Web3 by Frota

Check out the state of Web3 in Poland by Joanna frota Kurkowska and discover her journey to become an expert in gaming and metaverse with a Web3 angle. What is more, she used to support, early-stage founders at Outlier Ventures building gaming-related products within the Web3/Metaverse ecosystems.

Let's get into it ??

1. How did your journey with blockchain technology and Web3 begin?

I heard about it in the mid-2010s but did not dwell on that matter. Later in 2017, a coworker was a huge fan of blockchain technology, with a focus on its monetary value, which at the time I didn't find it appealing. But my true entry into the world of Web3 was when one of my investor friends introduced me to the concept of DeFi. What appealed to me was that while being inspired by the traditional financial system, it took it away, added the flavor of decentralization, and presented a new opportunity for the users with a potential for mass adoption. Then going down the hole, I discovered NFTs. Because I was researching concepts such as the in-game economy, digital assets (such as digital fashion), and the metaverse, which at the time was a very niche topic, the NFTs fit perfectly into the digital narrative and the creator economy with user-generated content items flooding the market. Overall, however, that period marked the time when I was truly immersed in the Web3 world, 24 hours a day. Around the same time, I started my work at G2A.COM , and not long after I was invited to participate in a project that would later be known as Geekverse. My private research inspired me to start the first Polish newsletter on Web3, called Digital Data Glitch which resulted in joining Outlier Ventures , the world's leading web3 accelerator, as their game analyst a few months later. So, it's fair to say that for a considerable duration in 'crypto years,' I was living and breathing web3 around the clock. Last year I decided to devote more time to the happenings outside Web3 and focus on a concept I call composable culture - a mix of entertainment, gaming, AI, and digital culture, while still supporting my colleagues at G2A.COM as an Insights & Trade Strategist and after-hours contribution to niche projects such as Kiwi News. My offline location in Rotterdam helps me being close to local communities such as the Dutch branch of CryptoCanal.

2. Could you briefly describe a project within the company that you are co-creating, along with its main goals and tasks?

G2A Geekverse is an online marketplace offering digital assets related to blockchain-based games. Supported by G2A.COM - the world's largest and most trusted digital entertainment marketplace. Our mission is to enable the buying and selling of exclusive collections from top-quality blockchain-based games. We are currently working on it as a proof-of-concept, trying to determine if a major player such as G2A.COM , which is the world's leading digital marketplace for digital assets, can also incorporate new trends and types of assets into their growing portfolio of products that other sellers can sell and trade on the platform. We see this as an opportunity to understand how the market is changing, to observe how it operates, and to identify different trends around NFTs and their market, especially in the context of gaming. Our customers have been well acquainted with the NFT and crypto technology, so it was a natural force of evolution for G2A.COM , a platform that is keen on incorporating new technologies, to embark on this journey.

3. In your opinion, what is the most significant contribution that Poland currently makes or has the potential to make to the global Web3 scene in the future?

As someone who worked at a Web3 Accelerator and is keen on attending builder-oriented events, I have a unique perspective. Polish teams are not only technology-fluent but also skilled in product building and growth. We, as a nation, have a great knack for creating versatile products and tackling different aspects of the tech industry, and Web3 is no exception. Evidence of this can be found in projects such as Cookie3 , 0xKYC , Elympics , Patterns (formerly Tokenguard) , Legends of Elysium , Ramp Network , Battle for Blockchain, and KiwiNews, among many, many others. I believe that Polish builders in Web3 are bringing the same level of quality that they brought to Web2, or perhaps even more. I don't want to categorize whether Web2 is better than Web3; rather the most important fact is that we must understand the versatility and craftsmanship of the Polish ecosystem and the opportunities that this creates.

4. Do you see any specific challenges that the Web3 industry in Poland must address?

In terms of challenges, there are two ways to look at it. The obvious one is that we must tackle the regulations and the increasing popularity and adoption of crypto assets in Poland. However, these are very obvious statements. But one thing I noticed is rooted in the founder's mindset – from my experience working at a Web3 accelerator, I've noticed that Polish teams (early stage and seed mostly) are often intimidated by the prospect of having to leave the Polish ecosystem to participate in an accelerator program or to secure investment. Thankfully, the younger generation of builders does not share this attitude at all and is very keen on looking into non-Polish sources of financing or even bootstrapping.

5. What are the most significant trends or innovations you currently observe in the blockchain and Web3 field?

Firstly, it's on-chain gaming/autonomous worlds narrative, a trend that within the Web3 space has replaced Metaverse. While being more of a philosophical/ideological approach to game building, I believe that the bits and pieces that the on-chain games are putting up together will stay with us for a longer period of time. For the sake of laying the grounds for ecosystem building companies like Bitkraft or entities like Starknet Foundations are currently regarding matters like business models or asset trading of less importance.

I also believe that this kind of gaming opens new possibilities and new ways of game design and game building. It’s a playground for builders who are curious, and who do not want to follow the well-known solutions but rather explore new concepts, this will be the place to experiment and spend resources. It will go beyond copying the concepts of Web 2.0 gaming and pasting them into Web 3.0, which we saw happen very often within the play-to-earn space, but taking well-known constructs such as modding or UGS into this novel way of building. As a game analyst, and as a gamer at heart, I find these very interesting currently and looking at what creators such as Small Brain Games, Moving Castles, Lettice, or Playmint are building. This is also important in the context of Geekverse and G2A.COM as a whole – we're constantly looking at what will be happening in gaming and how we can incorporate these novelties as a marketplace platform. In that regard, we’re also thinking about how to incorporate these ideas into Geekverse and how to think about them in the context of a global marketplace.

The second trend is connected with Web3 and social media. Since Twitter/X has become less coherent and carries more noise than signal, I started researching solutions like Lens Protocol and Farcaster. Very excited by what Farcaster is doing and interested in the community that is building around it – from FarQuest to Tiles it has been fascinating to see a breath of fresh air in the SoMe space. In the past, I've seen pitch decks of companies or startups claim to have the next 'TikTok killer' and focus on huge TAM metrics and impossible growth predictions. In this regard, I appreciate Farcaster's approach - very user-centric, builder-oriented, and coherent. It provides a cozy, noise-less, and spam-less experience for users. Seeing the movement slowly gaining momentum, I believe that Web3 elements, including on-chain identity (with topics such as Decentralized Identifiers (DID) being fascinating one) and social platforms, have the potential to be significant alternatives to existing giants.

There are a number of other trends like AI and blockchain integration, using rollups in identity validation, e-commerce integrations, or gamifying casual Web3 solutions. This is what fascinates me in that space – there is always something worth exploring and it’s exciting to see where we’re heading with this.

?? Joanna frota Kurkowska - Her work at G2A.COM as an?Insights & Trade Strategist, focuses on business-oriented research on topics connected to Digital Trade (trends, etc.), Digital Assets (NFTs, in-game items, etc.), Internet communities (meme creators, etc.), and gaming as an experience/entertainment and a metaverse platform. Previously at Outlier Ventures, she supported early-stage founders building gaming-related products within the Web3/Metaverse ecosystems. Her background includes e-commerce, entertainment, marketing, and media. Frota uses her spare time to write about digital culture (focusing on the intersection of Web3, AI, and digital culture and trade) on her Digital Data Glitch blog, support startups, and community-led projects, and co-host “ Wycinki z Przysz?o?ci ”, a podcast focusing on the intersection of technology and trends.