Stop kicking the can on web3 development if we want adoption to grow | Opinion

In every tech cycle, there lies a pivotal moment when a slow realization becomes an “aha” moment, catalyzing a widespread market shift to a new model, platform, or archetype. That moment is fast approaching for web3.

Underpinned by the ideals of hardwired transparency, reliability, and expediency the internet was meant to fulfill, web3 is poised to redefine how we interact with the digital world.

Web3 has come a long way since it was first introduced into vernacular–transitioning from a conceptual idea to a tangible (albeit young) ecosystem of new-age technologies and applications backed by billions of investments. It’s no surprise that major companies and global brands—JPMorgan, Google, Disney, and Goldman Sachs, among many others—are increasingly taking notice and exploring ways to integrate web3 principles into their existing business models to optimize operations and customer experience. 

The possibilities for this new digital era to completely change how users, developers, and brands all interact are significant, but it would be premature to say web3 has reached ubiquity.

Web3 industry overview | Source: Emergen Research

We can do much within a web3 ecosystem today, like trading digital art, voting on a community proposal, and plenty more. And yet, when it comes to communicating with just about anyone in web3, for some reason, we web3-natives divert right back to web2 platforms—undermining the very user experience we seek to enhance.

For web3 to grow and achieve its full potential, we have to stop relying on its predecessor and get serious about building a sustainable, reliable, and secure web3 infrastructure if we’re going to onboard the following billion users—and keep them.

In the early days, developers built without thinking too much about onboarding the next million (yet alone billion). Existing blockchain technologies underpinning the web3 ecosystem were often brittle, constraining the ability of tech innovators to program and execute new solutions at scale. Surmounting these hurdles to build a simple, essential, and secure infrastructure for web3 isn’t easy—but then again, it was never going to be.

With collective dedication and increasing strategic investment in infrastructure development, we’re starting to see tangible progress towards an actual, end-to-end web3 experience with enhancements to user experience, the onboarding process, and security and trust.

Innovations in web3 messaging structures, for example, fuel new, intuitive opportunities for seamless communication via applications that don’t force users to rely on centralized web2 services such as email, social media, or text messages.

Instead of relying on central servers to route messages like traditional apps such as Discord and Telegram—which can be vulnerable to hacking, surveillance, and censorship—web3 uses peer-to-peer networks to connect people directly, securely, and on their own terms.

The applications of web3 messaging are far-reaching and loaded with value and opportunity to bring more people to web3, fueling potential for novel modes of communication and unlocking new dimensions of interaction across various sectors that will render the old apps obsolete.

This coming year will be a tipping point for web3 projects that are looking to position themselves well for the next wave of growth. Unlocking web3’s true potential and reaching mass adoption demands developers and leaders in the web3 space to stop kicking infrastructure refinement further down the line.

We can make meaningful progress towards true web3 this year—let’s do it by prioritizing it.