- Web3 offers new entrepreneurs and projects, as well as Fortune 500 companies, the opportunity to disrupt themselves by embracing individual ownership, open access, and open development.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum’s initial launches ushered in a new era of tokenized protocols that empower decentralized communities and applications. These fundamental advances inspired a slew of fast-follower cryptocurrency networks that raised funds through tokenized sales known as ICOs.
- Those initiatives that have been successful in embracing community have done so by designing in an open, modular, and accessible manner that allows individual users to govern their own assets and data. Web 3.0 is the name given to this trend.
My sixth year in the crypto sector begins in 2022, giving me the opportunity to reflect on some of the lessons learned since then. In 2016, I entered the distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrency field at the same time as two opposing but influential trends: initial coin offers (ICOs) and enterprise blockchain.
Bitcoin And Ethereum’s Initial Launches Ushered In A New Era Of Tokenized Protocols That Empower Decentralised Communities And Applications
Bitcoin and Ethereum’s initial launches ushered in a new era of tokenized protocols that empower decentralized communities and applications. These fundamental advances inspired a slew of fast-follower cryptocurrency networks that raised funds through tokenized sales known as ICOs.
The ensuing media frenzy produced enormous fundraising figures, token price volatility, and media attention. Some referred to the industry as a speculative fad that would fade away shortly. Despite the turmoil, a small number of new tokens and projects were able to secure the funding they needed to begin their road to launch.
We witnessed the first enterprise entry into this arena from companies like IBM, JPMorgan, R3, Northern Trust, Maersk, Microsoft, and others, which were driven in part by these developments. The motivations of the organizations ranged from tokenized securities to the erroneous blockchain, not the Bitcoin movement. These groups developed open protocols such as Hyperledger Fabric, Quorum, and Corda, as well as dramatically increased enterprise knowledge of distributed ledger technology.
One of these firms, IBM, was where I started my career after graduating from high school. I saw IBM as a way to come into the crypto space through an organization that was actively investing in new distributed ledger technology applications. While we were there, we actively contributed to open source initiatives like Hyperledger, supported some of the first proofs of concept in trade finance, central bank digital currencies, and more, while also quickly discovering where outdated technology and incumbents would stifle progress.
The most important lesson we learned immediately was that the network effects that might be achieved characterized success and failure in distributed ledger technology or cryptography. Community growth was the strongest of these network impacts.
At first, IBM suffered in this sector since enterprises mostly employed blockchain as a back-end database. Access was limited, data was kept secret, and consumption was kept to a minimum. As a result, network effects were uncommon to come by.
Many people in space are still striving to understand this concept. By making pivots into crypto, social networks like Facebook (now rebranded as Meta) are aiming to safeguard their centralized control of digital communities. They’ve been trying to gain control by launching their own stablecoins, like the doomed Diem, and rebranding to create metaverses.
As communities grow around public and openly accessible bitcoin networks, these initiatives are likely to fail. Those initiatives that have been successful in embracing community have done so by designing in an open, modular, and accessible manner that allows individual users to govern their own assets and data. Web 3.0 is the name given to this trend.
Web3 Offers New Entrepreneurs And Projects As Well As Fortune 500 Companies
Web3 offers new entrepreneurs and projects, as well as Fortune 500 companies, the opportunity to disrupt themselves by embracing individual ownership, open access, and open development. Those that do so will be able to contribute to the rapidly expanding crypto community. The issues that may be faced if not are illustrated by the lessons learned by those organizations that attempted to build in silos with complete control.
It’s past time for us to realize that putting the community first and enabling open access are essential components of a successful Web3 business. By doing so, we can nurture actual innovation that isn’t constrained by the decisions of a few people in a boardroom. Because that isn’t where true power is found. Rather, it is the responsibility of each and every one of us.
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Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/03/30/the-5-years-spent-constructing-blockchain-have-taught-me-a-lot/