Interview with 47 Web3 Builders: What Is Your Contrarian View?
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Interview with 47 Web3 Builders: What Is Your Contrarian View?
A person's distinctiveness often stems from unconventional viewpoints. Don't fear being questioned or ridiculed—alphas usually emerge from non-consensus insights before they become consensus.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsTranslation: 0xzshanzha
This article is based on a group interview conducted by Zachary Dash, founder of BlockzeroLabs, with 47 seasoned industry practitioners. Zachary has exclusively authorized TechFlow to publish the Chinese version.
Zachary Dash, founder of BlockzeroLabs, posed one question to 47 Web3 founders, investors, thought leaders, builders, and developers:
"What do you think most people in crypto disagree with you about?"
This is an excellent question—individual character often emerges from holding views that differ from the mainstream. Don't fear being questioned or ridiculed; alpha often comes from non-consensus before it becomes consensus. The central tension lies in whether the future of Web3 will be truly decentralized or more centralized with user experience as the top priority—different individuals offer different answers based on their positions.
What struck me most was the response from Tay, founder of Mycrypto, who said:
"I would rather see crypto go to zero than have billions of people join tomorrow or even next year. Web3 is only worth having if it brings individuals more freedom, more choices, and more privacy. But right now we believe rising market caps are good—that materialistic value system is wrong, and based on this, we won’t succeed in building a fundamentally better system."
It's rare to hear such an idealistic voice—respect, salute.
Here are their responses:
1/Coopahtroopa: Founder of organizations like fwb, pioneer in the creator economy
Response: "The future is multi-chain, and it will be more centralized than we initially predicted."
2/Emin Gün Sirer: Founder and CEO of AvaLabsOfficial, former professor at Cornell University
Response: "In ten years, every blockchain will either become a subnet on Avalanche or a knockoff chain copying Avalanche."
3/Kaan: Co-founder of Multicoin
Response: "Solana will definitely become the number one asset by market cap within five years."
4/RYAN SEAN ADAMS: Crypto investor at BanklessHQ
Response: "Ethereum has the best scaling strategy in crypto."
5/Ian: Co-founder of SyndicateDAO, partner at IDEOVC
Response: "The economic model for open-source protocols in the future will shift from transaction fees to a VIP subscription model for token holders."
6/Robert Leshner: Founder of Compound
Response: "Self-regulation is necessary for cryptocurrency to function as a global open network, but most current users and use cases show we're still far from mature self-governance. Over time, on-chain interactions will be carried out by application entities aggregating large numbers of users."
7/Mariano: Angel investor in Ethereum, DeFi, and NFT projects
Response: "I see many newcomers willing to sacrifice decentralization for faster speeds or lower fees. In my view, decentralization cannot be compromised—it’s the foundation of everything we do, especially in Web3."
8/Nicholas Merten: Founder and CEO of Digifox_fi
Response: "Whether it’s DeFi, enterprise blockchains, or NFTs, expecting everyone to learn 'smart contracts' or 'blockchain technology' is unrealistic—just like autonomous driving, I don’t need to know how my car gets me from point A to B. So why spend time explaining the nuances of crypto instead of just using its utility directly?"
9/GREG ISENBERG: CEO of Latecheckoutplz, advisor to Reddit
Response: "NFTs, DAOs, and social tokens—I believe they’re essentially the same thing."
10/Hudson Jameson: Co-founder of Flashbots & @EthCatHerders
Response: "The wealth inequality created by cryptocurrency is extremely harmful, especially for ordinary people without a voice. This gap will perpetuate the worst aspects of capitalism."
11/Viktor Bunin: Protocol expert at Bison Trails (acquired by Coinbase), angel investor focused on Layer 1, Layer 2, interoperability, bridges, and DeFi
Response: "As long as DeFi exists on Layer 1, scaling will be difficult due to arbitrage, liquidations, and other forms of MEV that drive up gas fees. If we want high TPS, Layer 2 is the only way."
12/Nick Sawinyh: Developer at Defiprime/Dexguru
Response: "Cryptocurrency is highly correlated with the stock market. When the asset bubble bursts, crypto will definitely crash along with it. But crypto will also recover faster than other markets."
13/Tyler Reynolds: Web3 investor and builder
Response: "Decentralized cross-chain bridges can only be secured through staking with low asset utilization and associated dApps: swaps, lending, perps, etc. Moreover, gas generated solely from packing or unpacking isn’t enough to protect decentralized cross-chain bridges."
14/Jamie Burke: CEO of OVioHQ
Response: "There is no real Web3 or decentralized network until we solve SSI (self-sovereign identity) at scale."
15/Matthew Graham: CEO of Sino Global
Response: "In 2022, institutions and retail investors will continue entering crypto. But most of these players will struggle to adapt because they find themselves in very unfamiliar territory. Massive success stories like Jump Trading are the exception, not the norm."
16/Fernando: Co-founder of BalancerLabs
Response: "The Merge in 2022 will ring alarm bells about Ethereum’s robustness as a store of value. The market will undergo a major reversal in 2022."
17/Evan Van Ness: Investor at StarbloomVent, founder of WeekInEthNews
Response: "Among technical experts, it’s already quite clear that BTC’s hard supply cap doesn’t hold water, but most industry participants seem to prefer burying their heads in the sand, pretending there will only ever be 21 million BTC, even though we know that’s impossible."
18/Scoopy: Ethereum community member, DeFi 2.0 maximalist
Response: "I think many people don’t believe DeFi can deliver useful products to finance real-world things, or think it’s just degenerate—but I believe some protocols already provide tangible real-world utility and have proven they can improve iteratively. With new protocols emerging, we’ll see more real-world financial activity in DeFi."
19/Jana: DeFi developer, advisor, and investor
Response: "The DeFi community currently overlooks one thing: once DeFi scales up, it won’t generate 8% yields on stablecoins—and likely much less. Therefore, the narrative being pushed (that DeFi is better than TradFi due to higher yields) may be incorrect. But that doesn’t mean DeFi won’t maintain another strong USP."
20/Darren Lau: Founder of The Daily Ape
Response: "I don’t think investment DAOs in their current form will take off. Issues around DAO distribution scale and fair allocation based on contribution remain unresolved, including free-rider problems. Until these are solved, large-scale DAO investing won’t happen."
21/Jay Kurahashi: VP of Marketing at AvaLabsOfficial
Response: "The consolidation phase for NFTs is coming. NFTs with strong brands and communities will survive, while the rest will depreciate. New projects must innovate, not just fork code and change designs."
22/Tay: Founder of Mycrypto
Response: "I would rather see crypto go to zero than have billions of people join tomorrow or even next year. Web3 is only worth having if it brings individuals more freedom, more choices, and more privacy. But right now we believe rising market caps are good—that materialistic value system is wrong, and based on this, we won’t succeed in building a fundamentally better system."
23/Cantino: Partner at Colorcapital
Response: "Crypto does not need to adapt to traditional institutions to achieve mass adoption. Institutions must either adapt or be replaced. No amount of political or cultural resistance can flatten the arc of progress."
24/Jaime Schmidt: Investor at Color Capital
Response: "Many people ignore things outside their expertise. I believe the best way to understand is to embrace ignorance and try engaging in dialogue. Something like web3 is deeply relevant to us—if we stay silent too long, we risk becoming irrelevant."
25/Harsh Rajat: Creator of Epnsproject
Response: "Innovation and adoption are two boosters. Crypto innovation has only just begun with DeFi, NFTs, and the metaverse. Adoption of communication, notifications, meta-transactions, and automated triggers will not only seamlessly bridge Web3 and Web2 but bring massive users, making Web3 mainstream."
26/Jason Choi: Partner at TheSpartanGroup
Response: "The vast majority of Dapps in the future will be multi-chain."
27/Sassal: Creator of Thedailygwei, co-founder of ethhub_io
Response: "I believe Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap is unsustainable and must be removed after multiple halvings, because I don’t think on-chain fees (or price increases) can compensate miners for the loss in block rewards."
28/Nevin Freeman: Co-founder of Reserveprotocol
Response: "Securities laws contain deep wisdom regarding natural incentives for concealment and deception—every crypto founder should patiently consider them."
29/Haseeb Qureshi: Partner at Dragonfly Capital
Response: "Decentralization is merely a means to an end."
30/SuperMassive: Video and multimedia director at TheDefiant
Response: "The revolution hasn’t happened yet. When it does, its vanguard will surely be a group of teenage girls."
31/Amy Wu: Partner at Lightspeed
Response: "The next billion Web3 users will care more about user experience than decentralization."
32/Gaus: Founder of NFTX
Response: "The benefit of DAOs is that stakeholders can veto proposals and elect new leaders when necessary. However, overly open community governance is a step backward. 99% of decisions should come from a visionary core team whose members know when to listen to teammates."
33/Gaby: Early investor at Tcg Crypto
Response: "The 'build it and they will come' argument doesn’t apply to crypto. The reason crypto hasn’t reached the mass market is poor marketing."
34/Kerman: Founder of Arcxmoney
Response: "Your on-chain wallet score will matter more than your Twitter reputation."
35/Clinton Bembry Jr: CEO of Slingshot Crypto
Response: "Ethereum Layer 1 is unsuitable for most projects launching on it, such as NFTs and ConstitutionDAO. Instead, these projects should launch on Layer 2/sidechains like Arbitrum and Polygon."
36/Danny Zuckerman: Founder of Ceramic Network
Response: "Few tokens actually deliver on the promise of encoding community value into assets. In fact, before they might fulfill that promise, tokens are more likely to harm the community’s healthy long-term growth."
37/Hsinju: Co-founder of DystopiaLabs, partner at HackVC
Response: "The key difference between shitcoins and good projects isn’t their tech or community strength, but whether a project can survive and grow across multiple bull and bear cycles."
38/Steven Goldfeder: Co-founder of OffchainLabs, builder of Arbitrum
Response: "Most new entrants to crypto genuinely care about the total value held by OGs in crypto, which may not be obvious during bull markets. People enter crypto for various reasons, but when you dig deeper, the unifying foundation is decentralization and permissionless self-sovereignty."
39/Eden Au: Research Director at TheBlock
Response: "Providing liquidity for non-pegged token pairs in constant product market makers without incentives is usually a losing trade. This is because liquidity providers underestimate impermanent loss, and given the large amount of idle assets, total fees are diluted."
40/Pro-truth, anti-facts: Builder of IdeaMarket
Response: "If we attempt to use 'ledger-keeping' for public politics, it will lead to tyranny, not consensus."
41/David Phelps: Developer behind projects like Gitcoin
Response: "Play-to-earn is unsustainable. Because platforms take a cut, players receive less than they put in. Earnings only exist because speculation drives up prices, and the platform pays early speculators with later entrants’ funds. The real way to profit is to give players free tools, like Roblox."
42/Dariya Khojasteh: Co-founder and CEO of Layer3xyz
Response: "In the foreseeable near future, not everything will happen on-chain, so the next real boom in crypto will come from successfully porting off-chain behaviors and identities onto the chain."
43/Auryn.eth: Creator of GnosisGuild
Response: "DAOs need to reduce voting. Having everyone vote on everything is extremely inefficient."
44/Daws.eth: Creator of earni.fi
Response: "Choosing Ethereum is a bet on both a multi-chain and single-chain future. Regardless of outcome, ETH will be the global settlement layer."
45/0xJoshua: Community lead for EthereumDenver
Response: "If you’re a DAO and you’re using a centralized payroll, you’re not a DAO—you’re a company."
46/John Nahas: VP of Business Development at AvaLabsOfficial
Response: "While people don’t know how Zelle/Venmo works, they also shouldn’t need to learn an entirely new ecosystem to use blockchain. For crypto to truly scale into mainstream finance, many current transactions and complexities must be abstracted away to unlock mass adoption."
47/Mike DAOdas: Founder of The Block
Response: "Bitcoin payments will operate at scale globally within 10 years."
TechFlow is a community-driven platform dedicated to delivering valuable information and thoughtful perspectives.
Community:
WeChat Official Account: TechFlow
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowPost
Twitter: TechFlowPost
Join WeChat group via assistant WeChat: TechFlow01
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
