin prices and cover up problems. As of now, the on-chain activity of TIA is dismal, with 24-hour Gas revenue of only $231.

The collapse of the encryption industry narrative

The decline of TIA is not just the failure of a single project, but a reflection of the disillusionment of the entire encryption industry's new narrative. In the past few years, concepts such as modularization, artificial intelligence, DePIN, GameFi, and NFTs have taken turns to ignite the market, attracting a large amount of capital and retail participation. However, by 2025, these once-popular narratives have all collapsed, and the altcoin market is filled with despair.

Similar to TIA, projects that were once favored by capital, such as WorldCoin and Helium, while gaining a lot of traffic and experiencing a big dump in coin prices in the short term due to the narrative tailwind, quickly cooled off after the hype. The fall of these star projects reflects the deep crisis in the encryption industry: a lack of real technological innovation and user adoption, as narratives and trust continue to be consumed and diluted.

Currently, it is hard to see new narratives at the public chain level. Projects combining AI and blockchain mostly remain at the conceptual level, while RWA faces dual challenges of regulation and real demand. Meanwhile, positive news continues to emerge from traditional financial markets, with stablecoins and related stocks of compliant exchanges in Hong Kong and the US continuing to rise.

Conclusion

The scarcity of native innovation in encryption and the big dump in coin prices stand in stark contrast to the capital favoring compliant encryption projects in Hong Kong and the US stock market. This phenomenon warns project parties: true technological innovation and application implementation are the keys to creating value. The traditional models of storytelling, traffic competition, and pump-and-dump are no longer effective. Today's Web3 projects, like Web2 projects, ultimately compete on the strength of their practical applications.