Vibe Coding is Changing Web3: Community Has Now Become the Key Barrier to Growth

After being recognized by major tech companies, "vibe coding" is rapidly spreading to the crypto sector and may fundamentally change how Web3 projects are built, funded, and scaled.

The term "vibe coding" was introduced by former OpenAI co-founder and ex-Tesla AI lead Andrej Karpathy in early 2025. It describes building software through a sense of "feeling." It leverages natural language or voice prompts to interact with AI systems, requiring almost no use of a keyboard.

How "Vibe Coding" Is Reshaping Web3, Startups, and Venture Capital

After Collins Dictionary named "vibe coding" the 2025 Word of the Year, this concept quickly became mainstream, highlighting how fast the idea has penetrated the tech sector.

The core is that vibe coding can shorten the distance between idea and execution. With tools like Cursor, Claude, and Lovable, founders can describe what they need in clear, concise language and receive production-ready code in real time.

Beyond accelerating development, it also redefines who can build software. According to…Web3 investor and founder Simon Kim, it is overturning the traditional hierarchy of startup skillsets.

Engineering depth was once the most critical bottleneck, but is now increasingly handled by AI. Human founders now compete primarily on breadth: business judgment, user intuition, product taste, and narrative clarity.

"The founder's role has shifted from writer to editor-in-chief or film director," Kim argues, with success depending on how effectively one curates, connects, and directs AI-generated outputs.

Kim’s own experience illustrates this shift. Reportedly, he built an Ethereum valuation dashboard using twelve valuation models in just four hours. He also claims to have designed a tourism prototype for Abu Dhabi during a single flight.

Both tasks previously would have taken weeks of coordination and development. Now, they are rapidly deployed and used in real conversations with decision-makers.

This pattern is already visible at scale. Reportedly, natural language app-building platform Lovable, launched in 2024, reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within just eight months, and by the end of 2025 raised $330 million at a $6.6 billion valuation.

Within Y Combinator, it is reported that 25% of startups founded in the Winter 2025 batch have codebases that are over 95% AI-generated.

"You don't need a team of 50 or 100 engineers. You can raise less money, and the money lasts longer," Kim cites YC CEO Garry Tan as saying.

For Web3, the impact may be even more pronounced. Blockchain infrastructure already allows small teams to operate globally.

Ultra-liquid decentralized derivatives exchanges boast an 11-person core team, are projected to handle around $3 trillion in trading volume in 2025, and generate approximately $844 million in revenue.

By replacing traditional financial infrastructure with smart contracts and on-chain logic, this proves that tiny teams plus automation can rival or even surpass legacy giants.

Why Code Is No Longer the Winning Strategy—Community, Trust, and Networks Are What Matter

However, as execution becomes commoditized, defenses have shifted elsewhere. Code is increasingly easy to copy, features can be cloned within weeks, and AI is eroding local advantages such as language and geography. What is truly hard to replicate are community, brand, trust, and global networks.

This logic has long existed in crypto. Few Web3 winners dominate solely through superior code; they often rely on culture, network memes, and active communities.

"Tech can be forked, but culture cannot," Kim points out, referring to lessons Web3 learned years before the proliferation of AI.

Venture capital is also feeling the pressure. If solo founders can independently develop and validate products, capital is no longer the main constraint.

Trust, channels, and access to resources are the true scarce assets. Kim believes that venture capital firms must transform into "super-connectors," offering credibility, global resources, and vast peer networks, rather than slow funding processes and cookie-cutter advice.

Against this backdrop, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju encourages crypto newcomers to try "intuitive coding," even if they have no prior programming experience. This on-chain expert believes that the crypto industry is shifting from the "execution era" to the "imagination era."

Builders like IBuyRugs and Kiki demonstrate that now, simple English prompts can generate functional decentralized applications (dApps) with built-in profit features.

As AI democratizes execution, the advantage is shifting to taste, vision, and relationships—at least in the crypto space.

In this industry, community has already surpassed code in importance, and vibe coding accelerates a future defined by solo founders, globally prioritized protocols, and community-driven moats.