From "Looking Up" to "Eye Level": How I Demystified Web3
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From "Looking Up" to "Eye Level": How I Demystified Web3
"In a bull market, everything is beautiful."
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: @LiamWang88, Independent Web3 Researcher
I first heard about and started engaging with blockchain around late 2017 to early 2018. At the time, I was working at a major internet company. Thanks to these large tech firms’ tendency to experiment early with new technologies and their strong programmer culture, I had the opportunity to encounter blockchain relatively early. Back then, I often hung out with a group of programmer friends, and the topics they talked about most frequently were: "Bitcoin," "mining," "ICO," and "shitcoins."
I don’t have a technical background, so what they discussed was completely foreign to me. But since I came from content creation, my instinct told me that blockchain was a fundamentally different technology.
So, I began reading the Bitcoin whitepaper and the Ethereum whitepaper. I remember clearly one night I read the English version of the Bitcoin whitepaper ten times and still didn't understand it—I only managed to memorize one title: “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” That title was etched deeply into my mind. My immediate impression? Three words: So damn cool!
That was where it all began. Or, as people might say now using popular internet slang: the gears of fate started turning.
Interestingly, although I started learning about blockchain through Bitcoin, I followed a friend’s advice and began by playing with shitcoins—and unsurprisingly, ended up being just another韭菜 (lamb).
At that time, my attitude toward blockchain was deeply conflicted:
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On one hand, like many others, I thought it was just a new kind of scam for harvesting lambs—in fact, looking back, there certainly was truth in that view;
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On the other hand, I felt that at least Bitcoin's underlying philosophy was genuinely novel and hinted at some future possibility.
From 2019 to 2020, I didn’t participate much in the industry, staying instead as a learner and observer tracking its development. To this day, I still believe “learner” and “observer” are the labels that best describe me.
2021: Immersed in the Allure of Web3
If 2017–2018 was merely a brief, superficial taste of blockchain, then 2021 was truly a year of deep immersion.
That year, I worked at a U.S. dollar-denominated venture fund. The VC platform gave me greater access to cutting-edge technologies and emerging fields. Coincidentally, this was also the year when the crypto market entered a bull run, and “Web3” replaced “blockchain” as the new dominant narrative.
If I reflect on that bull market, what immediately comes to mind are several memorable moments:
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In early 2021, Bitcoin reached a $1 trillion market cap for the first time.
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Major companies like Tesla publicly disclosed holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets.
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Artist Beeple sold an NFT artwork titled “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” for $69 million.
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Basketball star Stephen Curry bought a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT for $180,000. Yes, you read that right—$180,000.
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El Salvador passed legislation making Bitcoin legal tender.
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DAOs—a new Web3 organizational model—started gaining traction.
Looking back, the overall sentiment in the Web3 space during 2021 was extremely high. This enthusiasm manifested in three key areas:
1. Fervent Investment and Entrepreneurship
Working in VC, I had many opportunities to talk with investors and founder friends, and Web3 was always part of the conversation. Many traditional investors began transitioning into Web3.
It wasn’t just investors—entrepreneurs too. In traditional VC, top-tier talent from big tech companies is often the preferred profile. But that year, I saw many such high-caliber individuals leaving major firms to start ventures in Web3.
When I asked those who moved into Web3 why they made the switch, a common answer was: “Web3 feels like the internet in the 1990s—an uncharted blue ocean. The earlier you establish your position, the more industry upside you can capture.”
2. Speculation Mania
Speculating—“chao” in Chinese—is an everyday verb in Web3, especially during bull markets.
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Coin speculation, especially futures trading. From a chart perspective, the entire crypto market surged sharply in 2021. On social media, people constantly shared screenshots of massive profits and tips on how to easily make money in crypto. These posts appeared daily, creating an illusion—that making money here was effortless. No matter your background or education, if you rode the bull market with leverage and enough guts, anyone could get rich quick.
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NFT speculation. In 2021, nothing was hotter than NFTs. BAYC went mainstream and pulled in a wave of Web2 users. At the time, beyond speculation, the primary value of NFTs was serving as profile pictures. If your social media avatar was a Bored Ape or CryptoPunk, congratulations—you’d likely be seen as an OG or someone impressive, because owning such NFTs usually meant either great wealth or serious clout. NFTs perfectly tapped into people’s desire for status and recognition. Many of my younger friends were actively speculating on NFTs. Since minting times often didn’t align with China Standard Time, securing a desirable, high-value NFT sometimes required pulling all-nighters. Within the industry, NFTs were jokingly called “little pictures,” and the act of minting became known by the slang phrase: “Did you liver today?” (playing on “gan” meaning both “liver” and “to work hard”).
3. DAO Experimentation Boom
To this day, I still believe the emergence of DAOs in 2021 was profoundly significant. DAO stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. Unlike coin or NFT speculation focused purely on assets, DAOs involved less token price manipulation and more exploration of a radically different organizational model—one with three key features:
① Decentralization—no hierarchy of leaders and subordinates;
② Collaboration based on consensus and democratic decision-making;
③ Fully remote operations, with tasks coordinated online.
Like many trends, DAOs first gained popularity abroad. Well-known early examples included:
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Bankless DAO (aimed at advancing widespread adoption and social consensus around bankless finance);
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PleasrDAO (a collective of digital artists and collectors focused on acquiring culturally significant works);
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ConstitutionDAO (raised funds to bid on a copy of the U.S. Constitution), among others.
Later, DAOs took root domestically, spawning experimental projects in China.
Similar to NFT speculation, young people formed the core demographic in DAO participation. They were more open-minded and many identified as “digital nomads”—a lifestyle well-suited to DAO-style organization.
Reflecting on 2021, I was inevitably swept up in the bullish fervor. My experience of Web3 that year can best be described as immersive admiration. This sense of awe stemmed from the technological sophistication—Web3 integrating cryptography, distributed ledgers, smart contracts—and the perception that this field offered easier paths to wealth than others. It also came from exciting innovations like DAOs, which suggested new possibilities for future societal structures and collaboration models.
To sum it up in one sentence: During the bull market, everything felt wonderful.
2022: From Admiration to Sobriety—Change Comes Fast
If 2021 was the peak of optimism, 2022 marked the shattering of illusions for the crypto market.
That year saw numerous historic events that would leave lasting scars on the industry:
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May 2022: Terra blockchain collapsed, with Luna token dropping to zero overnight.
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July 2022: Prominent crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital filed for bankruptcy protection.
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November 2022: FTX, a leading exchange, was exposed for misusing customer funds and declared bankruptcy within days.
Despite some positive developments—like Ethereum’s successful transition from PoW to PoS—the above events marked the darkest chapter in crypto history and set a tone of “depression” for Web3 in 2022.
Gone were the uplifting stories. Instead, I heard increasing tales of disappointment and disaster: “XXX lost a fortune speculating,” “XXX quit the space,” “XXX project shut down due to failed fundraising,” “XXX crypto fund stopped investing.” No one talked about which coins to buy, whether NFTs would rise again (instead, everyone was dumping, but poor liquidity meant many NFTs were stuck near zero). No one discussed the next steps for DAOs or how to achieve mass adoption. The entire industry fell silent—or, as I said earlier, entered a state of depression.
Like many others, after witnessing and experiencing so many dramatic ups and downs, I gradually shifted from the reverent mindset of 2021 to a calmer, more rational stance:
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First, the extreme volatility revealed that participants weren’t just chasing overnight riches—they were also vulnerable to overnight ruin. For those using high leverage and treating futures like spot trades, Web3 became a place to gamble: “One bet and your bicycle becomes a motorcycle.”
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Second, issues like opaque fund usage and lack of effective regulation damaged trust in the industry. While surfacing problems early may benefit long-term growth, it certainly poured cold water on the hype, forcing people to reassess Web3 more objectively.
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Lastly, socially valuable experiments—such as deeper DAO exploration or tokenized initiatives for charity and environmental causes—failed to gain momentum and faded alongside the broader market downturn.
For a while, I kept asking myself: Why did so many newcomers join in 2021?
I think mediums like NFTs played a big role—they expanded Web3’s application scenarios (even if just as profile pictures)—making it tangible for Web2 users.
But once people engaged with NFTs, they quickly realized these were investment/speculative instruments.
Overall, Web3 remained weakly connected to real-life use cases. Its core appeal stayed rooted in financial attributes—generating more tokenized financial derivatives that enhanced capital liquidity and created speculative opportunities. At the time, I believed that for Web3 to sustainably evolve as an industry, it needed to strike a better balance between financial speculation and practical applications.
2023: Market Recovery, But No Return to the Past
After the 2022 bear market, 2023 became a year of self-healing for the crypto community. Bitcoin slowly climbed from $16,000 at the end of 2022. Major exchanges like Binance increased investments in compliance. Yet, when I spoke with friends investing in early-stage projects, many adopted a wait-and-see approach or shifted allocations to secondary markets. As one friend put it: “With major tokens so cheap on the secondary market, why invest in uncertain early-stage projects?”
I also expected social media discussions around Web3 to heat up again as the market recovered. I remembered in 2021, a niche social app called Jike gathered a vibrant Web3 community. Posting in Web3 research circles often brought likes and engagement. But when I reopened the app in 2023, I found many active users and project teams had gone silent. New posts received almost zero likes or comments. Clearly, things would never go back to how they were.
That year, I intentionally spoke with many people—outsiders, recent entrants, and seasoned DeFi and MEME coin players. When I asked their views on Web3, I got a consistent answer: “Web3 is just a casino for harvesting lambs—it all depends on who ends up being the lamb.”
Based on these conversations, I began contemplating writing a book—to objectively introduce the current state of Web3, helping myself and others see it clearly, without romanticizing or demonizing it. I teamed up with over a dozen insiders, each with deep expertise in their respective domains, to co-author a Web3 primer titled *From Technology to Application: A Beginner’s Guide to Web3*, published at the end of 2023 and well-received by readers. Looking back now, even though only half a year has passed, the book’s structure and framework already fall short of capturing the latest developments in Web3. I admit my perspective on this industry has evolved significantly—but what remains unchanged is that the industry continues advancing rapidly at its own pace.
2024: Bull Market Returns—Is Mass Adoption Near?
As of now, a 2024 bull market is virtually certain. Two major events have acted as catalysts for rising crypto asset prices:
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The U.S. SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, paving the way for substantial Wall Street capital inflows into Bitcoin, directly boosting not only Bitcoin but other crypto assets;
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The upcoming Bitcoin halving cycle—historically, each halving has triggered a bull run, and this year is unlikely to be an exception.
Based on my observations, I’ve compared this bull market to the 2021 cycle to identify what has stayed the same and what has changed.
What remains unchanged:
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Bull markets amplify speculation. In 2021, NFTs were the speculative vehicle; in 2024, MEME coins have taken center stage. In my view, asset-related speculation isn’t inherently right or wrong—traditional stock markets have long had long and short positions. However, due to crypto’s extreme volatility and lack of regulation, speculative behavior gets magnified when aggregated into price charts.
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Tokens still need strong liquidity and yield-generating mechanisms. Besides NFTs, GameFi and SocialFi stood out in the 2021 bull run. Web3’s unique tokenization requires integration with specific sectors or business models to drive token circulation and create value. The same holds true in 2024. On one hand, the Bitcoin ecosystem is heating up—from inscriptions to runes, Layer2 solutions, and re-staking protocols—repeating Ethereum’s historical evolution. On the other, re-staking projects built on Ethereum have become hot topics. Since Ethereum’s shift from PoW to PoS in 2022 introduced staking, users now seek not just staking yields but ways to further leverage staked assets for higher returns.
What has changed:
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Paths to Mass Adoption have diversified. In 2021, hopes for mass adoption rested on gaming and social apps, but results fell short. In 2024, Web3 is increasingly converging with AI and physical infrastructure (DePin), pursuing mass adoption via indirect routes. From this angle, Web3 needs AI and IoT more than the reverse. Moreover, the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and U.S. presidential candidates accepting crypto donations indicate crypto has gone mainstream—not in the sense of universal necessity, but in universal accessibility.
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MEME culture has grown in significance within Web3. In a decentralized world that values belief and conviction, I see this as a core spiritual essence—and MEMEs are the native expression of that ethos. This explains why MEME coins have outperformed other altcoins during this bull run.
After experiencing two bull markets (2021 and 2024), my view of Web3 has shifted—as mentioned earlier—from admiration to level-headed observation. In my eyes, Web3 is essentially about individuals or groups selling a vision to the public, raising capital, and rewarding supporters with tokens. To give those tokens utility and liquidity, financial attributes are layered on. Simply put, it’s a collective belief wrapped in financial packaging, continuously searching for meaningful use cases to empower the tokens.
Conclusion: How to Thrive in Web3?
This is my evolving understanding of Web3. As stated at the beginning, I see myself as a learner and observer in this space. Over the past few years of deep involvement, I’ve had many conversations with insiders and practitioners. A common question keeps arising: When choosing Web3 as a career path, how can one build a sustainable presence here?
The answer varies by individual, shaped by personal experiences. I wouldn’t call myself a crypto native—I come from Web2, haven’t worked long-term at notable Web3 projects or funds, and can’t claim major achievements (though my personal investment returns are decent). Fortunately, through connections with industry professionals and accumulated insights—combined with my own journey—I’d like to share some synthesized perspectives:
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Don’t enter this space with a speculative mindset. While it may seem full of money-making opportunities, they’re actually rare. There’s a saying: earning in crypto follows a pyramid structure—top tier: launching projects; second: VC investing; third: arbitrage and quantitative traders; fourth: research-driven investing; fifth: HODLing major tokens. From my experience, frequent traders don’t necessarily achieve high returns. Instead, arbitrage/quant traders and passive holders of major tokens like Bitcoin tend to earn stable, long-term gains—either through professional skill or belief in enduring value across market cycles. In Web3, for most people, achieving consistent, steady returns is far better than chasing high-risk, high-reward trades.
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Assume the best intentions in people. Web3 is a mixed bag. Participants have diverse motives, and much interaction happens remotely and anonymously, making trust costly. If you’ve found a reliable team to work with long-term, consider yourself lucky. If not, keep exploring. Even amid disappointments, you’ll eventually find like-minded partners. In a fluid, low-trust environment, extending goodwill is essential.
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Do Your Own Research (DYOR). This is the most widely shared mantra in Web3—and for good reason. With countless voices, opinions, and information flooding in, even as you extend goodwill, you must cultivate independent thinking and judgment. Build your own mental models and investment methodology. Remember: don’t let emotions sway you, don’t fall for others’ CX (hype). Always DYOR.
Writing this article has been a way for me to reflect on how my understanding of Web3 has evolved. This space has delivered better investment returns than traditional assets, introduced me to fascinating people—genuine builders, brilliant traders, and short-term speculators—and that’s been incredibly enriching. More importantly, firsthand experience has helped me identify my own niche in this ecosystem and reaffirm my guiding principles.
Of course, these reflections are based solely on my personal journey and aren’t universally applicable. I believe everyone in this space will form their own understanding of Web3. Wishing everyone profitability—and that each of you finds your rightful place in this ever-evolving world.
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@LiamWang88
