Why blockchain? Certainly not for it's terrible tech...
No hype. Just how my (non-technical) brain manages to win against my natural cynicism against the hipster movement that is #web3
One year ago, I took a leap to join the web3 world. There were plenty of options—consulting, SaaS, FinTech—but made a bet on a mostly experimental industry that is blockchain and NFTs.
Most valid skeptical arguments against blockchain poke holes on the why we even need blockchain tech. Surely, we don’t need such complicated mechanisms to do things like banking, games, or digital stocks!
That’s partly true. But we didn’t need the internet as well, when libraries were perfectly fine for information organization. We also technically didn’t need Airpods when normal wired earphones worked just fine. Yet here we are.
Nevertheless there are plenty of things that suck in web3. Still, let me organize thoughts on why I’m still betting on it.
Blockchain tech is kinda shitty, IMO
Huge caveat that I’m far from being an engineer. Blockchains today (Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche) might be the most elegant piece of software and I wouldn’t know. But they’re all pretty shitty from my point of view:
Slow. Ethereum can do 15 transactions per second. My dial-up internet back in the day could probably run laps around that! In contrast, Visa and Mastercard can process thousands.
Expensive. Most blockchains have a ‘gas fee’ which is essentially a transaction fee. In the worst case, the transaction fee could be exponentially more expensive that the thing you’re trying to buy. Right now, it’s a game for the rich.
Terrible UI/UX. Today, you can buy a whole shopping bag worth of stuff and have it delivered to your door in a single click. In the web3 world, it might take you 10+ clicks (including the fees) to do a single transaction. All the typical stuff you’d expect from customer service like refunds and cancellations? Can’t be done in web3. It sucks!
Complicated. So you want an NFT? First you need a crypto wallet. Then you need to buy crypto. Next, transfer that crypto from a centralized exchange and then go to a marketplace. Do the manual labor of finding a (good) NFT you can afford. Try to buy that. What’s a mint? Well… We haven’t even talked about DeFi, liquidity, DAOs, and Music NFTs yet.
This list can go on and on.
And yet the blockchains continue to grow
All the shortcomings of web3 are clear for all to see. For some reason, the industry just keeps growing:
It has survived 3 major crashes and counting. 2011, Bitcoin crashed 99.9%. 2013, Bitcoin when from ~$1,100 to $200 in a month. 2017, BTC almost got to $20K and then went tumbling down to ~$4K. Now Bitcoin was able to reach ~$68K. That mostly reflects the entire crypto market. It keeps coming back from the brink, and it comes back strong.
Money is pouring in. From <$5B invested in 2012, VCs have collectively funded crypto companies ~$30B in 2021. This article has a chart.
Developer activity is increasing. Finally, more people are building with blockchain tech. Developer activity has increased by 10x since 2017 to 20,000+ developers. When two people in a garage can produce one of the biggest internet giants to date, I wouldn’t bet against a swarm of tech builders.
I’m a simple man. The above just means there’s a growing web3 audience. And with an audience, opportunity typically follows.
I’m making a bet that a (tidal) wave is coming
There are a bunch of stuff I can use to argue for web3 like the case of:
But at the end of the day, it’s too early to tell if blockchain tech will be as successful as the media and fellow cultists sets it out to be.
I’m just making a bet.
I believe that despite the obvious shortfalls of web3, the momentum and increasing adoption is a tidal wave waiting to crest.
Which side of the best are you?
If you can’t decide yet, that’s OK. All you need to do is…
I also post web3 stuff in Twitter: @nigelwtlee