Distributing Web3 - The Daily Gwei #401
Web3 is not evenly distributed just yet.
Just a heads up readers - there will unfortunately be no newsletter tomorrow (Friday) as I’m moving into my new place which means my PC is being put into a box. Expect the next Daily Gwei newsletter to hit your inbox on Monday!
The term ‘web3’ has taken off much faster than I thought it would and the “rebranding of crypto” (as I detailed here) seems to be in full swing. Though at this point it’s really only the narrative that has taken hold so far with the applications/services still being in their very early stages and inferior to their web2/centralized counterparts for a variety of reasons.
I’ve argued in the past that I think the “web3” term can basically apply to all of crypto whether that be DeFi, NFTs, DAOs or whatever else. But the term was originally just used to describe non-financial use-cases such as decentralized social media which has yet to really take off in a big way. Of course, there’s been attempts over the years such as Steemit which managed to cultivate a community, but it never reached any sort of grand scale. Because of this, web3 is still very unevenly distributed and it’s not yet reaching the people that really need it.
Given this reality, and because the web3 era is unevenly distributed, it really just appeals to those who are already in crypto. I mean, most of the planet doesn’t even have an Ethereum wallet let alone have they used a web3 app! This is okay though - none of the traditional web3 apps/services are anywhere near ready for mass adoption - and I’d argue many of those that exist today are a solution in search of a problem. It’s also going to take some training of new users to be comfortable signing in to these apps using an Ethereum wallet rather than the traditional username and password combination - we take it for granted how big of a change this is for the everyday user.
Web3 is also used to describe the ‘creator economy’ which goes hand-in-hand with NFTs and even DAOs. The creator economy isn’t unique to web3 (services like Fiverr have existed for a while) but what web3 does is supercharge the monetization, cultural and community-building aspects of what creators can do. The monetization front is a big one and the most obvious example is artists monetizing their work via NFTs - some even making 6 or 7 figures. Though again, this use-case is still very unevenly distributed because the platforms aren’t ready for mass-scale, many people are misinformed and still think NFTs are a scam, and the overall user experience is still not noob-friendly.
In saying all of this, I think it’s quite bullish that we’re still this early to web3 but so much value has already been created. Artists are changing their lives, a voice is being given to those who have been deplatformed, new use-cases such as ‘Sign in with Ethereum’ are starting to blossom and so much more. The even distribution will come - it always does - but for now let’s just keep building so that we can onboard the next 100 million users.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Anthony Sassano
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All information presented above is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice.