Interviewing 47 Web3 Builders: What is your unique perspective?

Author: Zachary Dash, Founder of BlockzeroLabs

Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Zachary Dash, founder of BlockzeroLabs, posed a question to 47 Web3 founders, investors, thought leaders, builders, and developers:

"What do you think most people in the cryptocurrency space disagree with you about?"

This is a great question, as a person's characteristics often stem from differing viewpoints. Don't be afraid of being questioned or ridiculed; Alpha often comes from non-consensus before consensus. The divergence of opinions lies in whether the future of WEB3.0 is decentralized or user experience-first but more centralized, leading to different answers from people with varying stances.

What impressed me was the response from Tay, founder of Mycrypto, who said:

"I would rather see cryptocurrency go to zero than have billions of people join cryptocurrency tomorrow or even next year. Web3 is only worth having if it brings more freedom, more choices, and more privacy to individuals. But currently, we think that rising market value is the right thing, and this materialistic value system is wrong. On this basis, we will not successfully build a fundamentally better system."

It's rare to hear such an idealistic voice; respect to her, respect.

Here are their responses:

1/Coopahtroopa: Initiator of organizations like fwb, leader in creator economy

Response: "The future is multi-chain, and its level of centralization is higher than we initially predicted."

2/Emin Gün Sirer: Founder and CEO of Avalabsofficia, former professor at Cornell University

Response: "In 10 years, every chain will either become a subnet on Avalanche or be a copycat chain of Avalanche."

3/Ksam: Co-founder of Multicoin

Response: "Solana will definitely become the number one asset by market cap in 5 years."

4/RYAN SΞAN ADAMS: Crypto investor at BanklessHQ

Response: "Ethereum has the best scaling strategy in the crypto space."

5/Ian: Co-founder of SyndicateDAI, partner at IDEOVC

Response: "The economic model of future open-source protocols will shift from Transaction Fees to a VIP charging model for token holders."

6/Robert Leshner: Founder of Compound

Response: "Self-regulation is necessary for cryptocurrency to operate as a global open network, but current user behavior indicates that we are far from perfect self-regulation. Over time, on-chain interactions will be conducted by application entities that aggregate a large number of users."

7/Mariano: Angel investor in Ethereum, DeFi, and NFT projects

Response: "I see many newcomers willing to sacrifice decentralization for faster speeds or cheaper fees. In my view, decentralization is non-negotiable; it is the foundation of everything we do, especially in Web3."

8/Nicholas Merten: Founder and CEO of Digifox_fi

Response: "Whether it's DeFi, enterprise blockchain, or NFTs, I think it's unrealistic to expect everyone to learn 'smart contracts' or 'blockchain technology,' just like with self-driving cars; I don't need to know how my car takes me from point A to point B. So why should we spend time trying to explain the nuances of crypto instead of directly using the utilities it provides?"

9/GREG ISENBERG: CEO of Latecheckoutplz, advisor at Reddit

Response: "NFTs, DAOs, and social tokens, I think they are essentially one thing."

10/Hudson Jameson: Co-founder of Flashbots & @EthCatHerders

Response: "The wealth gap caused by cryptocurrency is very harmful, especially for ordinary people without a voice; this gap will perpetuate the worst parts of capitalism."

11/Viktor Bunin: Expert on Bison Trails protocol (acquired by Coinbase), angel investor specializing in Layer 1, Layer 2, interoperability, bridges, and DeFi.

Response: "As long as Layer 1 exists for DeFi, it will be difficult to scale due to opportunities for arbitrage, liquidation, and other types of MEV, as these MEVs lead to high gas fees. If we want to achieve high TPS, then Layer 2 is the only way."

12/Nick Sawinyh: Developer at Defiprime/Dexguru

Response: "Cryptocurrency is highly correlated with the stock market; when asset bubbles burst, cryptocurrencies will certainly crash as well. But cryptocurrencies will recover faster than other markets."

13/Tyler Reynolds: Web3 investor and builder

Response: "Decentralized cross-chain bridges can only be achieved through low asset utilization staking and related dApps: exchanges, lending, perps, etc. Additionally, gas generated solely from packaging or unpacking is not enough to protect decentralized cross-chain bridges."

14/Jamie Burke: CEO of OVioHQ

Response: "There is no real Web3 and decentralized network until we can solve the SSI (self-sovereign identity) problem at scale."

15/Matthew Graham: CEO of Sino Global

Response: "In 2022, both institutions and retail investors will continue to enter the crypto space. However, most of these players will struggle to adapt here as they find themselves in a very unfamiliar place. Huge success stories like Jump Trading are the exception, not the norm."

16/Fernando: Co-founder of BalancerLabs

Response: "The merger in 2022 will ring the alarm for the market about the robustness of Ethereum as a store of value, and a major reversal will occur in the market in 2022."

17/Evan Van Ness: Investor at StarbloomVent, founder of WeekInEthNews

Response: "I think it is already very certain among technical experts that the supply cap of BTC is untenable, but it seems that most industry participants want to bury their heads in the sand, pretending there are only 21 million BTC, while we know this is currently impossible."

18/Scoopy: Ethereum community player, maximalist of DeFi 2.0

Response: "I think many people do not believe that DeFi can provide useful products to finance real-life things or think it is just a regressive thing, but I believe some protocols have indeed provided useful products in real life and have proven to improve through iteration. With the emergence of new protocols, we will see more real-life financial behaviors in DeFi."

19/Jana: DeFi developer, advisor, and investor

Response: "Currently, the DeFi community is actually overlooking one thing: once DeFi scales up, it will not generate 8% returns on stablecoins and may be much less. Therefore, the narrative being pushed (that DeFi is better than Tradfi due to higher yields) may be incorrect. But that does not mean DeFi won't maintain another strong USP."

20/Darren Lau: Founder of The Daily Ape

Response: "I believe that the current form of investment DAOs will not take off; the allocation scale of DAOs and how to average distribution based on contributions still poses problems, and there will still be free loaders (those who benefit without contributing). Until this issue is resolved, large-scale DAO investments will not happen."

21/Jay Kurahashi: VP of Marketing at AvaLabsOfficial

Response: "The integration phase of NFTs is coming. NFTs with strong brands and communities will continue to exist, while the rest will depreciate. New projects must innovate, not just fork code and change designs."

22/Tay: Founder of Mycrypto

Response: "I would rather see cryptocurrency go to zero than have billions of people join cryptocurrency tomorrow or even next year. Web3 is only worth having if it brings more freedom, more choices, and more privacy to individuals. But currently, we think that rising market value is the right thing, and this materialistic value system is wrong. On this basis, we will not successfully build a fundamentally better system."

23/Cantino: Partner at Colorcapital

Response: "Crypto does not need to adapt to traditional institutions for mass adoption. Institutions must either adapt or be eliminated. No amount of political or cultural resistance can flatten the arc of progress."

24/Jaime Schmidt: Investor at Color Capital

Response: "Many people overlook things outside their expertise. I believe the best way to understand is to become ignorant and try to interact and have a dialogue with it. Something like web3 is closely related to us, and if we remain silent for too long, we risk losing relevance."

25/Harsh Rajat: Creator of Epnsproject

Response: "Innovation and adoption are two boosters; crypto innovation has just begun with DeFi, NFTs, and the metaverse. Adoption of communication, notifications, meta-transactions, and automated triggers will not only seamlessly connect Web3 and Web2 but will also bring in a massive user base, making Web3 mainstream."

26/Jason Choi: Partner at TheSpartanGroup

Response: "The vast majority of Dapps will be multi-chain in the future."

27/Sassal: Creator of Thedailygwei, co-founder of ethhub_io

Response: "I believe the 21 million supply cap of Bitcoin is unsustainable and needs to be removed after multiple 'halvings' because I think on-chain fees (or price increases) cannot compensate for the losses miners incur in block rewards."

28/Nevin Freeman: Co-founder of Reserveprotocol

Response: "Securities laws contain profound wisdom about hidden and deceptive natural motivations that every cryptocurrency founder should patiently consider."

29/Haseeb Qureshi: Partner at Dragonfly Capital

Response: "Decentralization is merely a means to achieve the end game."

30/SuperMassive: Video and multimedia director at Thedefiant

Response: "The revolution has not yet happened. When it does, its vanguard will surely be a group of young women."

31/Amy Wu: Partner at Lightspeed

Response: "The next billion-level Web3 users will focus more on user experience rather than decentralization."

32/Gaus: Founder of NFTX

Response: "The benefit of DAOs is that stakeholders can veto proposals and elect new leaders when necessary. However, overly open community governance is a regression. 99% of decisions should come from a visionary core team whose members know when to listen to teammates' suggestions."

33/Gaby: Early investor in Tcg Crypto

Response: "'Build it, and they will come' does not apply to cryptocurrency. The reason cryptocurrency has not entered the mainstream market is due to poor marketing."

34/Kerman: Founder of Arcxmoney

Response: "The score of your on-chain wallet will be more important than your Twitter reputation."

35/Clintonbembryjr: CEO of Slingshot Crypto

Response: "Ethereum Layer 1 is not suitable for most projects launched on it, such as NFTs and ConstitutionDAO. Instead, these projects should launch on Layer 2/sidechains like Arbitrum and Polygon."

36/Danny Zuckerman: Founder of Ceramic Network

Response: "Few tokens can deliver on the promise of encoding community value into assets. In fact, before they may fulfill that promise, tokens are more likely to undermine the healthy long-term growth of the community."

37/Hsinju: Co-founder of DystopiaLabs, partner at HackVC

Response: "The key difference between junk coins and good projects lies not in their technology or community strength, but in the ability of good projects to survive and thrive through multiple bull and bear markets."

38/Steven Goldfeder: Co-founder of OffchainLabs, builder of Arbitrum

Response: "Most new entrants into cryptocurrency do care about the total value of OGs' cryptocurrencies, which may not be apparent in a bull market. People join cryptocurrency for many different motives, but when you dig deeper, the unifying foundation is decentralization and permissionless self-sovereignty."

39/Eden Au: Research Director at TheBlock

Response: "Providing liquidity for non-pegged tokens in constant product market makers without incentives is usually a losing trade. This is because liquidity providers underestimate impermanent loss, and given the large amount of idle assets, total fees are diluted."

40/Pro-truth, anti-facts: Builder at Ideamarket

Response: "If we try to use 'recording ledgers' for public politics, it will lead to tyranny rather than consensus."

41/David Phelps: Developer of projects like Gitcoin.

Response: "Play-to-earn is unsustainable. Because of platform cuts, players receive less than they invest. Making money is merely due to speculative behavior driving up prices, with platforms paying off early speculators. The real way to make money is to provide players with free tools, like Roblox."

42/Dariya Khojasteh: Co-founder and CEO of Layer3xyz

Response: "It is foreseeable that not everything will happen on-chain in the near future, so the next real boom in crypto lies in successfully transplanting off-chain behavior and identity onto the chain."

43/Auryn.eth: Creator of Gnosisguild

Response: "DAOs need to reduce voting; having everyone vote on every issue is very inefficient."

44/Daws.eth: Creator of earni.fi

Response: "Choosing Ethereum is a bet on the future of both multi-chain and single-chain. Regardless of the outcome, Eth is the global settlement layer."

45/0xJoshua: Executor of the EthereumDenver community

Response: "If you are a DAO and you are using a centralized payroll, then you are not a DAO; you are a company."

46/John Nahas: VP of Business Development at Avalabsofficial

Response: "While people may not know how Zelle/Venmo operates, they also do not need to learn an entirely new ecosystem using blockchain. To truly scale crypto into mainstream finance, many current transactions and complexities need to be abstracted away to open the door for mass adoption."

47/Mike DAOdas: Founder of The Block

Response: "Bitcoin payments will be running on a large scale globally within 10 years."