Fu Peng, the former Chief Economist of Northeast Securities, has been thriving in the Web2 circle, making him a typical “internet-celebrity economist’s darling.”

He is highly sought after in the brokerage world, in self-media, and in the speaking circuit. With a large following, private business seminars, high-priced courses, and offline events keep coming. In the traditional-media circle and among middle-class investors, people happily “fawn over” him.
After switching to Web3, he originally wanted to cross over with the halo of traditional finance to go “harvest” a new crop of retail newcomers, but ended up running into the awkward situation in the crypto circle where nobody fawns over him.
The crypto circle also doesn’t buy into the whole “chief economist” playbook. In fact, many crypto big shots are even less put-on than he is. I believe many of them are quite low-key.
I feel Fu Peng still isn’t used to the Web3 way of bidirectional commentary and direct pushback, and is more comfortable with the Web2 pattern of one-way output—where he gets talked up and people just keep praising him.