Imagine you are a conservative gambler with plenty of cash and time to spend in a casino. In a small, dimly-lit corner, you find some tables playing unfamiliar games with numerous nonstandard betting chips.

Many players are ranting about how great they are at the game they’re playing and how terrible everyone else is at it. Others are loudly accusing each other of cheating. Some players have massive stacks of chips, some are nearly broke, but most keep their bankroll out of sight. No one seems to have a firm grasp of the rules or which game they are playing, including the dealers. Police officers are making arrests and seizing chips as the games go on. Everyone is thirsty for new money on the table. Someone flashes a gun.

Do you take a seat and ante up for the next hand?

Folks new to cryptocurrency and blockchain find themselves in a similar scenario. They know there is money to be made by building with or investing in the technology, but crypto culture is largely hostile: multiple projects offer similar solutions with complex nuances; research is frustrated by widespread misinformation, hype, and FUD (particularly on social media); regulators are cracking down on offenders; and even leading projects have had hacks, bugs, schisms, and considerable price drops.

Adoption by mainstream developers, enterprises, and institutional investors (and the market growth that comes with it) will not happen any time soon unless we become better ambassadors for the blockchain industry as a whole — not just for the projects we support.