2049 Observation: Market forces push project teams back toward practical applications, Web3 urgently needs to move beyond speculators'狂欢
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
2049 Observation: Market forces push project teams back toward practical applications, Web3 urgently needs to move beyond speculators'狂欢
"Mass Adoption" became the most frequently mentioned phrase during this 2049 event, and unlike previous contexts where it was associated with an idealistic vision, the current market's renewed reference to this term carries a sense of urgency.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Wu Tianyi, DeThings
Another year, another Token2049 in Singapore, with the Merlion gazing out much as it always has. But unlike previous gatherings, this year's event unfolded against a bleak industry backdrop, where the phrase "Mass Adoption" emerged as the most frequently repeated slogan. Unlike past iterations of this optimistic vision, the current revival of the term carries an urgent tone—only “To C” can save the market.
Market conditions are growing increasingly harsh. Poor performance in the last cycle has made LPs more cautious about risk, while VCs have tightened their criteria for founders, making fundraising even harder. At the same time, exchanges are tightening listing requirements, confidence is waning, and project valuations are generally declining. Additionally, user engagement across Web3 projects has dropped significantly, and airdrop strategies have proven ineffective at retaining users.
Against this backdrop, projects are gradually returning to real-world applications. And to reach users, these applications must bridge the “last mile”—both online and offline. This means progress isn't just needed in on-ramps, off-ramps, and payments, but also in integrating with physical merchants to cover everyday consumer use cases.
Market Pressures Push Projects Toward Practical Use
During the conference, Tada’s ride-hailing bot on Telegram stood out as one of the closest examples of a Web3 application touching mass adoption and real-life utility. The reason for its usage is simple: new users receive 60 SGD in free credits and enjoy 50% discounts thereafter. However, using the bot requires connecting a crypto wallet and paying in USDT or TON.
For a “crypto native,” this is straightforward. But for others, it means registering a wallet, converting fiat into crypto, and linking that wallet to the app. Compared to traditional ride-hailing apps that only require a credit card binding, how many users would still bother entering the crypto world when such incentives disappear?
In 2023, there were 617 million global cryptocurrency holders—not just growth, but saturation. The industry now faces a critical challenge exemplified by Tada: how to bring people who’ve never touched crypto into the ecosystem. That is the true key to mass adoption.
Yet during this year’s Token2049, signs emerged of internet-era thinking “invading” Web3—an encouraging sign of renewed focus on users. “Every additional interface a user must open reduces their willingness to spend by 20–30%,” a founder of a payment project told me in an interview. Another founder from a DePIN project added, “Users don’t care whether it’s Web2 or Web3—we need to build something actually usable first.” These are axioms in internet businesses, but voices like this have been rare in Web3 until now.
Financial maneuvers alone can no longer sustain the current market. As Ethereum creator Vitalik sheds his near-religious cult-of-personality status, Ethereum and DeFi sectors face stagnation. Raising funds with whitepapers and PowerPoint decks no longer works—the industry urgently needs to return to practical applications.
Beyond bridging the “last mile” for user onboarding, mass adoption also demands stronger infrastructure. As a result, we’re seeing a surge in projects focused on DePIN, RWA, stablecoins, and payments. Moreover, savings, payments, lending, and investment within these domains cannot remain siloed—they must be tightly integrated.
How Giants Are Responding
With growing emphasis on real-world use and user-centric design, major players are beginning to respond. One highlight of this year’s conference was Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation, introducing “PayFi”—a concept echoed by Ethereum’s Vitalik in his talk on “consumer applications.” At its core, PayFi centers around sending, receiving, and settling cryptocurrencies—not trading. It emphasizes the “time value of money,” recognizing that due to opportunity cost and interest rates, money today is worth more than the same amount received in the future.
PayFi aims to help users maximize this time value. For example, “Buy Now, Pay Never” leverages time value in payments; creators monetize content and access receivables by capturing the present value of future payments.
This model moves beyond speculation-driven crypto adoption. It encompasses not just payments and transactions, but also lending, wealth management, and cross-border transfers. By leveraging decentralized technology, PayFi makes financial activities faster, safer, and less friction-prone, reducing costs inherent in traditional finance and enabling seamless, inclusive global value transfer.
However, this vision places higher demands on current blockchain infrastructure. As transaction volumes surge, the Solana network risks congestion and slower processing. Currently, Solana achieves only 1.6% of its theoretical peak speed of 65,000 TPS. Between January 2022 and February 2023, Solana experienced outages in 7 out of 13 months, with some lasting over 24 hours. Another outage occurred in February this year. Such reliability would be unacceptable for major Web2 banks or global payment networks.
Moreover, achieving PayFi or widespread consumer applications requires more than online spending—it demands bridging the physical “last mile.” Take Visa or Alipay: their mass adoption stems from enabling users to pay seamlessly at offline stores via POS terminals or QR codes. Only when crypto applications reach physical locations can true mass adoption become feasible.
Even then, realizing Web3’s full promise—as the “next-generation internet”—requires going further than just convenient dApp or crypto credit card payments, online or offline. Users should be able to spend while their crypto assets remain securely stored and freely circulating on-chain, generating yield through lending protocols, with minimal friction in on/off-ramping—all while preserving crypto’s core advantages: resistance to centralization and immutability. Only then might crypto offer compelling benefits beyond money laundering, and only then could Web3 truly become the “future.”
Will Life Get Better When Bitcoin Hits $100,000?
Looking back at crypto’s origins, Bitcoin was originally envisioned as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system designed to resist centralized finance. Yet over time, it has evolved into a store of value. The approval of Bitcoin ETFs has further strengthened its financial characteristics. If meme coins represent retail speculation amid bear markets, Bitcoin ETFs are institutional speculation.
But consider this: if Bitcoin hits $100,000 one day, will financial inclusion be achieved? Will our daily lives become more convenient? The future of Web3 must move beyond the狂欢 (festivities) of a small group of speculators and enter the real world. The good news is this trend is slowly emerging—even if it takes ten, twenty years, or all the way to 2049.
At a Solana hackathon, one founder shared a thought-provoking insight: “Web3’s role is to improve relationships of production, not productivity. In fact, Web3 may somewhat reduce productivity.” This implies that for Web3 to achieve mass adoption and attract even a fraction of the remaining 6 billion people, it must not only retrace Web2’s path—but go much further.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
@DethingsNews
