#24 Will Blockchain BOOM in 2024? (Click here to find out...)

Welcome to?Edition #24 of 'This Week in Web3' - an all-in-one source for the most interesting Blockchain, Web3 and Metaverse content on LinkedIn, as curated by me! If you didn't catch these awesome posts, here's a quick recap...

?? Predictions for Days!

Tis the season (and I'm not talking about the holiday festivities). The end of 2023 brought its usual deluge of reports, forecasts and predictions for 2024 and summaries of the good, the bad and the FTX of Web3 over the year.

So I took it upon myself to share as many of them as possible for you all as holiday reading and to get you in (mental) shape for the year to come. Let's get it...

?? The BIG One!

193 pages of Ryan Selkis and his team going into every nook and cranny of Blockchain and Crypto, and bringing some excellent charts, insightful (and amusing) commentary. There's a reason many people see this as the first (if not the best) report to start the end-of-year reading with.

??This report includes:

- Top investment trends

- Top people to watch

- Top 10 products

- Top 10 Cryptos

- Top 10 policy trends

- Top trends in Centralised Finance (CeFi)

- Top trends for Layer 1 Blockchains

- Top trends in Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

- Random productivity tips

- Life advice for staying sane in Web3

And a LOT more... Check out the full post, read the report and see the community's comments here.

?? The One From Coinbase

As one of the few large centralised exchanges with a (relatively) untarnished record, this one is a balanced and broad read. It covers the major parts of the Crypto investment market (rather than technology, digital transformation or Dapps - but don’t worry, there's more coming on that).

??This report covers:

- Bitcoin outlook

- Ethereum deep dive

- Wider analysis of other Layer 1 and Layer 2 Blockchains

- Tokenisation (NFTs, RWAs, Digital Assets)

- Stablecoins

- And an important take on regulation, what’s good and what’s needed for further growth

Check out the Coinbase Institutional market outlook and full post here.

?? The 'Big 4' One

普华永道 , as you might expect from a 'Big 4', have taken a broader look at the drivers and enablers of the decentralised internet, including important topics like regulation and government-led digital asset initiatives. If you're not paying attention to these topics, you're missing a BIG part of the overall story...

??This report includes:

- A simple overview to Crypto regulation

- Which countries have established Crypto frameworks (very useful!)

- The EU single market for Digital Assets

- Summary of MiCAR (with country-by-country breakdown)

- Government outlooks for regulation, stablecoins, CBDCs, and other Digital Assets from Australia to Uganda (and incl. USA, UK, Brazil, UAE, HK, etc.)

This one is super useful for looking across jurisdiction, or going deep into the specific country you live or work in. Check out the full report here.

?? The Gaming One

The Blockchain Gaming Alliance has been driving collaboration, creativity and awareness of the issues and opportunities for using decentralised technology for gaming use cases for years - and they've got some serious teams onboard such as The Sandbox, Yield Guild Games, Ubisoft, Chainlink and many, many others (see pages 47-50 to see exactly how many... the list is ENORMOUS).

We've come a long way from early games promising 'play to earn' or 'ownership' of gaming assets (vs. renting from games companies as we do today) which led to some poor UX or straight up misleading promises from Web3 'walled garden games'. So this report is an important read.

??This report contains:

- Why Blockchain for gaming

- Gaming industry issues

- Addressing the gender imbalance in gaming

- Case studies of which Web2 studios are using Web3 tech

- How to build a career in Blockchain gaming

- Technical opportunities around distribution and scaling

- And a very detailed member survey

Grab the full report and some thoughtful community comments around Web3 gaming here.

?? The Well Researched One

George Calle and his team at The Block have put together a quality report, looking at a range of Blockchain technologies and digital asset categories. The Block know a thing of two about the metrics, movers and motives behind how Web3 is scaling, so it's always worth checking out their take on what's next...

?? This report is a BEAST (147+ pages) and covers:

- Price performance of the market

- The Crypto Exchange landscape

- Stablecoins landscape

- The important topic of ETFs (!)

- Ethereum vs. other Layer 1s

- Layer 2 scaling ecosystem

- Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

- NFTs

- Bitcoin NFTs

- Decentralised Social

You can find the full report and original post here.

?? The 'Outside the Box' One

Memecoins, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Bitcoin and Real World Assets dominate Crypto.com's 2024 predictions. Being an exchange, Crypto.com gets to see a lot of traffic around what chains are busy, what is attracting liquidity and investment, but their research team has also stretch out into use cases for Blockchain to bring a more rounded 2024 forecast.

?? This one includes some topics others haven't covered, so definitely worth a flick through, including:

- Crypto market sizing

- Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain

- Meme Coins

- Real World Assets

- SocialFi

- Bitcoin Halving and ETFs

- Security and Compliance

The link to the original post and full report can be found here.

?? The One Where You Decide

The Friday Poll gave us a chance to get a sense check from the community about how you think 2024 will pan out. So here's the results:

Looking pretty bullish from where I'm sitting. But it's always worth digging deeper, so check out the comments and explanations from those who voted here.

Midnight is hiring for some critically important and exciting roles, and YOU could be the perfect fit. We have had many applications, but still didn't find someone with the right fit of knowledge, experience and creativity...

Here are the two urgent roles we're looking to fill right now:

Role 1: Product Owner

This is an exciting, cross-functional role, where you’ll be responsible for designing and delivering product features that cater to a variety of audiences, and drive the next generation of Blockchain apps, powered by Zero Knowledge technology.

You’ll be involved from research to design, from strategy to execution, and responsible for prioritising features, defining work packages, elaborating acceptance criteria, and supporting architecture, engineering, quality assurance, and more.

Click here for more details, or click here to apply.

Role 2: Product Marketing Manager

This is a highly visible, cross-functional role, where you’ll be responsible for designing and delivering campaigns that engage Web2 and Web3 audiences, and drive adoption and growth of the Midnight community.

You’ll be involved from ideation through go-to-market and responsible for product launches, messaging and positioning, competitive analysis, persona development, supporting virtual and in-person events, and more.

Click here for more details, or click here to apply.

Also, check out all the open roles (technical and non-technical) across Midnight and Input Output (IOHK) by clicking here.

????♂? The Benefits of Blockchain with Blockwall

What are the benefits of Blockchain, Metaverse and the decentralised internet for society? We share some important examples in Part 2 of a 3-part video series from the Blockwall summit, where David Shrier, Dominic Briggs and myself gave a critical look at Web3 and Metaverse adoption.

This video includes some real world examples of projects we have worked on, or businesses we have invested in, that are deriving real value from using Blockchain, NFTs, Smart Contracts or having their infrastructure managed in a different way.

Examples in this video include:

- Healthcare (personal records, data portability, metaverse surgeries, seamless information and expertise delivered digitally)

- Parametric insurance

- Decentralised finance

- Democratising rapid business scaling for young entrepreneurs

- New opportunities for lawyers and tax professionals

Check out this short 5min video and the community's comments here.

?? The Roast of the Bear Market: Season 3 Finale of the Blockchain Won't Save the World Podcast

IT’S OUT and breaking all listening records for the show! The Finale of Season 3 of the Blockchain Won't Save the World Podcast, everywhere you get podcasts…

The ROAST of the Bear Market may well have been the best finale we’ve ever produced! 5 legends, decades of web3 and metaverse experience. And a lot of laughs. And a mischievous cat…

Shout to Mathew Sweezey, Irina Heaver, Keir Finlow-Bates, Sandra Helou and Emily Landon for sharing your wisdom and humour with the community Do NOT miss this one!

Links to listen are below:

??Apple - https://lnkd.in/e3a3DV6

??Google - https://lnkd.in/e_b3WhF

??Spotify - https://lnkd.in/egyHHDh

My LinkedIn Profile (Go click the ?? icon and turn notifications on!)

Blockchain Won't Save the World Podcast

RightClickSaveTheWorld Podcast

5-Hour Blockchain Growth Training with Blockchain Training Alliance

30-Min Short Course: Getting a Job in Web3 with LinkedIn Learning

And if there's one thing we can ALL AGREE to expect from Blockchain, Crypto and Web3, it's this:

Fail fast. Fail often. Hopefully don't fail while managing billions of customers' assets. Just don't be hating on those who tried. Without failure there is no innovation...