How startups and VCs can accelerate blockchain adoption

Startups and venture capital funds are often at the forefront of new technology and have a key part to play in web3 and blockchain adoption. This was one of the main panel discussions at the recent Technology of Tomorrow Conference in Warsaw, Poland.

The panel was moderated by Marcin Zarakowski (Executive Committee Member at BSV Blockchain Association) and included:

What is web3 and how does it relate to blockchain?

The panel kicked off with a discussion about what exactly ‘web3’ is and how the new technology, alongside blockchain, is changing the business landscape.

Iwaszkiewicz began the discussion by noting that ‘web3’ is effectively a new set of technologies which provides innovative ways for companies and individuals to communicate and interact with one another outside of the current linear format.

Piraiee pointed to the energy sector as an example where historically the players were either producers or consumers – with no space for any other parties in this chain.

Prinz noted that web3 will allow businesses and consumers to read, write and own their data. ‘Today you have to go through ISPs – or middle-men who aggregate data. And you have to do this because the current monetisation model does not allow you to price for the different microservices that exist.’

‘For us (web3 and blockchain) is now the missing puzzle piece to enable a lot of visions such as autonomous driving, and machine communication, without the issue of giving away your data.’

Web3 is more of an opportunity than a challenge

Prinz said that startups and venture capital investors should see web3 and blockchain adoption as an opportunity rather than a challenge which they have to overcome. ‘Most of the business models which we look at are very data heavy, which creates a question of how you can effectively monetise this data without giving up control,’ he said.

‘For me, blockchain is not an industry but rather a technology that enables all the other industries – whether that be cybersecurity, supply-chain or eGaming.’

However, he cautioned that investors should not simply invest in the technology without doing their due diligence and that there are companies in the space which had effectively ‘created solutions while looking for problems afterwards.’

Instead, he said that businesses should always have a clear use case and that blockchain can often give them a competitive edge within this space.

Iwaszkiewicz echoed these thoughts and noted that it is important to adapt the technology to the challenge and not the other way around. ‘We are seeing more use cases where you can embed blockchain technology in a very traditional business without any of the jargon around NFTs.’

Reducing complexity to enhance adoption

Another consideration for businesses and investors in the space is the perceived complexity around their business plan. Piraiee noted that if it takes someone 30 minutes to explain exactly what they do and how it differentiates them from the competition then they have a problem. He cited other successful startups such as Airbnb and Uber which can explain their business model in two seconds.

He added that because the web3 space is so new, and blockchain technology is only just beginning to see adoption, there are no incumbents in the space and even major corporations are effectively behaving like startups.

Pointing to Airbnb as an example again, Prinz noted that despite early buzz the company was not a success overnight and that there were doubts about the business model of renting a private room. He noted that blockchain and web3 are in a similar space and that it is going to take some time for enterprises and other major players to fully understand and begin exploiting the technology.