Not long ago, building with zero-knowledge proofs felt like assembling a 10,000-piece puzzle blindfolded. Developers burned months wrestling with arcane cryptographic libraries, and scaling solutions for real-world use cases seemed out of reach.

Now, platforms like Succinct are simplifying the process, but the ecosystem’s growing pains are still evident. The recent $PROVE token launch listed on BingX at $2, now up 335%, has sparked the usual mix of excitement and frustration. Many airdrop hunters are upset about allocations, while others miss out entirely.

I'm not chasing the first green candle. Instead, I'm researching the underlying tech, waiting for a better entry after the hype dies down, and questioning whether airdrops still incentivize builders or just attract mercenary capital.