Web3 Won’t Be The Money Layer of the Internet if Consumers

2021 was the breakout year for Web3. Two and a half million people bought an NFT with a brand new market approaching $20B by year end. A DAO tried to buy a copy of the constitution. Celebrities changed their profile pictures to Bored Apes. Web3 trended as a search term while the largest tech companies in the world all scrambled to have an opinion, or even rebrand to focus on Web3, while Web3-native companies raised a whopping $17.2 billion in 2021, with even more funding in the first quarter of 2022. There were even five super bowl commercials for crypto exchanges. Yet despite all this awareness and money moving into the sector, one Morning Consult survey suggested that while 83% of consumers are aware of crypto, only 26% have a positive opinion. You could see this in Discord’s decision to no longer integrate with MetaMask, or the reaction letter from 400 Salesforce employees when CEO Marc Benioff announced its NFT plans, citing the environmental and economic impact of NFTs as “unregulated, highly speculative financial assets.” In order for the Web3 sector to continue gathering steam in 2022, I will share four narratives that we as a collective need to start thinking about when communicating its benefits to the media and broader public. In my role at ConsenSys, we are focusing on each of these narratives, and I’ll be sharing updates, reports, and insights on this work: 1. We need to celebrate the inspiring stories of creativity, entrepreneurship and self-sovereignty enabled through decentralized technologies with real life examples. 2. ConsenSys is conducting the first ever survey of people in 15 countries across the world to understand their opinions of Web3, and the barriers that remain. I’ll share key insights from this report. 3. Ahead of Ethereum’s merge to Proof of Stake this year, we need to win over ESG-conscious consumers and companies by focusing on the reduction of energy required through partnerships with University researchers and think tanks. 4. Our work on creating MetaMask Learn as a de facto resource for onboarding into Web3. Globally, respondents to a Gemini poll were nearly twice as likely to say that more educational resources on cryptocurrency would help them get started with crypto (40%), compared to recommendations from friends (22%).