Opinion by: Houston Morgan, head of growth and business development at ShapeShift
Crypto was never supposed to turn out like this. The promise was decentralization, self-sovereignty and the end of gatekeepers. Far too many crypto firms still worship personalities and momentum rather than implementing fair governance and structure.
The irony is stark. A movement built to eliminate central points of failure or control has repeatedly been derailed by its own leadership. The same story repeats from exchange founders being treated like visionaries to DeFi builders rigging token votes for personal gain. One person’s influence is allowed to outweigh the system. When that person falters, everything crumbles.
Outsized control creates a dangerous feedback loop. Investors pile in, not because the system is resilient, but because they believe in the leader. Their mental model of the world becomes the project.
We’ve seen this dynamic before. Traditional finance, politics, even cults of celebrity all reveal the same pattern — once power centralizes, failure becomes inevitable. Crypto was supposed to be different. Instead, many projects have recreated the very hierarchies they set out to destroy, only with less oversight, weaker guardrails, and lower efficiency.
A decentralized system hinging on a single person is a contradiction in terms, and it gives the ruling classes an easy means of control. The silent majority should remember: Cut the head off a snake, and the body will die.
DAOs as an antidote
This is where DAOs have shown real promise. Properly decentralized autonomous organizations don’t just flatten hierarchies; they replace them with ownership. They swap cults of personality for cultures of contribution.
When governance is shared and decision making is open, communities can evolve beyond dependence on a single leader. Instead of one figurehead driving the narrative, dozens or even hundreds of contributors step into leadership roles within their own domains. No bosses. No center. Just builders.
Related: What is a DAO, and how does it work?
DAOs work because contributors treat them as theirs. After all, they are. Everyone who shows up and contributes is, in effect, a leader in their lane. Yes, it can be messy, aligning vision without a top-down boss is hard. Consensus takes time. But the upside is enormous: shared ownership, skin in the game, and communities that build because they believe in the mission, not the mythology of a founder.
Real decentralization doesn’t mean no leaders. It means more of them.
The peril of personality
The temptation to elevate charismatic figures is understandable. Humans are wired to follow stories more than spreadsheets. A dynamic founder gives media, investors and communities an easy focal point. That shortcut has consequences.
When the myth of the founder becomes stronger than the strength of the protocol, cracks form. Projects stagnate waiting for a leader’s blessing. Communities fracture when the leader is questioned. And when they inevitably exit the stage, whether through scandal, burnout or politics, the project is left hollow.
Crypto doesn’t need more heroes. It requires systems resilient enough to survive without them.
It’s now or never
This message would seem urgent in any context, but 2025 has made it existential. US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House sharpened the knife-edge on which crypto balances. His administration has signaled that crypto will be treated as a tool and a target: embraced when politically convenient, but crushed when it threatens entrenched interests.
That dynamic makes crypto’s cult of leadership uniquely dangerous. Centralized control offers centralized targets. A subpoena, a scandal, or a well-aimed speech is all it takes to unravel legitimacy when a project lives and dies by a single personality.
Decentralized governance makes that centralized political playbook far more challenging to run.
You cannot subpoena an entire community like you can drag a handful of figureheads before Congress. True DAOs can still face scrutiny, but their distributed responsibility and global nature give them resilience that personality cults can never match. They provide continuity and stability in an industry that has been relentlessly exploited for its volatility.
The choice we need to make
This is the inflection point. Either the industry embraces decentralization in substance, not just rhetoric, or it will be reabsorbed into the traditional finance bubble and remembered only as an anarchistic blip in human history.
Crypto cannot have it both ways. It cannot continue to orbit cult leaders and simultaneously claim to challenge Wall Street, the International Monetary Fund or Big Tech. Outsized personalities may attract headlines, but they also invite fragility.
It’s make-or-break time. The ruling classes know this. They have decades of experience in crushing movements that rely on charismatic leaders. And they are watching closely.
Satoshi’s vision survives only if the many finally choose to overthrow the few. It is time to kill the cult of leadership, and quickly.
Opinion by: Houston Morgan, head of growth and business development at ShapeShift.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.