The Next Crypto Cycle - Web 3.0, DAOs, and NFTs with Patrick Rivera
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🎧 Episode #20 | The Next Crypto Cycle - Web 3.0, DAOs, and NFTs with Patrick Rivera
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts, and watch on YouTube
Patrick (ODF8, ODW1) is a Product Engineer at Mirror and an Instacart alum
In his capacity as an engineer at Mirror (a no-code platform for web 3.0 tools), Patrick Rivera has a front seat on the edge of the crypto revolution. In this episode, he details the evolution of the internet from Web 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0, discusses the crypto-native creator economy, paints a picture of the current crypto landscape (and challenges), and provides some predictions for the future.
Patrick's presentation on Crypto fundamentals and NFTs provides helpful historical background and informs the structure of this episode. Here is some more context:
From Web 1.0 to Web 3.0.
Remember how Delian broke down space exploration intro three eras? In a similar way, internet historians like Patrick break down the history of the web into three loosely-defined periods:
Web 1.0 is recognized as the "read-only" era of the internet and is characterized by the static websites of the mid-to-late 90s. Google, Amazon, eBay, and PayPal were early players who allowed for email/chat functionality and marketplaces for physical goods.
Web 2.0 is the version of the internet that we are most familiar with and defined much of the two decades. Applications are both "read and write." This era is characterized by social networks, SaaS companies, broadband speeds, and the gig economy.
Web 3.0 describes the confluence of technologies that have developed in the last 24 to 36 months, including crypto, space travel, AI, 5G, clean energy, and wearables. Web 3 is about using the internet to solve hard problems in the world of atoms.
“Crypto is a crucial piece of Web 3.0 tech that can address some of the internet's most glaring issues and leverage technology to help the disadvantaged.”
Crypto reorganizes the structure of the “creative” market.
One example that Patrick cites as an issue that crypto can solve is related to artists and musicians. Crypto can help revert the power imbalance that exists today among creative marketplaces. Creative marketplaces are defined here as online markets where a creator provides content to an audience via a third-party platform like YouTube.
Currently, the middleman takes most of that value either through advertising or directly charging a take rate. Crypto allows creators to be at the center of their own creative universes, instead, by directly connecting creators with their fans. NFTs and DAOs provide organizing infrastructure for them to own direct relationships with their audience by unlocking special levels of access and events.
The way that crypto is transforming the creator economy is just one aspect of the web3 revolution. Listen to the full episode for Patrick's broader thoughts on cryptofinance, cryptoart, cryptofirms, cryptostates, and more of web3’s implications.
Challenges facing crypto today.
There are three urgent challenges facing the crypto space today, according to Patrick, but none of them are insurmountable::
The UX of the onboarding experience intro crypto. Passwords and keys work differently within crypto than they do on centralized applications. In order to reach mass adoption, applications will need to become easier for non-technophiles to understand.
Gas fees. Some of the most well-known layer 1 blockchains like Ethereum still have high fees to transact on the chain. There are several folks working on scalable solutions to dramatically lower the fees and make the technology more sustainable.
Lack of talent in the space. Crypto is still such a young space. It's growing very fast, but even that growth speed is limited by the sheer number of talented folks working and building in the space. More folks will need to be recruited to help support the demand for building.
Also available to listen on Spotify, Pocket Casts, and watch on YouTube
Past web 3.0 episodes from The Deep End:
Citizens of the Metaverse with Gaby Goldberg and Shriya Nevatia
Web3 with Jarrod Dicker
Mentioned in this Episode
We’re hosting a live episode with Cooper Turley on 9/28 at 6 PM EST. Register at lu.ma/cooper
Patrick's presentation on the Fundamentals of Crypto and NFTs
Eshita's Web 3.0 article
We discussed a past Deep End episode where we interviewed Joe from Stir.
Patrick is a fan of Ben Thompson's Stratechery
Patrick references Fingerprints DAO
Patrick references the a16z startup school
Marshall & Patrick discuss the play-to-earn model and fast growth of Axie Infinity
That’s all for now! If you haven’t yet, subscribe to get future issues in your inbox every Wednesday.
You might also want to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts, and YouTube.
See you next week!
- Julian
The Deep End is hosted by Marshall Kosloff and produced by On Deck—where top talent go to accelerate their ideas and careers.