Varun Datta: Bitcoin's return isn't the story, the infrastructure behind Web3 is

Bitcoin's return above $60,000 has once again shifted attention back to cryptocurrency markets.

Predictably, much of the discussion has focused on price forecasts, market volatility, and whether the latest rally can be sustained.

Yet according to Varun Datta, Founder and CEO of Truth Ventures, the real story is not Bitcoin's price action, but the broader shift in Web3 value toward the infrastructure beneath it.

For Varun Datta, Bitcoin's recovery in recent weeks is less important than what it represents, as it certainly has not been the first story of its kind.

Datta believes the Web3 industry is entering a more mature phase in which long-term value is being created by the infrastructure powering decentralised technologies rather than by the digital assets drawing the most attention.

Why Web3 infrastructure matters more than cryptocurrency prices

As founder of Truth Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage Web3 businesses across London, Dubai and Miami, Varun Datta has spent years backing bold companies developing decentralised infrastructure instead of following whichever narrative dominates each market cycle.

Varun Datta explains: "The industry has matured considerably, as well as attitudes towards the industry too. As Bitcoin will always attract headlines because it remains the world's most recognised digital asset. However, price movements of the base-level market coins alone tell us very little about where long-term value is actually being created. The more interesting story is happening around the infrastructure enabling decentralised technologies to become genuinely useful."

According to Datta, public conversation still revolves too much around speculation, despite many of the most significant advances taking place quietly in the background.

"There has always been a tendency for attention to gravitate towards whichever asset happens to be performing well at any given moment. Meanwhile, many businesses quietly building decentralised infrastructure receive very little mainstream attention despite solving some of the industry's biggest technical challenges."

For Varun, this pattern is not unique to Web3. He sees it as part of a broader narrative that has been seen across previous technological revolutions.

The companies building the future of decentralised technology

"When we look back at previous technological revolutions, the companies that ultimately created the greatest long-term value were often not the businesses attracting the most publicity during the early stages."

Instead, many built the infrastructure that enabled entirely new digital economies to emerge.

"Think the internet (the early internet). Companies such as Amazon Web Services, which transformed cloud computing, Stripe and PayPal, which revolutionised digital payments, or Salesforce, which helped define cloud-based enterprise software. These businesses became indispensable because they laid the foundations that thousands of other companies relied on every day. Without them, much of today's internet economy simply wouldn't function. The same is happening, in different corners, with the Web3 ecosystem.”

Datta further explains: "The next generation of Web3 won't simply be built on better tokens built on stronger infrastructure. The businesses creating decentralised compute, scalable blockchain networks, privacy frameworks, and digital settlement layers may not generate the loudest headlines today. But they will ultimately become the companies that power tomorrow's digital economy in much the same way AWS or Stripe quietly underpin so much of today's internet."

Where Truth Ventures is investing in Web3 infrastructure

Truth Ventures' investment strategy, which Varun heads up, reflects that philosophy directly.

Rather than focusing solely on consumer-facing applications, Truth Ventures invests across decentralised compute, blockchain scalability, decentralised finance, privacy technologies, and decentralised physical infrastructure.

"We look for businesses solving problems that continue to exist regardless of market conditions," Varun Datta explains.

"The businesses we find most compelling are those improving efficiency, security, scalability, or accessibility in ways that remain valuable whether Bitcoin is trading at sixty thousand dollars or thirty thousand."

Varun states that another area attracting particular attention is decentralised artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Truth Ventures is an investor in Bittensor, a network designed to decentralise machine learning by allowing contributors to participate in AI development and monetise computational resources.

Varun says: "As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to the global economy, questions around access to compute become increasingly important. We've already seen an enormous concentration of AI infrastructure within a relatively small number of organisations. Companies such as Nvidia have demonstrated just how strategically valuable compute has become. Decentralised networks offer an alternative model that could encourage broader participation while improving resilience as AI continues to scale."

Datta also points to the firm's investment in Peaq, which develops decentralised physical infrastructure networks (DePIN). "Peaq demonstrates how blockchain extends well beyond financial applications."

"It enables real-world assets, machines, and autonomous devices, from robotics to connected mobility infrastructure, to participate in decentralised digital ecosystems. These are technologies with practical applications that extend far beyond cryptocurrency."

Beyond that, Varun argues that projects addressing blockchain's longstanding technical limitations are equally important: “Scalability, interoperability, privacy and security remain essential if decentralised systems are going to support mainstream adoption."

Truth Ventures has also backed companies such as Ternoa, which develops privacy infrastructure, and 1inch, a decentralised liquidity aggregation protocol.

"None of these businesses became important because of short-term speculation," Datta says. "They became important because they solved genuine engineering problems."

Why institutions are looking beyond Bitcoin

Varun Datta also believes traditional financial institutions are increasingly recognising the same opportunity.

"Early institutional engagement naturally focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum exposure. Today we're seeing far greater interest in tokenisation, decentralised settlement, digital asset custody and the infrastructure supporting those capabilities."

Datta points to BlackRock's work around tokenised financial products.

"For many years, blockchain was viewed primarily through the lens of volatility. Increasingly, discussions are centred around operational efficiency, transparency, and infrastructure. Institutions are no longer simply asking whether digital assets have a place within financial markets. They're asking how blockchain infrastructure can improve the financial system itself."

That shift, Datta argues, reflects the natural progression of transformative Web3 technology.

This reinforces the idea that Web3 infrastructure remains the long-term story. "The headlines may continue to follow prices, but strong Web3 infrastructure is where lasting value tends to accumulate."

While Datta expects cryptocurrency markets to remain cyclical, he believes those cycles will matter less than the broader technological transition underway beneath them.

"Bitcoin will undoubtedly continue to experience periods of volatility, just as every transformative technology has throughout its evolution," Varun Datta concluded.

"But history suggests markets eventually reward the businesses solving meaningful problems rather than simply attracting attention. That's why we spend far more time evaluating the infrastructure that will enable tomorrow's digital economy than predicting where Bitcoin might trade next month. In the long run, the foundations usually prove more valuable than the headlines."