Kyle Samani, chairman of Solana Treasury and co-founder of Multicoin Capital, made a direct statement about the current state of the DeFi and web3 industry in general. And things aren't looking good.
'Web3 is no more. DeFi and DePIN are our only options.'
Many market participants think there is at least some truth to the observation, despite the fact that it immediately caused controversy throughout the industry.
What happened to web3?
Web3 emerged as one of the most actively promoted narratives in cryptocurrency during the previous cycle. The concept was straightforward: social networks, gaming platforms, creator economies, and innumerable decentralized applications that could rival conventional internet services would all be powered by blockchain technology.
As investors looked for the next generation of consumer cryptocurrency products, billions of dollars poured into the industry. But the results have been inconsistent years later.
The majority of Web3 applications have had difficulty gaining significant traction, with the exception of a few specialized communities. Compared to traditional platforms, blockchain-based social networks are still relatively small, and many gaming projects have failed to retain users after the initial excitement subsided.
Millions of users interacting with decentralized apps on a daily basis is not yet a reality. Rather, user activity and capital have been concentrated in a few industries that continue to show genuine demand.
With protocols for lending, trading, and yield generation handling billions of dollars in value, decentralized finance continues to be the most popular use case. By linking blockchain incentives to actual infrastructure, decentralized physical infrastructure networks, or DePIN, have also become one of the most compelling narratives.
RWAs are more likely to capture the market
Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are another industry that some analysts believe is still gaining traction. Institutions looking for blockchain-based settlement and transparency are becoming more interested in tokenizing bonds, Treasury bills, and other conventional financial instruments.
In the meantime, projects like Hyperliquid have shown that crypto-native financial products are still capable of substantial expansion. Additionally, prediction markets have grown in popularity, especially during significant political, economic, and sporting events, demonstrating how blockchain can facilitate markets that conventional platforms frequently find difficult to support effectively.
Web3 is not necessarily dead as a result. The fundamental idea of decentralized internet applications is still relevant today. But the market seems to be much more interested in usefulness than in grand narratives.
For the time being, industries that produce measurable activity, income, and user engagement, as opposed to those that make lofty promises for the future, are the strongest.
Dan Burgin
