The year 2022 has been challenging for all of us in Web3 and crypto, but we also see the strong determination from the wider community to build and to help shape the industry into a space that’s focused more on innovation and application.
On December 29, 2022, a Twitter Space hosted by Vivi Lin, partner of Octopus Network, brought together several industry experts to reflect on the past year as well as look ahead to 2023.
Check out some excerpts from this Twitter Spaces below or you can listen to the full episode on Spotify.
What to expect in 2023? Web3 & Crypto| Powered by Octopus Network
What struck you the most in 2022? What do you think is the most significant incident that impacted crypto space this year?
Albin, CEO, XT.com
I believe the fall of Luna was the most significant incident because it was the first domino to fall. When it comes to the more recent event — the FTX crisis, the effects on users and trust are actually different. However, it will eventually help to push things faster when it comes to regulation and compliance issues.
Pandu, Founder, DeBio Network
The thing that actually struck me the most within this year is not the crypto stuff. It is the Twitter Files event which is currently happening, and the fact that big tech companies are being controlled by the governments and helping governments violate freedom of speech, which is actually a human right and legal right in the US. So that actually struck me a lot. All the projects that I’ve been doing in the digital space are decentralized projects, because we want to ensure your sovereignty as an individual.
Woori, Manager, Octopus Network
Octopus Accelerator has accepted over 500 projects in the last year and three months. For the Accelerator 2022 Winter batch, we have fewer applications, but interestingly, I think the quality of the projects went up. These macro conditions may reduce the number of players who do startups, but the real players with a solid team and a solid idea will prevail.
Blockchain Gaming 2.0
What do you see as the future of blockchain gaming?
Jon Hook, Co-Founder&CMO, PlayEmber
I want to first separate the two terms — GameFi and blockchain games. GameFi is, in my opinion, more like a gamified DeFi. I think there’s room for both of those. They just have different audience motivations. The first phase of blockchain gaming was more gamified, with the goal of driving yields and APYs. But I see there’s a bit of a shift happening in gaming. I think mobile gaming is the key to mass adoption, so I expect the next wave would be the mobile blockchain games. Additionally, there will be much more interoperability, which means the ability to take your game assets and move them into another game. I think blockchain gaming will be eventually pushed by the Indie developers rather than those big publishers because the interoperability concept is against their business model and how they monetize.
Where do you start when thinking about making a blockchain game? And how to monetize it in a better way?
Jon Hook, Co-Founder&CMO, PlayEmber
It should start with knowing which audience you are building for, as there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach in gaming. And then you need to think about whether blockchain can make this game better? If the answer is yes, you need to start evaluating the different protocols, the tool sets, and the communities that they have that really map well to your game. Here I would like to shout out to a few places that you could start with and experts you could reach out to, AkeAndre, CEO of Crystals of Naramunz, Sasha from Human Guild, Mark Mi from the NEAR Foundation, and also us PlayEmber, we’re obsessed with helping mobile game studios seamlessly onboard onto blockchain.
Centralized Exchanges and Regulation
Centralized exchanges have been in the spotlight lately due to the FTX collapse. What do you think centralized exchange like XT would do to kind of survive this crisis?
Albin, CEO, XT.com
As an exchange, the two priorities are always the same. Number one, safety. Number two, the service. At this point, for exchange, it is really about how we can not only keep building the trust, or maintaining the trust that we have with our communities, but also how we can push the extra miles in terms of service, because that’s where we will actually make the difference.
Some people say 2023 will be the year of regulation. How do you embrace the regulation?
Albin, CEO, XT.com
We are not only embracing it, but we are following what’s happening. Actually, Europe is a very interesting scenario because they may be the first region in the world to come up with a proper framework, known as the MiCA Law, that will require you to be licensed if you want to operate as an exchange or a custodial wallet provider. And, of course, we are already walking on that being regulated, and we are in the process of acquiring all of the licenses that we need to operate. Whether in the Middle East, Europe, or elsewhere.
Decentralization Applications
How far do you see decentralized technologies have come? And what benefits will they provide?
Pandu, Founder, DeBio Network
At the beginning of the internet, the TCP/IP and HTTP protocols were widely used and totally decentralized. Even now, anyone can access an internet connection and IP address. That sounds egalitarian. But what actually happened is that a small number of businesses, such as Facebook, Google, and others, have come to dominate the internet and misuse our data. We’re essentially attempting to “re-decentralize” the internet. The idea behind decentralization is that we have the ability, or at least the option to have our own assets, data, etc. be kept by us in a self-custodian way. I think that’s why I fit so well with Octopus Network because we share the same vision that we need to ensure that people at least have an alternative to the incumbent internet giants.
Monetization has been a challenge for decentralized applications. What are you guys doing to cope with it in this bearish market condition?
Pandu, Founder, DeBio Network
Our top priority is still to acquire more users. We realize there’s a lot of barriers for people coming into crypto, especially due to the lack of trust when it comes to creating a wallet. I think tiered onboarding is the immediate future of crypto. First, you onboard them with Web2 ways or with anonymous ways, so that they can experience your products without having a wallet. But then you provide incentives for them to create a wallet. I think that’s a practical way to do it.
What’s your outlook for 2023? And any advice for the builders in the industry?
Albin, CEO, XT.com
I have been keeping my eyes on digital identity, because it could be an entry door for Web3 and key to foster mass adoption. Green Web3 is also a very interesting topic to me, and I know NEAR Protocol, with its scalability, safety, and high-speed but also sustainability layer, is also part of this environmentally sustainable Web3 initiative. Moreover, the DAO system, not just only as a model of governance, but we see it also being more and more used for investment vehicles and other areas.
Jon Hook, Co-Founder&CMO, PlayEmber
My advice on how to survive: 1. manage your cash flow; 2. start fundraising when you have a six-month runway; two or three months is a very uncomfortable amount of time to start fundraising at this time of year. 3. concentrate on real user growth and revenue, as these are what will help you raise funds. And I think that Web3 investing is going to look more and more like Web2 investing, which is ultimately if you can quickly bring your company to profitability and sustainability, it will get much higher value.
Pandu, Founder, DeBio Network
For the entire ecosystem, I’m hoping the next bull run would be a lot of cool decentralized applications out there. For the projects I have been working on, we do have a full calendar for 2023. As for DeBio, we are creating the data marketplace, and we will continue onboarding labs and genetic analysts. Myriad.Social is setting up the Federation which allows users to host their own social network. With self-hosting, users can set up their own server and invite others to join. This allows anyone to create their own social network without relying on a centralized service. And for the Reality Chain, we’ve already launched one Metaverse for Myriad itself. And we’re going to launch Metaverse four UniqueOne Network and other projects.
The year 2022 was also an amazing year for Octopus Network. Having launched on October 8, 2021, Octopus Network met 2022 with its first appchain, DeBio. Check out Octopus Network — 2022 in Review. And we will ensure that Octopus Network thrives throughout the crypto winter — and continues to occupy an important position in the upcoming Internet of Blockchains.
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What to expect in 2023? Web3&Crypto was originally published in Octopus Network on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.