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EYES ON THE WEB3 BALL. Get rich quick speculation has led to enormous pain for many late to the crypto party, who got in on the 2020-21 boom, only to see it turn on a token into one of the biggest busts during the current general economic hard times.
But despite the current down times, the “internet upgrade” innovation that decentralized crypto fueled technologies are creating, generally termed web3, are continuing to build out and set the stage for the future.
Web3 shifts how information and assets, and even reality itself, will be mediated. Whether it’s metaverse technology, blurring the line between online and real-world existence, or the way information, digital assets, and even real world assets are exchanged and exploited, web3 will continue to take shape, because it offers possibilities that just aren’t available via the framework and technologies of the legacy web.
The Trends Journal has been covering web3 tech and implications in articles such as “WHAT DEFINES WEB3?” (8 Feb 2022), “WEB3 WILL FORCE CHANGE IN THE ENTERPRISE” (8 Mar 2022), “MORGAN CREEK CEO SAYS CRYPTO WILL OUTDO THE INTERNET” (19 Oct 2021) and others.
SUMMER FEATURE: ETHEREUM UPGRADE TO PROOF OF STAKE. It will probably take a lot more than just the “Ethereum 2.0” upgrade to really turn the crypto sector in a positive direction.
But it may be a start.
The long planned merge of an Ethereum proof-of-stake version onto the Ethereum mainnet, will mark a significant improvement in one of the most important crypto ecosystems.
By switching Ethereum from its present “proof of work” method for verifying transactions and minting tokens, to a “proof of stake” approach, the network will gain in several important ways.
Transactions will be faster and less expensive. And the energy needs of the network (ie. the power required by all those processing nodes that exist throughout the world) will become more efficient. The upgrade will also improve security.
Since 2016, Ethereum has become the most utilized crypto ecosystem for its software app building functionality, via “smart contracts.”
Smart Contracts are compilations of code that can run on the decentralized network, providing functionality that allows for the building of DeFi platforms and NFT marketplaces, among other things.
The smart contract code of the most trusted projects are available to be examined and audited by the public, and many Ethereum-based projects have enthusiastic and dedicated communities involved in their evolution and maintenance.
Networks like Solana, Cardano, Hedera and others have come along since Ethereum’s inception, offering app building functionality along with transaction speeds and cost efficiencies that give developers other options.
But more crypto apps currently run on Ethereum than any other crypto network. It has a huge established ecosystem and first mover status that is hard to just replicate, no matter what other crypto networks can tout in terms of transaction speeds and functionality.
Projects that utilize Ethereum will see the most direct benefits from the upgrade. And because the crypto sector as a whole is so tied to Ethereum (along with Bitcoin), the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade represents a positive factor that might help the blockchain sector find some new momentum.
Other factors, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, China’s COVID policies, and the midterm elections in the U.S., are all crucial in trying to gauge whether the overall current economic “dragflation” malaise will see a respite anytime soon. For more on that, see “CRYPTOS 2022: THE BEST CASE SCENARIO” (3 May 2022).