After 2 years in crypto - successes, failures, entertainment, and frustration. Where will this all lead to?
I hope I didn't spend two years of my career only for doge coins and meme frogs to be the best use case for blockchain tech and cryptocurrency.
Hello! It’s been a minute since my last post. Major life update - I’m a dad! Mylo, as of the writing of this post, is a 4.5 month old baby boy. He’s got a lot of hair and he easily gets bored. I think he got that from me. Anyway, I aim to get back in the groove of sharing my ideas and opinions to you, dear crypto-reader. Probably not going to be bigger and better, but I promise to do my best to make it more 🌶.
Quick recap: Boom and bust!
It’s been two years now since I jumped into cryptoland from a software startup (and before that, management consulting). Taking a bet in crypto was my idea of finding some excitement in tech. Oh boy it sure didn’t disappoint.
During my year joining an NFT and web3 gaming company, we were right in the middle of a bull run for both crypto tokens and NFTs. My god, I’ve never seen so many million-dollar and billion-dollar companies appear overnight. It felt like no crypto company could go wrong and millionaires were being minted daily. Oh… those were the days. But just as quickly riches were made, a reckoning soon followed!
This second year of mine was sobering, to say the least. Giants, geniuses, and VC-blessed-wunderkind that one couldn’t help but revere the year before suddenly falls from grace quicker than you can say, “steady lads!”
Reflecting today, I realize that’s just the reality of web3 and crypto today. It’s one big experiment—born out of the frustrations of a broken banking system, but an experiment nonetheless! Everyone in the space is just trying to figure out how to make this technology work. That is, most will agree it is cool tech. In fact agreement, called consensus, is exactly what the technology is all about! However it’s interesting that people haven’t come into an agreement which use case blockchain will disrupt. There are strong convictions of course like decentralized finance, identity, social media. I joined gaming company, so my bet is on the gaming market 🎮.
Alas, the winner for blockchain has yet to be crowned. Yes - there are big companies today and sure we can point to them to cite a success. But I just think it’s a bit too early to tell, as some ‘winners’ from a couple of years past would attest.
This coming year, I want to focus on a bit of research (inspired by Jon Charbonneau’s lower case ‘r’) to build conviction on where I believe blockchain tech will truly disrupt how we live our lives today. I’ll save the gaming industry for last, since I already work there and I need a palate cleanser!
I want to answer the question, “Where does blockchain actually have a compelling use case, given the (d)apps actually built today?!”
Day 0 thoughts
Blockchain tries to make itself the messiah of internet. It’s even had the gall to call itself “web3” as in the successor of the internet as we know it today i.e. “web2”. Much wow. Is there any basis for this? Let’s try to look through the high-level areas where blockchain has tried to position itself as the next big thing:
Finance - Bitcoin was born out of the GFC. In a time where people couldn’t trust their government nor their banks, this digital gold that no one controls felt like a godsend. Now with Ethereum and other “layer 1” protocols (Solana, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Sui, etc), the default use case has always been programmable money. We’ve tried to recreate everything banks do with the blockchain like asset exchanges, loans and deposits, printing stable coins, insurance, and escrow. Surely, if there’s any field blockchain will disrupt, it’s finance. Without a doubt I’ll find a compelling use case here! I plan to deep dive into DeFi, DEXs, Stablecoins, perps, and everything in between.
Social - What if the social media network of tomorrow isn’t owned by a Zuck, but rather decentralized and owned by everyone that’s part of the network? What if you could decide the algorithm your feed uses to serve you content? What if you get paid for giving your attention to the video you just watched? Those have been the promises blockchain has peddled to the social media scene. Is that all a compelling marketing spiel, or is that the future social network our kids will grow up with?
IP rights - Hey most intellectual property is already served digitally from music, to streaming movies, other forms of entertainment. Surely it makes sense that you can tokenize and ‘own’ that digital asset through blockchain technology, right? Is a crowd-funded NFT sale the future of how your favorite artist will be releasing their album? Will the next Fast and Furious flick be co-owned by their biggest fan? Maybe more people will buy a digital 3D collectible of Mickey Mouse than an actual stuffed toy. Let’s see what’s been built so far and if consumers are actually getting into the trend or it’s all just speculation by people trying to make a quick flip.
Gaming - Well, ~$300Bn has already been spent in games and most came from in-game assets. Gamers don’t even actually ‘own’ those game items. It was purchased purely for entertainment. That’s an opportunity, if I’ve ever seen one! Obviously I’ve already made this bet by working in a gaming company, but let’s play devil’s advocate and look into the counter arguments here for a later post.
Let me do the research for you
What do you think, dear reader? What’s your hunch on where the true value and use case of blockchain will come from? I’m deeply curious about this question, especially after spending two years in this industry. I’ve grown in conviction that blockchain is truly something disruptive which is why I think it’s worth the time to build an even deeper understanding of where the value will be.
If you have thoughts, an inkling, or just a random blurb on this question, give me a DM. I’ll follow the lead to see if it’ll get us to the answer we’re looking for.
Else, if you’re also itching to get to the bottom of it, I’m happy to share my rough notes as I do research and build on findings together. The collab will make the process that just more fun. Again, send me a DM!
Or you just want to make sure your one of the first to get a hold of these notes as they come live because you are also curious about the true use case of blockchain, then it’s even easier:
Your DM is closed :D? much interested to take that journey with you, i was going to explore other verticals for the same exact reason in the next 3-6 months!