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My goal is to bring diverse minds together to accelerate our web3 education to build a better future. My hope is that these recaps will be in service of that objective.
Here is today’s roadmap:
Article: Digital Identity Use Cases
Tweet: Brain Armstrong on Russian Sanctions
Podcast: Purposeful web3 projects
Bonus: International Women’s Day
P.S. If you are new here, take a look through this web3 starter guide to get caught up to speed :)
I had a fun chat with an exec at a leading web3 company last week. Let’s call him Michael. I’ve learned in web3, if there are good vibes in a meeting, you exchange Telegram numbers to continue the conversation. This meeting went well.
On Telegram, I shared the names of a few people in the industry I thought Michael should connect with. His response stuck with me:
“Thanks, these people look great. But it also reminds me of the massive gender imbalance in web3”
Without realizing it, I had provided him with a list of names that were all men. I did this as someone who knows gender diversity is an issue in web3. And knows it’s an issue across tech and the broader workforce. As someone who has had the fortune to be educated by incredible women on how to be an ally, and how to challenge men in my life to do the same, I felt embarrassed.
Including women in conversations about web3 has become a top priority for me. Despite that, it’s so easy to forget. I’m grateful for Michael calling me out to remind me of its importance. We need more diverse thoughts and people in this space to help build the future of this industry. If we don’t prioritize this we will see the same issues that have always existed.
The women in my life have made me who I am today. They have opened up their hearts and allowed me to do the same. They have educated me on the difficulties they face in the workforce and in society. With this on my mind, I have and will continue to commit to the following principles:
Put my ego aside and continue to be educated by women I look up to
Work to uncover my own unconscious biases
Challenge the men in my life when necessary, just like Michael did
Below are a few female builders in web3 you can follow. I admire these women for a.) their leadership in this space and b.) how they have obtained a level of success while working through obstacles that most men have not.
I’m also a big fan of the Crypto Covens and Crypto Chicks NFT projects. They are focused on bringing underrepresented people, specifically women, into web3.
Happy belated International Women’s Day everyone. On to this week’s update.
Article:
Blockchain for Digital Identity
Web3 and blockchain applications can be frustrating to the general public and I can understand why. There are people making money by buying pictures of monkeys. Hundreds of people are getting “rug pulled”. Last weekend Tai Lopez launched an NFT collection where he’s charging $40k to watch a movie with him (???). There’s even an entire website highlighting these types of projects called “Web3 is Going Great”.
Learning about the negative aspects of web3 has impacted how I evaluate this ecosystem. I am specifically becoming interested in the non-financial use cases built on blockchains. One of those includes how blockchains will impact our digital identities.
Digital identity can be a weird concept to wrap your head around. This article helped make those ideas more concrete and provided examples of why blockchains could support. Here are a few takeaways:
Physical → Digital: Any part of your identity that is physical today will become digital in the future. That includes your passport, your driver’s license, and your degree. For example, Westjet and Telus (a large telecom co in Canada) just ran a pilot where passengers can bypass their security checks and head directly to their gate.
Wallets As A Service: You will own parts of your identity on your phone; most likely on a wallet. Your wallet will hold your employment history, your education history, and anything else that represents who you are and what you have done. This will probably look like your Apple or Rainbow wallets.
Yay, No More Waiting: Storing your identity on a blockchain will make things more efficient for people, companies, and governments. Instead of having to wait for 2 hours at the DMV to renew your license, or wait a week to complete your background check when joining a new company, you will be able to complete those tasks in minutes. This information will be verified and trustworthy.
I am becoming more excited about the areas of the blockchain ecosystem that are not only about making money. I’m looking forward to sharing more of these use cases with you in the future.
Tweet:
Last week we discussed recent sanctions against Russia, and how cryptocurrencies could be used to reduce their impact. Here’s an alternative perspective from the founder of Coinbase. In it, he shares that it will be difficult for Russia, and their oligarchs, to get around these sanctions mainly because all crypto transactions are public.
This reminds me of when OpenSea’s former CPO was caught insider trading on their platform. People reviewing his transactions could see that he was investing in projects before they went live on OpenSea’s front page. Someone on Twitter caught him and he was fired.
Sanctions are a complex issue, and the situation is changing fast. It will be interesting to monitor if people will be able to circumvent these sanctions by using cryptocurrencies, or if regulators will be able to review these public transactions and reinforce those same sanctions.
Podcast:
Andrew Yang has a new crypto project called Lobby3. They are a DAO whose goal is to advocate for web3 in DC. DAO members will be able to vote and propose ideas for policymakers.
A lot of web3 is not providing value to society. Although, it’s important to remember that we are in a stage of experimentation. Now that we know we can raise $47m in several days to buy the US constitution, the same technology can be used to raise $50m+ for Ukraine in less than a week.
As the industry matures, builders will come in, learn from these experiments, and ideally use them for more purposeful causes. Lobby3 will have its faults along the way, but think they fall into this bucket. You can check out their website here and their NFT collection here.
Additional Resources:
That does it for this week of Web3 Wednesdays.
Till next time,
Jay 💕