The financial reports of the encryption industry release a signal: Farewell to the era driven by hype, diversification seeks a way to survive.

It is understood that the first-quarter financial report shows that the era of "get rich quick" in cryptocurrencies and speculation-driven returns is fading. With the decline in prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum, speculative demand is diluted; faced with macroeconomic uncertainty, investors are withdrawing from risky assets overall, leading to a cooling down of trading activities on exchanges and a significant decrease in retail participation. This slowdown trend is reflected in the quarterly updates of several listed companies: exchanges, brokers, and cryptocurrency financial companies are reporting declines in trading and staking income, as well as reduced customer activity. For Coinbase and Robinhood, this is not new - trading has been the lifeblood of their platforms for years. Both companies have been expanding their financial services product lines to diversify their revenues. However, even with non-trading businesses, they are still in the midst of the "boom-bust" cycle in the crypto industry. This quarter's financial reports - especially for a batch of new companies that went public last year - show a more urgent posture: they need to prove their ability to generate stable income even when prices and trading volumes are low. Vassilis Tziokas, Growth VP at Matter Labs, said, "For years, investors have ridden the wave of crypto frenzy...This is a new trading channel for people. But now, we see that crypto is becoming bigger and more intertwined with the real economy, which means people have higher expectations for these companies. They need to diversify their revenues and expand their business into adjacent new verticals." Robinhood was the first to kick off the crypto earnings season, and the results were significantly below expectations: crypto trading revenue plummeted by 47%. Meanwhile, user activity shifted to other products - especially derivatives contracts, driving a 320% year-on-year growth in revenue for the segment, reaching $147 million. Similarly, although Coinbase's revenue and profits fell short of expectations, there was encouraging growth in their diversified product line, including derivatives contracts, crypto derivatives (up 169% year-on-year), and tokenized commodities. Alesia Haas, CFO of Coinbase, said, "We are working to expand the variety of assets that users can trade, so that as the market changes and user behavior changes, we always have something they want to trade. This diversification will help smooth out some of the volatility we see in pure crypto trading." Gemini: Transitioning from a pure crypto company to a "market-bound" company Founded and led by the Winklevoss brothers, the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is also prioritizing stable income - its revenue previously fluctuated significantly with crypto prices. The company is positioning itself as a capital market infrastructure company by expanding into prediction markets, derivatives, and soon stock trading, while owning more financial infrastructure. Gemini's financial report also shows a 292% year-on-year growth in consumer credit card-related revenue. Cameron Winklevoss, President of Gemini, said the goal is to "transition from a purely crypto-centric company to one more closely tied to the broader market...This should in some way smooth out our revenue. If one asset class underperforms, it should be able to balance it out, allowing you to achieve more index-like returns across different asset classes." Gemini's financial report outperformed its peers, and the announcement of a $100 million investment in the future led to a significant rise in its stock price. Bullish: Acquiring Equiniti for $4.2 billion to build a capital market infrastructure company Another company responding to revenue challenges through expansion plans is Bullish. The exchange plans to acquire global transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2 billion, making it one of the largest mergers in crypto history. Through this move, Bullish is positioning itself as a capital market infrastructure company, not just a crypto exchange. The stock price rose after news of the acquisition but fell back due to lower-than-expected financial results. Circle: USDC stablecoin issuer attracting attention with Arc blockchain Although Circle is relatively unaffected by direct trading fluctuations, it cannot completely escape the crypto cycle - the cycle still drives the use, liquidity, and adoption of the USDC stablecoin. Circle delivered a strong quarterly financial report, but the most notable aspect is its Arc blockchain - an operating system for an AI-driven economy. The launch of Arc alleviated concerns about Circle's long-term survival as a stablecoin issuer. The company's stock price surged by about 20%, and even cautious analysts raised their target price. Coin vault companies transforming into asset managers Even cryptocurrency treasury companies - those whose sole purpose is to buy large amounts of crypto assets to provide exposure for shareholders - are also structurally constrained by the crypto cycle. Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR.US) provides the clearest example. The company broke the "never sell Bitcoin" creed and instead offered shareholders a more actively managed strategy. Strategy announced this shift during their financial report call, reporting a $12.5 billion net loss due to the decline in Bitcoin prices. Phong Le, President and CEO of Strategy, said during the call, "When selling Bitcoin is beneficial for the company, we will sell. We will not stand by and say, 'we will never sell Bitcoin.'" In a bull market, Strategy's strategy of issuing shares or raising capital to buy more Bitcoins may be relatively easy to execute strategically; but in a downturn, this approach carries higher risks and makes some investors feel uneasy. Another Ethereum treasury company, Sharplink, echoed this theme in its financial report, announcing loudly that they have engaged Galaxy Digital to assist in allocating some of their capital to actively managed on-chain strategies. As more companies seek to decouple investor returns from the subdued market, Wall Street welcomes this "disciplined" and "differentiated" evolutionary path.