Web3 Mobile: A Path To Next-Wave of Crypto Mass Adoption

July 22, 2022July 23, 2022

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Is Web3 needs to go mobile for the crypto to go mainstream with the next-wave of mass adoption? That question is making rounds in crypto circles in-view of recent developments in the blockchain space.

In the past, phones and laptops went mobile, now the web3 teams are making serious bets that mobile is the future of the industry. Recently Polygon announced a partnership with a mobile phone startup called Nothing to release the Nothing Phone (1). It’s in response to earlier move by Solana with a Solana-native smartphone called Saga. HTC has released a phone designed for a VR metaverse. Amidst these developments a team of developers quietly released an Ethereum-based operating system ethOS (an Ethereum phone operating system).

Why Web3 Mobile Saga Now?

Did you hear about Fortnite? Are you aware of users having zero control over their in-game identities and assets that they “own” in such games they are crazy to play? In Web 2.0, users cannot control and monetize the content they create. More than 2.5 billion gamers worldwide have been lied to that they own their in-game assets. They don’t own it.

Some cool stuff happened on Fortnite. 12.5 Million people attended Travis Scott virtual concert. Yes, you read it: 12.5 MILLION PEOPLE.

The Solution:

Blockchain can enable users to interact with online services governed by peer-to-peer networks, which is essentially a decentralized network of computers instead of the server of a single entity. In such a setting, users can own their data and have permissionless and peer-to-peer transactions, bypassing middlemen’s need for anyone with an internet connection and cryptocurrency wallets like Metamask.

The full control of digital identities and how and when data are shared is therefore returned to users with different online applications through their private keys.

web2 vs web3 — Left is centralized ownership. On the right side, you own your stuff!

The world is moving fast to Web3. The internet of assets:

From AWS to IPFS
From LLC to DAO
From Chrome to Brave
From your bank to Metamask
From centralized systems to decentralized blockchains
From Facebook to Steemit
From Eve Online to Star Atlas

In Web 3.0, users can create content while owning, controlling and monetizing them through the implementation of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. This is what enables NFTs.

Web3 going mobile creates a seamless user experience to transition to “creator economy“.

Blockchain-powered Smartphones

Blockchain smartphones have been around since 2018. In fact, the first wave of such products from giants like Samsung may not be a huge success, but players from the industry itself have pivoted towards this concept. One such as Solana Saga.

Solana unveiled a new Web3-powered smartphone, ‘Solana Saga,’ as well as a developer kit. The latter is called the Solana Mobile Stack and offers Android developers the necessary tools required to develop secure crypto wallets and Web3 apps. In a nutshell, Solana Mobile Stack will be pre-installed on every Solana Saga.

In addition to apps and games on the Polygon platform, Nothing Phone (1) users will be able to access the network’s payments and future features, such as a proof-based identification solution, Polygon ID, etc. Polygon revealed that the end goal is to make all of Nothing’s phone products and other ecosystem devices “future-ready” by backing sustainable and secure access to Web 3 apps.

Despite these endeavors, demand for blockchain smartphones hasn’t really taken off since the likes of HTC Exodus debuted. Solana and Polygon’s pitch isn’t very far from its predecessors either.

As depicted above, the metaverse happens at the intersection of Web3/Blockchain, MR and gaming. Web3 going on mobile, in a way brings the entire metaverse ecosystem on mobile.

Mobile Revolution Catching Up With Web3 Evolution

As of 2019, it was forecast that over 2 billion people accessed the internet via their smartphones alone. The World Advertising Research Center (WARC) has predicted that 72.6% of internet users or nearly 3.7 billion people will access the web via smartphones by 2025. Because of the sheer amount of the world population that relies on mobile phones over desktop devices, there’s a huge potential to bring crypto to all smartphone users in the world.

In many emerging markets, people only have access to phones rather than computers. We have to take off our US/Western hats and think about what are the use cases that perhaps emerging market users are going to want. Hence web3 going mobile will be a bigger trend and one that is very important to getting crypto out to more of the mainstream.

Building Sustainable and Environmentally Conscious Web3 Mobile

Beyond technology progression, it’s interesting to follow on Polygon’s promise to be carbon-neutral network and commitment to go carbon-negative by the end of 2022, and how Nothing’s foray into Web3 will be founded upon a sustainable and environmentally conscious basis. According to Polygon blog post, Nothing has worked with internationally recognized third parties to assess the environmental impact of its products. They have also neutralized some of their carbon footprint by offsetting the electricity used in their manufacturing processes. Nothing has also purchased carbon credits using the Verified Carbon Standard to offset their products’ additional emissions.

To Conclude, Bears Are Helping To Build Web3 Mobile

Many wonder if a bear market is the best time to launch big projects like this. It looks like the crypto has reached escape velocity. It’s finally reached the scale where you could build mobile applications and have them reach a large number of users and perhaps build social experiences on top of them. So from that perspective, of user adoption, the timing makes sense.

So, despite the bear market, builders will keep building ecosystems around web3 mobile.