John De Goes’ blog

Crypto doesn’t suffer from a lack of innovation.

It suffers from a lack of conviction.

Over the past decade, we’ve shipped countless features: new assets, new products, new incentives, new narratives. And yet, many platforms still struggle with the same foundational questions:

• Who is this actually for?
• What responsibility do we have toward users managing real value?
• Where do we draw the line between empowerment and recklessness?

These aren’t technical problems. They’re product and cultural ones.

Financial products are moral products

When you build software that helps people move, store, or risk their money, you’re no longer just optimizing funnels or engagement. You’re shaping behavior, outcomes, and trust.

Every shortcut compounds.

Every unclear abstraction leaks risk.

Every “we’ll fix it later” eventually lands on a user.

In my experience building crypto and fintech products, the hardest decisions are rarely about what we can build. They’re about what we should.

The cost of short-term thinking

Crypto has learned—sometimes painfully—that chasing short-term growth often comes at the expense of resilience. Systems optimized only for volume or velocity tend to fail when conditions change.

Strong platforms are different. They are built with:

• Conservative defaults
• Clear mental models
• Respect for edge cases
• A bias toward correctness over convenience

These qualities don’t always show up in metrics dashboards. But they show up when markets turn, when users panic, and when trust is tested.

Power should come with responsibility

Advanced users want powerful tools. That doesn’t mean they want careless ones.

The best financial platforms I’ve worked with treat risk clarity as a feature, not friction. They make it obvious what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what the trade-offs are. They don’t hide complexity—but they also don’t glamorize it.

This is especially important in crypto, where the line between empowerment and exploitation can be dangerously thin.

Culture is the real product surface

Over time, I’ve come to believe that culture is the most underappreciated product surface.

Culture determines:

• How trade-offs are made under pressure
• Whether teams optimize for users or optics
• How seriously responsibility is taken when no one is watching

A culture that values ownership, independent thinking, and long-term impact will inevitably produce better products—even if it ships more slowly at first.

Building for the long game

Crypto doesn’t need more cleverness.

It needs more stewardship.

More teams willing to say “no.”

More products designed to still work when markets are boring.

More builders who see financial freedom not as a slogan, but as a responsibility.

That’s the kind of work I’m interested in doing.

And it’s the kind of ecosystem I want to help strengthen—one thoughtful decision at a time.