Shi Khai, WEIInfra <> App Value Alignment
Today, Infra <> App incentives are broken.ContextFor an infrastructure project to prosper, it needs to have a booming ecosystem. Typically, this is aided through token incentives, either programmatically (e.g. DEX liquidity incentives, airdrops), or by manual distribution (e.g. grant programs). However, recipients of these incentives are often mercenary. They typically sell the tokens as soon as possible, and leave whenever the incentives stop or are no longer attractive enough (caused and wo...
Shi Khai, WEI3 Frontiers of Web3 in 2022
Follow the growthTwo years ago, we waved the flag when DeFi hit $1b in Total Value Locked in LongHash’s Newsletter. The building blocks or primitives in DeFi - stablecoins, lending, decentralized exchange - became the minimum viable trio which unlocked the surface area for innovation and growth, propelling the sector beyond $200b in assets. Today, DeFi’s meteoric rise has somewhat plateaued, while further growth catalysts such as institutional involvement and regulatory clarity are just a lit...
All in on Web3, and ways to imagine the future.
When I started my crypto journey in 2017, the question everyone was asking was: What is blockchain good for? Can it do things other than money? Thousands of ICOs later, the dust settled, and we were left with tens of useable chains.
When we started our first fund in 2021, the question in the air was: What new primitives can be built onchain with crypto? In response, we endured the heat of DeFi summer, rode the tide of NFT and PFP mania, amassed laborious hours farming GameFi, and chipped in on memes and DAOs of all sorts.
In our frenzy, we broke crypto. Gas prices went crazy, chains went down, apps got hacked, users got scammed and rugged. The next question was natural: What infrastructure do we need to make crypto and blockchains useable? That’s when we started our second fund in 2022, focusing on scaling, interoperability, modular layers, middleware/ account abstraction, and cross-chain apps.
Today, in Q3 2023, we have useable L2s and app-chains for cheap and fast transactions. We can create seamless user experiences with social logins, gasless interactions, even session keys, thanks to account abstraction. ZK is leading the path towards verifiable chains, bridges, and even arbitrary programs; with privacy on the horizon. We have the minimum viable infrastructure to move ahead.
It is time to ask the next question: What can we now build, that was not possible before? What lessons have we learnt from previous hype cycles? How do we hit mass adoption?
Ideas previously attempted, whose time may have now come, presented in order of craziness innovation
Bring real world assets onchain -- make them more liquid, composable, accessible.
Bring digital assets onchain, where they belong -- from games, collectibles, memberships, vouchers, where they can flow and compose naturally.
Bring Web2 social graphs onchain -- where communities and creators are more sovereign, interoperable, monetisable.
Crowdfund what big [brother, tech, pharma] does not want you to have -- e.g., underfunded research areas, neglected public goods, underserved communities
Build global collectives -- e.g., pool data for foundation and finetuned AI models, set up peer-to-peer meshes of internet/ energy/ compute
Create autonomous worlds -- where humans and autonomous agents co-exist, experiment on new societies and economies, explore the evolutionary branches of our civilisation
Create network states -- startup nations with new sets of values and norms, incubated digitally, and grown into physical sovereign states
Aside from using the latest infrastructure, the new generation of apps must learn from the pitfalls of the last.
Sybil attacks weaken your signal/noise ratio
Pure plutocracy limits your accessibility, scalability, and sustainability
You need a combination of monetary skin-in-the-game, combined with some form of social or reputation NFT/ SBT/ attestation that is earned non-financially (Read: Decentralised Society)
Let your early adopters enjoy upside via ownership
Do not just incentivise acquisition, also create mechanisms for retention
Use points/ NFTs/ SBTs as early placeholders, launch tokens upon product-market fit
Prioritise security. Follow standards and best practices.
Hold steadfast, but not directly defiant in the face of regulation.
Manage your treasury and spending wisely. Diversify and adapt.
Every ecosystem, L2, appchain, infrastructure component is ready to shower you with grants and support -- looking for builders, users, assets.
Every LP, VC, retail investor is looking for a reason to stay in the space, finger on the dry powder trigger -- to back champions who will bring builders, users, assets.
Every single person still in crypto and Web3 today is asking ourselves: Is this all crypto can do? Is it really only speculation, gambling, and memes? Are we condemned to esoteric debates on minutiae of crypto infrastructure and cryptography? Who are we doing all this for?
Everyone is hungry for an answer. And when it comes, it will come roaring. It will feel obvious, and inevitable. So build, and we will come.
When I started my crypto journey in 2017, the question everyone was asking was: What is blockchain good for? Can it do things other than money? Thousands of ICOs later, the dust settled, and we were left with tens of useable chains.
When we started our first fund in 2021, the question in the air was: What new primitives can be built onchain with crypto? In response, we endured the heat of DeFi summer, rode the tide of NFT and PFP mania, amassed laborious hours farming GameFi, and chipped in on memes and DAOs of all sorts.
In our frenzy, we broke crypto. Gas prices went crazy, chains went down, apps got hacked, users got scammed and rugged. The next question was natural: What infrastructure do we need to make crypto and blockchains useable? That’s when we started our second fund in 2022, focusing on scaling, interoperability, modular layers, middleware/ account abstraction, and cross-chain apps.
Today, in Q3 2023, we have useable L2s and app-chains for cheap and fast transactions. We can create seamless user experiences with social logins, gasless interactions, even session keys, thanks to account abstraction. ZK is leading the path towards verifiable chains, bridges, and even arbitrary programs; with privacy on the horizon. We have the minimum viable infrastructure to move ahead.
It is time to ask the next question: What can we now build, that was not possible before? What lessons have we learnt from previous hype cycles? How do we hit mass adoption?
Ideas previously attempted, whose time may have now come, presented in order of craziness innovation
Bring real world assets onchain -- make them more liquid, composable, accessible.
Bring digital assets onchain, where they belong -- from games, collectibles, memberships, vouchers, where they can flow and compose naturally.
Bring Web2 social graphs onchain -- where communities and creators are more sovereign, interoperable, monetisable.
Crowdfund what big [brother, tech, pharma] does not want you to have -- e.g., underfunded research areas, neglected public goods, underserved communities
Build global collectives -- e.g., pool data for foundation and finetuned AI models, set up peer-to-peer meshes of internet/ energy/ compute
Create autonomous worlds -- where humans and autonomous agents co-exist, experiment on new societies and economies, explore the evolutionary branches of our civilisation
Create network states -- startup nations with new sets of values and norms, incubated digitally, and grown into physical sovereign states
Aside from using the latest infrastructure, the new generation of apps must learn from the pitfalls of the last.
Sybil attacks weaken your signal/noise ratio
Pure plutocracy limits your accessibility, scalability, and sustainability
You need a combination of monetary skin-in-the-game, combined with some form of social or reputation NFT/ SBT/ attestation that is earned non-financially (Read: Decentralised Society)
Let your early adopters enjoy upside via ownership
Do not just incentivise acquisition, also create mechanisms for retention
Use points/ NFTs/ SBTs as early placeholders, launch tokens upon product-market fit
Prioritise security. Follow standards and best practices.
Hold steadfast, but not directly defiant in the face of regulation.
Manage your treasury and spending wisely. Diversify and adapt.
Every ecosystem, L2, appchain, infrastructure component is ready to shower you with grants and support -- looking for builders, users, assets.
Every LP, VC, retail investor is looking for a reason to stay in the space, finger on the dry powder trigger -- to back champions who will bring builders, users, assets.
Every single person still in crypto and Web3 today is asking ourselves: Is this all crypto can do? Is it really only speculation, gambling, and memes? Are we condemned to esoteric debates on minutiae of crypto infrastructure and cryptography? Who are we doing all this for?
Everyone is hungry for an answer. And when it comes, it will come roaring. It will feel obvious, and inevitable. So build, and we will come.
Shi Khai, WEIInfra <> App Value Alignment
Today, Infra <> App incentives are broken.ContextFor an infrastructure project to prosper, it needs to have a booming ecosystem. Typically, this is aided through token incentives, either programmatically (e.g. DEX liquidity incentives, airdrops), or by manual distribution (e.g. grant programs). However, recipients of these incentives are often mercenary. They typically sell the tokens as soon as possible, and leave whenever the incentives stop or are no longer attractive enough (caused and wo...
Shi Khai, WEI3 Frontiers of Web3 in 2022
Follow the growthTwo years ago, we waved the flag when DeFi hit $1b in Total Value Locked in LongHash’s Newsletter. The building blocks or primitives in DeFi - stablecoins, lending, decentralized exchange - became the minimum viable trio which unlocked the surface area for innovation and growth, propelling the sector beyond $200b in assets. Today, DeFi’s meteoric rise has somewhat plateaued, while further growth catalysts such as institutional involvement and regulatory clarity are just a lit...
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