- Artists like Snoop Dogg have a stake in Web3, according to The Sandbox’s founder.
- A Stellar executive exposes the “lies we tell ourselves” about smart contracts.
- Paris Blockchain Week demonstrates that investors understand the Web3 ethos.
While the crypto market may see its ups and downs, Web3 firms continue to build and grow, and Europe’s biggest blockchain event has only served to reinforce that notion.
Major names from established industries and crypto firms met at this year’s Paris Blockchain Week. While their visions of the future of Web3 may differ, the interest of major brands demonstrated the importance of the space.
On Thursday 23rd, speakers at the event also highlighted the importance of culture for the emerging Web3 tech.
Sandbox – Art and Culture Will Drive Web3 Forward
New technology influences how we create and share culture. At the same time, culture shapes the direction of technology.
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Arthur Madrid, co-founder and CEO of the metaverse game The Sandbox, understands this and stresses the importance of culture to Web3. In his keynote speech on Thursday, March 23rd, Madrid emphasized that artists like Snoop Dogg, who has a significant investment in land in The Sandbox, will help drive the technology forward.
Musicians and other artists are potentially powerful ambassadors for this new technology, as they have a stake in its growth. Many have shown they’re not satisfied with how Web2 platforms treat them. “Snoop Dogg was the first musician that understood NFTs,” Madrid explained.
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The Sandbox CEO was not the only speaker at the conference to voice his strong opinions on Web3 culture. Many peers joined him in what has organically become a focal point of Paris Blockchain Week.
Stellar: Lies, Damned Lies, and Smart Contracts
Tomer Weller, the VP of Product at the Stellar Development Foundation, had a fiery and controversial keynote on Thursday 23rd and did not shy away from tackling topics that could make crypto natives uncomfortable.
“There’s a glaring lack of expertise in smart contract development,” Weller said. According to Weller, supposed experts in Web3 development are just not up to the task of managing smart contracts. Frequent hacks in the space confirm it.
Weller did not have many of good things to say about Ethereum, the biggest network for smart contracts, and Stellar’s competitor.
“The Ethereum Virtual Machine is so badly designed that its developer Gavin Wood abandoned it,” Weller said. Wood left Ethereum in 2016 to develop Polkadot.
Weller also warned about the impending catastrophe of “ledger bloat,” or the fact that major chains could soon run into a memory wall. “This is the elephant in the room that no one is talking about,” the Stellar VP asserted.
While Weller presented a somewhat bleak outlook, others were full of praise for those who have come to call the blockchain home.
Investors Understand the Web3 Ethos
Paris Blockchain Week highlighted the different visions for the Web3 space between brands and crypto natives. However, it also demonstrated that many investors understand the values of Web3.
In a panel on crypto culture and capital, Web3 investor Laurenz Apiarius emphasized the importance of distinguishing between innovators and copycats in Web3.
“In the Web3 space, there are some very smart people that are building new tech,” he said. However, Apiarius cautioned inventors to beware of “those that are just using the hype around Web3 to raise money.”
At the same panel, Igneus Terrenus of BitDAO emphasized that Web3 is about returning to the roots of the early internet.
“It’s about giving people ownership,” Terrenus said, underlining the importance of not relying on big tech companies. “It’s about not paying tools to rent-seeking middlemen.”
Read more about the biggest blockchain event in Europe:
Web2.5 and Web3 Visions Square off at Paris Blockchain Week
Read about what major brands have in store for Web3:
LVMH: “Web 3.0 Ideology” Is Hurting Adoption – Paris Blockchain Week
