While walking around CES 2023 in Las Vegas earlier this month, I noticed that almost every startup used the words “metaverse” and “web3” to describe their company.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has lost billions of dollars building their metaverse. Billions more have evaporated of web3 projects over the past year due to hacking and fraud alone. Regardless of all the trials and tribulations those spaces have faced over the past year, the tech industry is still sold on web3 and the metaverse is modern, cool, and the next big thing.

But the subtext of it all seems to be: “Don’t say ‘cryptocurrency’.”

I attended a few panels at the annual meeting, the world’s largest tech industry event, specifically on web3 and the metaverse. Panelists in these talks ranged from CEOs of successful technology platforms to executives of global brand agencies and marketing firms. Everyone had high hopes, still, of what web3 and the metaverse could bring in the near future. Entertainment industry leaders spoke about how great these venues can be for the artists they represent. None of these people seemed deterred by the complete lack of widespread adoption among any audience in basically any industry.

Yet not a single person at the panels I attended dared utter the word “crypto.”

It wasn’t too difficult for them to avoid it. Terms like web3 have become buzzwords in the technology industry, often leading them to morph into bastardizations of their original meaning. For example, web3 really refers to internet services or platforms powered by decentralized blockchain technology. At CES, there was a real attempt to redefine web3 as basically anything that gives creators control over their Internet content. Essentially, this makes web3 little more than a minor modification of “web 2.0,” which became the big tech buzzword almost two decades ago.

But, while not everyone mentioned it, the word “blockchain” was referenced where appropriate. Some exhibitors also offered free NFTs as loot to promote their companies, proving that the non-fungible token space isn’t completely toxic yet. But the closest I got to someone saying the word “crypto” on the panels I attended was when an ad executive uttered the word “tokens.”

Crypto is by far the main use case for blockchain. However, the word was rarely uttered. However, it makes sense. In the last 6 months, a large number of major cryptocurrency companies have collapsed. If you were a cryptocurrency holder who didn’t lose money due to widespread scams, chances are you lost when an exchange or lender, or a token you trusted with your investment, went under.

Crypto was not completely MIA from the web3 conversation. There was a panel called “How to stay in control of your crypto”, all about security measures for crypto wallets. A fellow attendee I spoke to was in the audience for that and he said it was poorly attended. Another panel was called, quite revealingly, “How to Stay Warm in a Crypto Winter.”

Looking at the booth layout map on the main floor of the exhibit hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, one would find large sections of companies in the robotics industry, the health-tech space, and more. And, if you looked very closely, far back in the giant space was a small, alley-sized section labeled “FinTech.” There couldn’t be more than a dozen companies there, and even then, hardly any of those cryptocurrencies mentioned prominently on their posters and marketing materials. I counted two crypto payment platforms and a single Bitcoin mining hardware company as representing crypto there. Notably, not a single major cryptocurrency exchange or platform had a booth at the event.

In fact, the largest cryptocurrency-related presence at the entire multi-day fair belonged to CoinDesk, the news outlet that covers the industry and, more recently, broke the story at Alameda Research that led to the demise of one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, FTX. Even CoinDesk’s CES highlight reel hardly includes anyone who talks openly about cryptocurrency, and when they do, their confidence noticeably crumbles.

Often the biggest reveals at CES aren’t new product announcements, but more subtle signals about the future of technology, gleaned from what’s hot. So crypto is definitely not “in” right now, although that doesn’t mean crypto is dead. There will always be venture capitalists and other investors who see money in cryptocurrency. But what was obvious to me is that the industry realizes that consumers They mistrust space. And that was enough to keep the crypto talk to a whisper at this year’s CES.