Web3/Crypto: Why Bother?

The issue is web3 discourse under-sells the power of the web, oversimplifies the benefits of a new architecture, and skips over meaningful hurdles (UX, security, trust, long-term economics). I think we confuse theories with actual user value props and sustainable business models.

In the past, trust was purely social (think the caveman days). Then it switched to trusted institutions (banks, governments, companies) which was a step up, but we still had to rely on the other parties goodwill, or their incentive to behave in the right way.
The problem today is that institutions have become the sole gatekeepers of trust. We are st

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I do believe that--like, say, email, cell phones, stocks, bonds, and other innovations--web3 is a major new tool that will transform a lot of how we live our lives. It will foster beautiful things and ugly things, crime and charity, love and vicious hatred.

ecause if you think about, if you unpack what does Web3 mean? And if it really boils down to the financialization of everything, there's three distinct buckets of it in my mind. There's a speculative sphere because you can now tokenize so many different things, the opportunity for markets and best execution and price discovery and all these things ... See more

On Web3: There’s probably too much emphasis on the trustless nature and also being uncensorable. I think most people are actually very trusting and don’t mind trusting a third party, and I think also most people probably aren’t saying things that would need to be censored or removed from these centralized services.

Web3 is about the distribution of power and resources, not their accumulation. What drives the success of Web3 is the community because communication between its members is key for organizing themselves towards achieving a common purpose.