We all know, Web3 is in the the trough of disillusionment. The hype it has received over the past 3 years has died down.  The negativity around security, adoption, and governance has drowned out the believers. Ignored are reports from a16z that the digital art world has exploded in patrons and now growing again. The traditional use cases have gotten stale.  The tarnish is visible in the media.  The truth is far different from this narrative. Web3 has proven itself beyond any doubt with over 400 million transaction in 2022.  This is only one chain,  Ethereum.  This should be a call to all digital architects – web3-as-infrastructure is ready.

Digital Content Management is an area I expect to be the next explosion.  Imagine you are a Youtuber (I have one in the family).  You have a community of 100K or more followers.  What is more lucrative?  Selling physical merch or digital? Patreon is a great tool for the creator economy for this reason.  You can setup a quasi-loyalty, charge subscription and deliver digital rewards.  How about Kickstarter?  Sell the goods before you make them.  Both of these models are availability simultaneously with web3 as infrastructure.  The question is who is going to provide it?  Another web2 company or brands themselves?   Why rely upon social media when you have the products and followers?

With the built-in security and public trust models, creators (individually or corporate) can harness their ideas quicker to market. The idea-to-revenue latency should make anyone interested in the opportunity of web3.  Creating a value chain pipeline with web3 is easier than ever.  There are even competing chains you can partner with.  Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon are only three of your choices.  Your ability to digitize your product line is limited soley by your imagination and community.  New tools and services are being introduced to reduce your challenges and consumer friction.  So what is the hold up?

The first common problem is in adoption.  The barriers to entry have been too great for most demographics — to date.  This is fortunately changing. New tools, technology, and methodologies are available to streamline and secure web3’s front door.  Trusted, hosted, and managed wallet solutions are available.  They allow both corporate and consumers the opportunity of access without the complexity.  With a trusted front door, outcomes with web3 as infrastructure will skyrocket.

The biggest challenge with a brand experience is with governance. Web3 was designed as a B2C experience.  Every account, or wallet, would need to be individually held.  Corporations are not individuals.  Having a flexible governance model that allows corporations to create, store, sell, and track is an absolute necessity.  Brands need to know they can control their outcomes.  Things will change once brands have equal or greater control over  digital goods.  Again, innovation has occurred.   The tools are available to manage corporate digital assets successfully.    With proper governance in place, brands will see the outcomes to the digital strategy not just “investments”.

If you are looking to increase security and reduce the cost & friction of your B2C experiences, reach out.  My team and I are helping dozens of our clients leveraging web3 to provide full ROI experiences.  The promise of web3 goes beyond the cryptocurrency and digital art use cases.  At Catalyst, we help clients harness its power with the business ROI required to build the future of CX.