With all the continuing negative news surrounding web3 and crypto, I have been reflecting on what has happened in this space over the past few years. So much has changed that I could, surprisingly, write a “reflection” blog as someone who has been actively involved in web3 development for just a few years.
What were we right or wrong about? Even if the fundamental long-term thesis was convincing and sounded ethically right (i.e. take away the power from web2 companies!), there were obvious blind spots the industry missed and those mishaps hurt a lot of consumers. These questions really forced me to reflect on the past few years of web3 as I receive auto-departure emails from web3 counterparts more often than I would like.
What happened to those bold comments made at ETH and NFT NYC 2021 conferences? Can there ever be a ethical crypto exchange? What were the use cases that worked? It’s been 2 years since Ethereum hit its all time high, which is a good proxy for when crypto became a household topic, so I believe we have enough dataset to at least change some perspectives on web3 beliefs.