A Q&A Session With CT Influencers About What’s Next in Web3

Article by tommasogualtieri.eth Edited by Trewkat Cover Art by Tonytad

There are so many trends in the crypto world; it is not easy to get your bearings. To help orient us, I thought I would bring together some of my favorite influencers on Twitter and ask them the following questions:

1. Three trends of 2023.
2. Your favorite trend and why.
3. The project that has great potential and would still exist in three years.
4. If you were Satoshi, what would you say to people involved in cryptocurrency today?
5. Ask yourself something about web3 and give yourself an answer.

Of course, remember… this not financial advice.

• rektdiomedes (@rektdiomedes) — Crypto, macro, thoughts on life. Curatoor of @thedailydegenhq. Ambassador @silentdao_. Generalist vibe-maxxoor.
• Crypto Ita (@crypto_ita2) — Computer Science, crypto lover, #bitcoin
• The DeFi Investor (@TheDeFinvestor) — I post in-depth analyses of innovative DeFi projects. Follow me for DeFi market updates, new narratives and crypto alpha. Free alpha →thedefinvestor.substack.com
• Edgy — The DeFi Edge (@thedefiedge) DeFi Systems Thinking — Follow me for the latest DeFi strategies, insights, and trends l Mentor @0xbeaconcom l Get Smarter in DeFi for free: http://thedefiedge.com Join 30k+ degens →thedefiedge.com/newsletter
• Louround (@Louround_) — Ex Hedge Funds analyst sharing tips and alphas to my fellow degens louround.substack.com
• Minty (@DeFiMinty) — Threador. Not Financial Advice.
• Ignas | DeFi Research (@DefiIgnas) — Follow for in-depth insight on DeFi to get ahead of the curve. Subscribe at: http://ignasdefi.substack.com linktr.ee/defiignas
• DeFI Saint (@DeFISaint) — I Simplify L2s tech and often write about interesting protocols leveraging/building on Layer 2s The Cathedral thedefisaint.substack.com

Here’s what they had to say!

rektdiomedes

I’d say LSDs obviously, Gamble-Fi, and Synthetics.

My favorite is probably the latter — synthetics — as I’m a big macro/TradFi nerd and I very much like the emergent synthesis of macro and DeFi.

I am very bullish on Frax Finance as I think stablecoins are the main ‘sticky use case’ of DeFi and believe Sam and the crew over there are extremely well-positioned to create a lot of value no matter what directions the overall crypto landscape goes in.

I have no idea… although I marvel at the fact that we still haven’t discovered Satoshi’s identity. It’s really a nigh-mythical origin story for crypto.

Question: As the Boomers finally pass on and the younger generations inherit the reins of power, what is to stop crypto from being embraced for the superior system of financial rails it represents?
Answer: Nothing

Crypto Ita

-Layer 2, in particular Ethereum zkEVM Layer 2. We can already feel the trend, with projects like zkSync, Polygon zkEvm, and Starknet gaining traction and a lot of TVL. Of these, zkSync is surely the better positioned at the moment, also because of airdrop hunters. And there are a lot of Layer 2 projects in testnet ready to launch, like Taiko, Linea, Base (which surely will be a big chain thanks to Coinbase support).

-Better governance: I mean, right now governance in DeFi is not perfect, cases like Arbitrum AIP-1 drama are not unique. But slowly I think we will be evolving and changing governance and exploring new ways of voting. Experiments like Optimism did with the Security Council and all other stuff… Governance will never be perfect (also our regular governance for nation state is not perfect either), but we can improve a lot.

I am not sure of the last trend for 2023, but surely I am very positive about DeFi in general with killer apps like DEXs or perps or maybe even some options brokers.

I am a software engineer so I love the tech side of crypto more than the speculative one. Layer 2 are the newest tech now and I like to study their unique approach to scale Ethereum. Also zk is very cool and I’m interested in how projects try to use this technology in real life products.

Because Ethereum is the biggest project (besides Bitcoin) out there. So Layer 2 that extends the same narrative of Ethereum will surely gain traction (or at least they have a better narrative of some random Layer 1).

Three years in crypto are 50 years in normal life… But if DeFi wants to exist in three years, surely it will need:

-DEXs: so Uniswap for sure. It’s the leader of all them

-Lending: Aave, Compound…

-Perps: GMX, Gains Network

-Options (I’m not so deep into options, but I know dopex)

-NFTs: we can hate them, we can love them, but for sure they will be here in three years and a place to buy and sell them is essential, so OpenSea.

If I am Satoshi, I’ll never ever come back to the public, just like the real Satoshi is doing. The biggest strength of Bitcoin is that Satoshi, the creator, has now disappeared and no one knows who he or she is.

This can look like it’s not so important but I disagree. The fact that really no one is backing Bitcoin, there isn’t a foundation, no creator or people to attack… This is a killer feature of Bitcoin.

Question: Why do we need DeFi?

Answer: At first glance you could say we need DeFi because it’s decentralized finance and it serves all people that cannot have even a bank account without them having to sign endless documents or other bureaucratic stuff.

But if you have spent some time in DeFi you actually know it’s not really decentralized (at least for now). I like the term “on-chain finance OFI”, but surely DeFi is still better for mass adoption ahah. There are stablecoins issued by centralised companies (Circle and USDC), centralised bridges, centralised oracles, centralised big exchange. Also inside DeFi protocols developers and the team have an insider advantage.

So I think DeFi is cool because it allows us to experiment new ideas, new paradigms, new projects that in the legacy market are not allowed or are not easy to start. I see DeFi more like an extension of our current financial system then something that is going to replace it.

The DeFi Investor

Liquid Staking Derivatives, Perpetual DEXs, and the rise of Ethereum L2s.

My favorite trend is the rise of Ethereum L2s, as I believe that the best for L2s is yet to come and it’s very exciting to see the Ethereum vision of scaling through rollups becoming a reality.

One project that I’m extremely bullish on in the long term is EigenLayer. I believe that the idea of an ETH re-staking solution is brilliant and if the team delivers everything that’s on the whitepaper, I’m sure that the project will still be around 3 years from now, even though EigenLayer is currently in the early stages of development.

I would tell them that it’s important not to forget that decentralization and permissionless access are the main ethos of crypto.

Question: What do we need to onboard the next billion crypto users?

Answer: A greater focus on creating user-friendly interfaces and all-in-one dApps for everything DeFi would significantly accelerate the mass adoption of crypto.

Edgy — The DeFi Edge

ZK-Rollup wars, NFT financialization, decentralized stablecoins.

Decentralized stablecoins. It’s not sexy, and there aren’t any 100x plays with it. Governments are trying to choke out crypto. Our reliance on USDC and other centralized stablecoins is a point of failure. I look forward to Curve’s crvUSD, Aave’s GHO, and Redacted Cartel’s indinero.

Three years is a long time. Ethereum would be a boring answer. I’ll say Frax. They’re amazing at strategy and have proven themselves to be adaptable.

Don’t lose sight of the original vision of crypto — it’s a tool to secure our freedom.

Question: What do you think happens after death?

Answer: Nothing. Just like how things were before we were born. Our minds and memories cease to exist. But we still exist in the universe through our atoms. Hopefully, there’s reincarnation, as I’d love to go on this adventure again.

Louround

a) Increased adoption of DeFi platforms and decentralization as a whole: As more people recognize the benefits of DeFi in terms of transparency, security, and accessibility, the adoption of DeFi platforms will continue to grow. The recent fiascos made by centralized entities (FTX, Celsius, 3AC) clearly showed the need for decentralization and self-custody. This interest is also shown by DEX metrics that are up only since those fiascos happened.

b) Ethereum scaling solutions: It’s not a surprise that this narrative will hold on in the long term, ETH is the chain with the highest TVL by far, that however faces scalability issues. The race for the best scaling solution has been initiated by optimistic rollups that are now facing their own limits, which will be solved by zkEVM solutions such as zkSync, Starknet, Polygon zkEVM, Scroll.

c) Copy trading: An interesting narrative that isn’t much mentioned on CT but that would help millions of users to enter the market. As daily users of DeFi and different chains, we do not understand how big the barrier for adoption is to someone that wants to buy some tokens on a L2 without getting lost in the complexity. Having the possibility to just do a few clicks to copy successful traders/investors on multiple chains is a game changer to attracting retail and possibly institutional liquidity on the market.

I really like all of them as they push the industry forward and are in line with the blockchain’s initial roots, decentralization, and financial empowerment. Many other narratives are often shared but most do not provide any added value to the industry and will definitely not last in the long term.

I would like to say Ethereum as it has established itself as a leading blockchain with an active developer community and a constantly growing ecosystem of dApps. Scaling solutions are also making it well-positioned to continue growing and innovating in the following years.

If I was Satoshi, I would say that people should focus on onboarding users and creating positive awareness of the industry. We see too many people pursuing greed and creating hundreds of projects on the same narrative that just have a few new features.

Now since I’m not Satoshi, I’ll just recommend continuing to accumulate during the bear so we buy lambo on the next bull run.

Question: What is the easiest way to go from $10K to $1 Million?

Answer: Just do 10x 2 times in a row

Jokes aside, I’m not that intelligent so I will leave this topic for my fellow frens.

Minty

Three trends that I think we are seeing in 2023 are the expansion of ETH LSDs with Shanghai, more ways to implement Real-World Assets in blockchain, and platforms that offer seamless integration between blockchains.

My favorite trend is seeing the growth of NFTFi. There is a lot of untapped potential with NFTs, and it is the closest to mainstream culture and adoption.

If I had to pick a project that I think would still exist after 3 years I would probably choose Chainlink. Its infrastructure services are integral to everything blockchain, and new tech like CCIP makes me believe it will probably still be relevant for a while. (Not Financial Advice).

Not sure haha. I would probably remind people to make sure their funds are secure and that they’re following best practices.

Question: What can I do today to set me up for tomorrow?

Answer: Network. It’s hard to go at it alone in the space and much easier if you have smart friends to interact with along the way. There’s too much noise in the space so having a group of people you can share info with is really helpful.

Ignas | DeFi Research

– The growth of the Modular Blockchain narrative. Modularity is how Ethereum scales with fast and cheap transaction execution on Layer 2s. What’s more, these Layer 2s act as “hubs” for different ecosystems, creating a more vibrant developer ecosystem than a single Ethereum chain.

With the EIP-4844 upgrade, which is expected to be implemented in the second half of 2023, gas fees on L2s will drop by 10–100x so the Modular Blockchain narrative will get even more traction.

– Real-world assets (RWA). Borrowing demand on protocols like Aave or Compound depends mostly on leverage. But RWA protocols offer under-collateralized lending outside the circular crypto world.

RWAs enable DeFi lending to grow from tens of billions to a $1.6T TradFi private credit loan market. RWA is how we make a positive impact on the physical world, while bringing new earning opportunities in DeFi.

– Smart Accounts (account abstraction) is a powerful shift in the way we interact with web3. My girlfriend recently bought crypto for the first time. As I gradually introduce her to the world of DeFi, I’ve become more aware of the challenges newcomers face: seed phrases, high gas fees, bad UX, crypto jargon, etc.

Thanks to the EIP-4337 upgrade and zkSync Era launch with Account Abstraction at the protocol level, I expect the crypto user experience to improve a lot. Which will bring a new wave of users.

Smart accounts (account abstraction). I really want more funding to flow towards teams that are working hard to make crypto easy to use. I really hope that this will bring 1 billion people to the crypto world.

Together with RWAs, lower gas fees thanks to L2s, and smart accounts we have the best shot at mass adoption since… ever.

Ethereum and Bitcoin. This industry is so dynamic that I can’t be sure about anything else.

Ethereum is becoming a base layer for the digital ownership economy in web3 and the best asset for passive income.

BTC is the best asset we have to hedge and leave the current financial system.

I encourage you to keep in mind the original vision and values that inspired the creation of Bitcoin: decentralization, financial sovereignty, privacy, and censorship resistance.

It seems crypto is going two ways: One of genuine decentralization and the one of fake decentralization. The recent USDC crash proves the centralized nature of DeFi as the risk stemmed from a TradFi bank.

It’s now clear to everyone that DeFi isn’t as decentralized as we pretended it to be. So, even rebranding DeFi to on-chain finance would equalize the current reality to what DeFi really is.

At least DAOs should stop playing the decentralization theater and call things as they really are. We call it DeFi, but we really mean on-chain finance.

Question: What’s the best way to make it in crypto?

Answer: Don’t follow the latest trends blindly. Take everything what influencers say with a grain of salt. Step back and think. Investing based on what’s popular is a sure way to fail.

Front-run the narrative, don’t follow it. You should also develop a strategy that aligns with your strengths:

• Good at tracking on-chain transactions?

• Passionate about networking?

• Talented in creating memes?

• Proficient in coding?

Anything that sets you apart is an advantage. Don’t get swept away by what’s popular — take a step back and think. Sure, it’s easy to fall for the latest fashion or tech gadgets.

DeFI Saint

LSDs, L2s (zkEVM) Narratives, RWA.

L2s, This is just the beginning, More of them are still launched on Mainnet with no token and much speculation for airdrop, and we’ll keep seeing redistribution of TVL inflow.

VELA, Yes, would be around. It’s a perp derivatives DEX for trading of crypto assets, forex, and market cap (soon). Innovative project with experienced team, lots of exciting features like stop trailing loss etc.
First perp Dex where its vault which serves as a counterparty to traders is fully Stable (USDC).

We’re still early. Mass adoption hasn’t yet happened, People who capitalize on it now will be the winners in the future.

Question: Is DeFi ready for mass adoption?

Answer: No, until security is at least 90% guaranteed, sometimes I feel CeFi is safer. In DeFi, rugs and exploits now seem so normal, one can just wake up and decide to rug everyone without thinking twice. You see the news we see everyday…..