Web3
Separating durable Web3 infrastructure from speculation
Beyond market cycles, some blockchain-based systems are solving real problems in settlement, verification and ownership. The question is how to tell them apart.
Few areas of technology attract as much attention, or as much noise, as Web3. Market cycles amplify both enthusiasm and scepticism. Underneath them, a narrower set of questions deserves serious attention: where does blockchain-based infrastructure solve a problem better than existing systems, and where is it simply a different way of doing something that already works?
Problems worth solving
The most credible use cases tend to share a few characteristics:
- Multiple parties need to rely on the same record without fully trusting each other
- Settlement or verification is slow, costly or opaque today
- Ownership or provenance needs to be proven, not just stated
- Interoperability across systems or borders is a genuine constraint
Questions we ask
When we assess Web3 infrastructure, we look past the token and the narrative to the fundamentals:
- 1. Who uses this, and what were they doing before?
- 2. Would the system still be valuable if token prices fell?
- 3. How does it handle regulation, compliance and consumer protection?
- 4. Is the technology mature enough for the reliability users expect?
Infrastructure over hype
The durable opportunities in Web3 are likely to look like infrastructure: settlement layers, verification systems and tools that connect to existing financial and commercial systems rather than trying to replace them overnight.
We approach this area with curiosity and caution in equal measure. It remains one of the frontier technologies we continue to research — on its fundamentals, not its cycles.