Not long ago, Web3 was a battlefield.
This term was first coined by Ethereum co-founders in 2014. gavin wood Referring to the gatekeeper-less peer-to-peer internet of the future, it got a real boost during the NFT boom of 2021.
That year, idealistic technology innovators in art, fashion, journalism, film, and hotels adopted Web3 as their emblem. This is a new era of decentralized, democratic prosperity for consumers and creators alike, breaking down the hyper-centralized powers that control the global economy.
These dreamers thought that by leveraging blockchain technology, they could: overthrow hollywood. they could Defeat Dolce & Gabbana. They were able to subdue and push back even their peers. Tech giants like Meta. The stakes of this conflict were existential. Some Web3 industry leaders even likened it to conflict. war against feudal lords. Web3 startups routinely evoke rhetoric of struggle and battle.“battle,” “revolution”— To emphasize this spirit.
But recently, leaders in the Web3 community have begun to publicly question whether the revolution has lost its way. 2023, one of the cryptocurrencies the hardest yearwithout a doubt saturated ~ Of sacrifice. For some, this may include the founding principles of Web3.
“What I’ve seen at Web3 this year seems to be a priority of survival over sanity.” Dani Loftus, founder of digital fashion platform liquidsaid decryption. “There are many (companies) fighting for their lives’wagmiIt’s a way of thinking about the metrics that ‘succeed’ or ‘sustain’. “It seems that many people have made compromises to survive.”
The irony is that, at least on paper, Web3 is doing better than ever. at Disney to MoMA to mercedes to Gucci to Visa to StarbucksThere are very few major Web2 companies that haven’t made a Web3 play this year or haven’t investigated the possibility internally.
This is a significant change compared to two years ago. Moreover, many of these companies don’t seem to have even stepped foot into Web3. Roadmap for years For blockchain-based projects, a significant amount of corporate infrastructure We support these efforts in the long term.
But while support from incumbents has bolstered Web3’s prospects this year, it has also come with certain ideological costs. Of course, most Web3 projects adopted by major corporations have not meaningfully redistributed wealth, influence, or opportunity as the technology’s first proponents once sought.
Instead, these projects created a new type of customer. loyalty programexclusive prize dropsand Product Linkage. It’s definitely innovative. But in a material sense it is hardly revolutionary.
When it comes to Web3-based startups, they appear to have toned down their rhetoric against Web2’s arch nemesis. When Apple Unveiled Immersive Mixed Reality vision pro June headset, open metaverse Advocates (a core subset of the Web3 purist group)celebrated the news With significant progress.
These were a few months ago declare open war We are against Meta, which has attempted to dominate the Metaverse as a corporate imperative. At least that’s how Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to frame his Web3 ambitions: soft overture To the open metaverse crowd; Here’s Apple’s attitude toward Web3: Insensitive at best., Hostile at worst.
So has Web3 laid down its weapons? Have rebels been left behind to join the ranks of the status quo?
Entrepreneur Nihar Neelakanti co-founded a blockchain-based carbon emissions startup. eco sapiensMany of these recent changes within Web3 can be attributed to the brutal changes that have occurred in the fundraising landscape over the past year.
“I’ve been in startups my whole life and worked as a VC before that,” said Neelakanti. decryption. “I have never heard of an investor asking a seed, Series A or Series B company to pursue profitability. until now.”
“Startups don’t work that way,” he continued. “Requiring Seed (or) Series A is ridiculous. It’s even more difficult if you’re a Web3 company.”
Neelakanti said VC firms’ patience with cryptocurrency-related companies has completely run out after the following incidents: FTX collapse Last November. Neelakanti says investors now want immediate returns on their investments. This means Web3 companies can no longer afford to pursue lofty goals, such as changing consumer habits or educating users about the benefits of decentralization. They need to make money now.
For most struggling Web3 startups, the most feasible path to black is to sell their services to established brands and businesses. Neelakanti said these companies have absolutely no interest in innovating anything other than profit and are explicitly not associated with terms like: “Cryptocurrency” “NFT” or “Metaverse.”
“People at these companies say (to Web3 startups), ‘If I mention the word NFT or Web3, my boss will shoot me,’” Neelakanti said.
This brings things full circle. Harsh financial realities have not only turned what was once the enemy of Web3 startups into their best chance for survival. They also forced these startups to swallow their ideological principles, often in the name of surviving another day.
Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, founder of digital fashion startup digital axidentifies the Web3 ecosystem’s current dependence on venture capital as the biggest obstacle to realizing the sector’s innovative potential.
“We can’t have third-party players who can control choke points and pull us through,” she said. decryption. “This means making VC obsolete before Web3 finally becomes viable.”
So Web3 is now going through a bit of a coming-of-age transition, moving from idealistic adolescence to the tough streets of the real world. Balancing the democratizing potential of technology with real profitability will always be important, but the relentless economic realities of 2023 appear to have brought things to a head sooner than many expected.
But not everyone in the room sees things in such black and white terms. Entertainment executive JP Alanis co-founded storicoa Web3 platform for creating and engaging in immersive cinematic experiences, says it never intended to set Hollywood on fire.
But he believes that by leveraging Web3 to give unknown creators the resources to attract the best writers, actors, and producers, we can steadily build a path toward a better, more equitable entertainment industry.
“The reality is that Web3 was never intended to completely replace (the existing system),” Alanis said. Decrypt. “It is intended to supplement, supplement and fill in the gaps in the existing system.”
“But for us, solving some real problems, such as how enthusiasts engage and interact with content and who helps create that content, can make a big difference,” he added.
Overall, it appears that many Web3 producers are no longer eager for bloody victories in multi-faceted crusades like Netflix, Apple, and Louis Vuitton.
Maybe it’s giving up, or maybe it’s just growing.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
