Another notable development about 2022 was seeing the blockchain narrative being hijacked by the mainstream media with stories about scams, failures, negative tales and an obsession with focusing on trading, cryptocurrency prices and the politics of regulation. Of course, these developments are part of the ebbs and flows of the market, but they are not the main thing. 

The main thing about crypto should be talking about where crypto fits, the variety of use cases, where it is already making an impact, and its future potential.  

The real universe of crypto, its communities and ecosystems are focused on advancing the crypto vision and making progress along so many dimensions.

To clear the fog, here’s a way to frame the activities surrounding the blockchain segment. It is a strategic framework, and doesn’t get into the technology weeds. 

Simply put, if you gave me 5 minutes to depict the blockchain’s potential, and explain the blockchain opportunity, here’s the narrative I would give. 

There are 3 key areas of opportunity for the blockchain and crypto:

• Re-imagine / enhance financial services globally with crypto as a new form of money or blockchain as new infrastructure.

• Improve or create new Web/Online experiences where consumers are at the center & earning value for their contributions.

• Enable new decision-making governance platforms for organizations / communities that want to better empower their stakeholders. 

The diagram summarizes the application areas where an end-user is affected. It doesn’t include infrastructure products (e.g. Ethereum L1/L2, Solana, etc.), nor the variety of middleware services (e.g. Chainlink).

The examples are numerous. 

In the Finance segment, there are so many opportunities for applying cryptocurrency as digital money, creating cryptocurrency-based financial products (e.g. lending, borrowing, etc.), cryptocurrency trading services, decentralized finance and its products, wallets / browser and investment funds.

In the Consumers segment, there is a vast array of use cases in embedding crypto inside Mobile Apps / Websites as native web3 use cases, or by adapting crypto into web2 models, NFT’s & derivative products, gaming, music, content, metaverse using crypto, industry-wide applications and enabling new identity and data ownership models for users.

Finally, in the Governance segment, there is so much experimentation potential with decentralized organizational models, the application of autonomous smart contracts tied to decision-making, voting / funding applications, decision-making support, and the uncharted territory of countries, states & democracies experimenting with blockchain-based governing models. 

If we re-focus the blockchain narrative along these opportunities, we can help educate the market on what’s really important, and subsequently bring back the right narratives to spur mainstream adoption.