What is the Biggest Challenge of Web3 Marketing? Study Reveals Worrying Deficits

Leonardo Perez
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What is the Biggest Challenge of Web3 Marketing? Study Reveals Worrying Deficits

Web3 faces a considerable knowledge gap: only 24% of global respondents say they are familiar, according to a recent survey. While interest in Web 3.0 wanes, there is a growing fascination with AI technology among marketers and consumers alike. Despite the challenges, there is potential for Web 3.0 adoption to improve data ownership, profit sharing, and control over online identities.

Marketing in the Web 3.0 era presents its own unique challenges, the most important being awareness. Even though the concept of Web 3.0 has been a buzzword in the digital marketing space for some time, there appears to be a substantial gap in public understanding of it.

Web 3.0, the decentralized version of the Internet based on blockchain technology, is not yet a widely recognized term, even among those familiar with related concepts such as NFTs, the metaverse, and cryptocurrencies.

Web3 Lacks Awareness

According to a new survey, only 24% of people say they are familiar with Web 3.0. Comparatively, related technologies such as the metaverse and NFTs had a slightly higher recognition rate, at 36% and 34%, respectively.

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, it enjoys significantly greater awareness, with a global recognition of 92%. This knowledge gap poses a considerable challenge for marketers leveraging Web 3.0 in their campaigns.

Just a year ago, Web 3.0 was touted as the new frontier of digital advertising, and brands ventured into creating virtual worlds and NFT wearables.

Crypto-native companies like Crypto.com and traditional brands like Adidas made significant contributions to propagating the concept of Web 3.0. However, the survey results suggest that their efforts may not have had the desired impact.

AI Steals the Spotlight

A correlation has been observed between the declining interest in Web 3.0 and the growing fascination with AI. Brands like Coca-Cola have changed course, prioritizing new AI technologies over previous Web 3.0 efforts.

The decline in Web 3.0 popularity can also be seen in large companies, with Disney shutting down its entire metaverse team and Meta ending NFT integrations on its largest platforms.

While this data paints a seemingly bleak picture, the survey revealed promising signs of potential interest in Web 3.0.

Most of the respondents believe in the ideas that Web 3.0 technologies embody. About 70% of global respondents agree that they should share in the profits a company makes from their data.

This concept, along with the belief that individuals should own their online creations, a sentiment held by 67% of respondents, is part of the philosophy driving Web 3.0 technologies.

Communicating the Benefits

Privacy, a cornerstone of Web 3.0 technology, is also important to consumers. About 81% of American respondents affirmed the importance of data privacy. In fact, 79% of them expressed a desire to have more control over their online identity.

These statistics indicate the potential of Web 3.0 and the challenge for marketers is to make it more accessible and understandable. They need to educate consumers about the value of decentralized technology. Plus, how Web 3.0 can offer better control over your data, revenue sharing from your data, and greater involvement in your online creations.

Marketers must remember that they are not only creating customers, but also a new generation of “builders.”

The rise of AI technology shows that consumers are willing to adopt and understand complex technologies when the benefits are clear. Therefore, the challenge for Web 3.0 marketing lies not only in raising awareness but also in effectively communicating the benefits and transformative potential of Web 3.0 technologies.

By Leonardo Pérez

Is Bitcoin a Real Solution to Banking Interference?

Audy Castañeda
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Is Bitcoin a Real Solution to Banking Interference?

Privacy is under attack, while worrying legislative proposals on this issue come from all sides.

The principle of non-interference implies that the bank should not interfere in the affairs of its customers. This results in autonomy for the client to operate their bank account and dispose of their assets as they wish, at least that is how it is understood from a theoretical point of view.

Firstly, the bank remains subject to a supervisory obligation and, in the event of non-compliance, can be held liable in this regard. Therefore, it is difficult for banking establishments to determine in which cases it is necessary to increase vigilance and what limits should not be exceeded in order not to exceed the duty of non-interference.

Common sense would dictate that the customer’s account can operate freely, unless the bank identifies glaring anomalies in its use: remittances of checks that go unpaid, account that often exceeds a possible overdraft authorization, etc. Apart from these easily identifiable cases, customers should, in principle, be able to freely manage their bank accounts. Unfortunately, exceptions to this principle tend to become the rule.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Provisions Take Priority Over Everything Else

Under the pretext of fighting terrorist financing and money laundering, compliance ayatollahs do everything possible to know everything about each client. Based on the provisions of articles L.561-1 et seq. of the Monetary and Financial Code, the set of “LCBFT” regulations constitutes a formidable arsenal of control of freedoms.

Thus, under the pretext of fighting terrorism (a Sunday activity that fortunately only affects a small percentage of people), banks are developing more and more tools aimed at creating a customer profile and blocking any transaction that goes beyond the internal scope framework of “normal” use pending justification from the account holder. The Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR) also welcomes the implementation of automated tools by banks in the context of the (increasingly numerous) declarations submitted to Tracfin.

Greater Interference for a Hard-to-see Benefit

However, for each banking user, faced with these increasingly invasive questions about privacy and the freedom to enjoy the fruits of labor, how many terrorists and potential criminals are arrested each year?

To date, it does not appear that the implementation of these measures has resulted in a significant drop in the number of frauds, as fraudsters constantly develop new and more effective schemes. Fraudsters benefit from the right to an account that requires the opening of a bank account in favor of any person domiciled in France, so that certain dishonest companies can continue to exist, certainly in a degraded way, even if their bank historic has decided to close its accounts.

It is very likely that in the coming years increasingly restrictive texts and obligations will continue to appear that will weigh on “ordinary” users of the banking sector, while criminals continue to play with processes over which they will still have control in the long term.

Are Cryptocurrencies the Solution?

When Bitcoin first came out, large corporations, and other personal data-hungry GAFAMs, regulation was not yet as important as it is today. Currently, it is becoming increasingly difficult to evade KYC and other demands from digital asset providers who must undergo the same regulatory developments as more traditional players.

It is likely that, while it remains a formidable store of value and a good way to fight rising inflation, Bitcoin will not be able to continue fulfilling its role as true electronic cash for long.

By Audy Castaneda

Why The CEO of This Bank Wants 99% of the Cryptocurrency Industry to Disappear

Leonardo Perez
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Why The CEO of This Bank Wants 99% of the Cryptocurrency Industry to Disappear

The lack of proper regulations on crypto exchanges is exacerbating the risks and challenges in the crypto space.

In a bold and controversial statement, Caitlin Long claimed that 99% of the crypto industry should be wiped out to decrease the buildup of leverage and improve the future advancement of the industry.

Industry Reform is Demanded to Achieve Sustainability

Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, a crypto asset banking company, has called for a seismic shift in the cryptocurrency industry and its practices. The CEO strongly suggested that only 1% of the cryptocurrency industry should be allowed to operate, while 99% of the industry should be destroyed and most of the industry’s cryptocurrency companies “defunct.”

In a heated interview with Bezinga, Long was adamant about her controversial views on the cryptocurrency industry, stating that the industry had enormous potential but that cryptocurrency companies operating using highly leveraged trading activities were regressing significantly. Long stated the following:

“I had a debate with a prominent person. I said, ‘Look, 90% of this industry still needs to go, and he said it’s 99%, and I think that’s right.’ I mean, whether it’s 90% or 99%, you see the point, there’s still a lot of garbage that needs to be eliminated,” Long said.

Long Compares the Crypto Industry to the 1999 Tech Stock Bubble

Caitlin Long has compared the current crypto industry to the tech stock bubble of 1999, the one that coincided with the growth of Internet adoption and increased 800% in investments, attracting investors from prominent companies around the world.

After peaking, the stock market plummeted 740%, leaving most investors and companies bankrupt and shut down. Long compares this stock market crash to the cryptocurrency market crash in 2022, in which Bitcoin fell by approximately 70% and major altcoins by 80% to 90%, causing major companies and investors to go bankrupt.

She also stated that the crypto industry would not be successful if it continues to amplify trading activities through leverage while allowing unregulated exchanges to operate.

“In some ways it is a repeat of the 1999 technology stock bubble, with so much garbage. And it won’t be successful, and it needs to be eliminated, but the markets are eliminating it,” Long said.

Long suggested that the lack of proper regulations on crypto exchanges is exacerbating the risks and challenges in the crypto space. Additionally, she revealed that she supported the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent crackdown on crypto exchanges in the industry.

However, the CEO has not proposed a total annihilation of the crypto industry, just a significant part of it. When asked about her opinion on the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, Long stated: “I don’t really care about the price. It is the least interesting aspect of this technology. “I’m more interested in it as a technology.”

Next Halving of Bitcoin (BTC) Will Have a Greater Impact than the Previous Ones

In another vein, earlier this month Long stated that the upcoming bitcoin (BTC) mining reward halving event could have an even greater impact than previous halvings.

“Bitcoin will be halved. And then what happens? If you really understand the mechanics, miners turn off machines that are currently tremendously profitable, but will no longer be profitable the moment the halving occurs. That’s not something anyone is prepared for.”

By Leonardo Pérez

Vitalik Buterin: “Ethereum Could Continue Without Me and the Foundation”

Audy Castañeda
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Vitalik Buterin: “Ethereum Could Continue Without Me and the Foundation”

During an extensive interview with CNBC, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stressed that this network is increasingly independent.

During a recent interview with CNBC from the Czech Republic, Vitalik Buterin stressed that Ethereum could continue on its own in the event of an emergency. In that sense, he downplayed criticism that this network is vulnerable to pressure from governments and regulators.

Unlike Bitcoin, which was born by a mysterious anonymous programmer (Satoshi Nakamoto), Ethereum has visible faces. Thus, according to the philosophy of cryptocurrencies, that is, decentralization, this is a huge weakness.

However, the Ethereum co-founder believes this is no longer the case with that blockchain. In his opinion, in recent years the network has been strongly consolidated and no longer depends on central authority. In other words, he commented to the aforementioned media that, although he participated in the creation of the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM), it now has a life of its own.

Ethereum Is Completely Independent, According to Buterin

For Vitalik Buterin, five years ago the Ethereum network would have been an easy target for regulators who wanted to attack it. However, now the matter is more complex when it comes to dismantling the EVM. Behind this, he explains, there are numerous measures that the developers have taken.

Among these, the departure from Proo-of-Work (PoW) towards the so-called Proof-of-Stake (PoS) stands out. Basically, it is about abandoning mining for staking to keep the network operating and generate new coins. As such, the network is now not vulnerable to police raids that generally affect digital mining.

“Mining requires a large amount of infrastructure and security forces know perfectly well how to detect it,” he explains. “On the other hand, with staking, you only need a laptop and a VPN and that’s it.”

Meanwhile, the programmer said that the network enjoys an independence that other more anonymous projects do not have. He alleges that if the Ethereum Foundation were banned everywhere at the same time and he disappeared, the network would still continue.

“Even if the foundation got some magical freeze order in all jurisdictions at the same time, and if something happened to me at the same time, there are entire companies that are the only Ethereum customer maintainers that could totally continue,” said Vitalik Buterin.

Decentralization and Easy Access Are the Great Objective

Among the various topics discussed in the interview, Buterin spoke of two that are fundamental: decentralization and easy access. He expressed that it is a great advance that Bitcoin or Ethereum is accepted anywhere in the world. However, this adoption of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment comes with a big pitfall expressed in centralization and custody.

“I found coffee shops without even looking for them that accepted bitcoins and ethers, but the problem is that they all used Binance,” he lamented. Although he recognizes the role of exchanges in increasing demand, he emphasizes that they are vulnerable and dangerous for users. “Those centralized actors are vulnerable, you know, both to pressure from outside and to corruption themselves,” he stressed.

He also mentioned that the big problem is that there are few alternatives for these custody platforms. Consequently, Ethereum’s next big step, according to Vitalik Buterin, could be to bring people more directly to the blockchain.

He acknowledged that it is now very difficult for non-specialists to use the network in a secure and decentralized way. Hence, the work falls on the developers so that their codes are expressed in more user-friendly interfaces.

By Audy Castaneda

Top Five Trends in DeFi: Unpacking the 2049 Token

Leonardo Perez
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Top Five Trends in DeFi: Unpacking the 2049 Token

Token 2049 reveals five intertwined arenas shaping the future of DeFi. There doesn’t seem to be much stagnation in cryptocurrencies.

It looks like Token 2025 will differ greatly from the quiet, contained anticipation the crypto community has had over the past two years. A quintet of intertwined vectors: DeFi, stablecoins, artificial intelligence, regulation and liquidity are big themes that bounce around and pose barriers and big opportunities. It didn’t seem like DeFi TVL was down: the conviction and action of believers, stayers, and builders were making DeFi.

Below are the five main conclusions of what is developing.

DeFi Vital for Cryptocurrencies

DeFi is a cornerstone of cryptocurrencies, and for any L1 or L2 to thrive in any crypto vertical, such as gaming or NFTs, the DeFi ecosystem on chains must be vibrant. DeFi is the financial channel of cryptocurrencies. While tokenization, fractionalization, and on-chain RWAs become larger emerging themes, DeFi in its original form must exist but evolve because DeFi in its current form will not be able to onboard the next 100 million users.

It should be less complex (abstraction), less fragmented (aggregation), and UX-focused. Building next-generation DeFi is an existential essentiality for L1, L2, and protocols to serve as a framework.

Stablecoins Will Evolve

To date, stablecoins have been the most accepted use case for DeFi. They serve multiple objectives in the lifecycle of a user’s digital assets, from increasing to maintaining liquidity without exposure to market volatility to trading cross-chain with arguably easier bridging.

However, stablecoins are non-interest bearing and, for the most part, are not only denominated in dollars, but are also fully backed by dollars. These two dimensions will change.

Stablecoins will emerge, which could still be denominated in US dollars but backed by crypto assets (we are not talking about something stable here) and bear interest. This thought is not new, but sometimes ideas come ahead of time, and now it begins to feel that time is ripe for this.

AI + Cryptocurrencies Are for Real

The AI ​​narrative, like the rumors around the convergence of AI and cryptocurrencies, is overused everywhere. From automated agents natively interacting with smart contracts to AI-managed asset management to distributed storage and computing running on blockchains via protocols, large-scale AI models must be operated and be resistant to sanctions and not endure concentrated exposure to centralized storage and computing.

Regulation Beyond the US

This is one of the biggest problems in the world of cryptocurrencies, and it’s not just about the SEC and its whims in the US, but almost every country with its relationship with cryptocurrencies. The founders of the DeFi protocol are being noticed from time to time in the US, and all legitimate players are forced to be deeply concerned, and to explore the possibility of moving.

It is necessary to reach progressive regulation and consider cryptocurrencies as a tokenized economy, not as a currency. DeFi regulation should be led by other countries, not the United States.

Liquidity Remains Suffocating at All Stages

The big concern revolves around liquidity and speed. Legitimate market makers are struggling to access capital.

Larger market makers that have conventionally only focused on CEx are probably struggling to capture DeFi’s liquidity provision, and newer DeFi projects are prevented from bringing higher-order innovations to the market, which could trigger the cycle of new user acquisition, rumors, and liquidity.

By Leonardo Pérez

Milton Friedman Predicted Bitcoin 30 Years Ago

Audy Castañeda
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Milton Friedman Predicted Bitcoin 30 Years Ago

The legendary Milton Friedman, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics in 1976, predicted the existence of Bitcoin approximately 30 years ago.

The winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in economics, Milton Friedman, predicted the existence of Bitcoin in 1993. Although the video was resurrected in 2018 by Dennis Parker on his account on the social network X, its impact continues to surprise.

During an interview in 1993, the economist predicted that a decentralized form of money would be born to complement the web. In his opinion, this form of money typical of the new technology that was born at that time (the Internet) would contribute to minimizing the role of the State.

Although the now deceased economist praised the birth of the network and predicted the new digital money, he also warned about the risks. He expressed that this type of electronic money that would be independent of centralized entities could make life easier for criminals.

Milton Friedman and the Bitcoin Prediction

The fact that Friedman predicted a form of money similar to Bitcoin reflects that conditions were already ripening for a transition. The old financial system, although it had one of its worst crises in 2007, had already shown serious cracks since the 1980s.

Surveillance, centralization and the lack of financial privacy gave way to theorists of a new phase of finance. The so-called Cypherpunks were the first to propose a type of money that was not tied to centralized entities such as banks and governments.

In that sense, although the existence of Bitcoin is only about 15 years old, the idea is much older. Before blockchain-based currencies, there were several attempts at digital money that ended in failure. In any case, the foundations and the idea were already in place and all that was missing was a genius like that of Satoshi Nakamoto to materialize it.

This explains why figures like Milton Friedman were clear about the notion of assets like Bitcoin long before it was created.

“The only thing that is missing, but will soon be developed, is electronic money, a method by which funds can be transferred over the Internet from A to B, without A knowing B or B knowing A,” Friedman said.

Monero Fits More into the Economist’s Idea

One of the essential aspects that Friedman saw in this type of money that he announced is that there would be no records. However, in the Bitcoin network there are records of all transactions, which are public and transparent. This allows many companies to determine with a certain degree of approximation the data of those who carry out transactions.

Most people who use cryptocurrencies on a daily basis do so without seeking to protect themselves from tracking. The latter contradicts what Friedman expected from untraceable Internet money. Considering this, it can be said that what Milton Friedman really predicted was not Bitcoin, but Monero (XRM), which is a privacy currency whose blockchain works in opaque mode. This makes transactions impossible to trace, as they are completely hidden from third parties.

These types of privacy assets are ideal for protecting people from totalitarian governments and unfair taxes. However, they are also very favorable for criminals, as the economist warned in the same interview. “Of course, it has its negative sides. It means that gangsters, people who engage in illegal transactions, will also have an easier way to conduct their business.”

By Audy Castaneda

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