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What We Build In Crypto Today Determines What Will Happen In The Future
I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve worked in venture capital, launched startups, and now I’m at Coinbase Cloud where I’m focused on building a new kind of digital infrastructure that will enable many new applications and businesses. Where we are in history is an exciting time to be involved in crypto because so many opportunities are emerging around us. As entrepreneurs, we can build these things or invest our time and money into projects others have already started (or both). Here’s what’s happening with crypto today:
Years ago, I started learning about cryptocurrencies, and as time went on, I became more and more fascinated by the technology underlying them
Cryptocurrency is the first application of blockchain technology. Cryptocurrencies are native assets of a specific blockchain protocol, whereas tokens are created by platforms or decentralized applications (dapps) that build on top of those blockchains. At its core, digital assets, like cryptocurrencies and tokens, can be exchanged or be considered a store of value.
When people talk about “blockchain,” they’re referring to the underlying technology that powers protocols. Blockchain is essentially a new kind of digital infrastructure upon which dapps can be built — applications with no central authority controlling them and no single point of failure where they could fail or go offline unexpectedly. This new iteration of the World Wide Web is referred to as Web3.
It dawned on me that we are building new digital infrastructure now in crypto
We’re working to develop the tools and platforms that will allow us to do all kinds of things with Web3, and it’s happening right now. We, blockchain entrepreneurs and crypto businesses, have already built hundreds of dapps on Ethereum and other blockchains, including Uniswap and OpenSea. These dapps are just the beginning — we can build many different types of dapps for all kinds of purposes: voting systems, prediction markets, marketplaces for goods like art or real estate, loans/savings accounts where funds can be held securely without having to trust any third party, games…
