The more I think about it lately, the more I realize that the real battlefield isn’t about how high Bitcoin can go, but about who controls the settlement layer on the blockchain.

Take a look at traditional finance: the reason the US dollar system is so powerful is fundamentally because it controls global settlement rights. Now that we’re in the blockchain era, the rules of the game have changed—no matter which country’s stablecoin or what form of digital asset (even AI-driven currencies) dominate in the future, whoever controls the underlying settlement infrastructure holds the lifeline of the new era.

A lot of people are obsessed with Bitcoin’s price charts, but to be honest, BTC is more like a risk hedging tool. What Wall Street really cares about has never been how high it can go. What they want is control over the settlement layer. As for foundational chains like Ethereum, don’t expect them to stand firm by going it alone—blockchain is inherently a non-sovereign technology. Hoping a single private public chain can monopolize the market? That’s wishful thinking.

This window of opportunity is fleeting. Don’t waste all your energy on coin speculation—the real focus should be on who is laying out the settlement layer and who is building the next generation of financial infrastructure. Missing this wave might mean missing an entire era.