First, let’s acknowledge the obvious.
The web3 industry has had a massive series of fuck-ups that are embarrassing and harmful. Everything from degenerate gambling (3AC) to unstable tokenomics (Luna) to outright fraud (SBF). I in no way wish to whitewash these or sweep them under the rug. They cost millions of people billions of dollars in lost money, and the aftershocks of this have put many individual in harms way. Worse, these shenanigans make the entire industry prime targets for an overreaction to fix these with regulations that may or may not do anything to prevent future calamities.
Much has been said on this topic. Much more remains to be said on this topic. I am going to acknowledge it, but not unpack all of the specifics.
Why? Because my fundamental thesis as to why I’m in crypto has not changed.
The promise of the open web was to provide ALL people the ability to access global markets and global ideas. Government and corporate actors have historically placed themselves as intermediaries that can (and do) exert control on commerce, speech, and other forms of participation. As the world becomes more and more digital, the importance of equal access and participation becomes more pronounced.
We have a lot of growing up to do as an industry. Yes, we can still have a fun and mint jpegs and party hard. But we also need to ensure that we breakthrough to a billion people in such a way that meaningfully improves their lives. We need to make sure that we reach this escape velocity before we trip over ourselves and kill the industry.
There’s a lot of work to be done here. But the destination, I believe, is worth it. I still believe in this future. And just like the dot bomb cleared away all the crap while allowing the key titans (Amazon, Google, etc) to grow out of the ashes, so too will the meaningful web3 protocols.
This is the future. One cycle with many bad actors is painful, but not fatal. We need to pickup, build, and bring more legitimacy and utility to this space.
That is why I’m staying in web3.