How long will it take for Web3 to go mainstream?

While the mainstream adoption of cryptos is well underway, there is one initiative in particular that has the potential to propel crypto into everyone’s daily lives – Web3.

The concept of Web3 has captivated investors and the tech industry for more than a year now. In some respects, Web3 is a successful re-brand of blockchain technology, a similarly hot trend that attracted growing levels of venture capital investment for several years until 2018, when funding levels faltered. That all changed in 2021: Investment into web3 startups suddenly zoomed up to $23.7 billion, according to startup market intelligence firm Pitchbook, and celebrities and musical artists have been lining up to back all things crypto. 

Skeptics of Web3 and blockchain say Web3’s ideals of being truly decentralized don’t work in practice.

This brings us to the question – How soon would it take for Web3 to go mainstream? 

In an interview with Bloomberg, UK-based Dan Hughes, founder of Web3 startup Radix DLT and a cryptographer who spent years single-handedly designing his own version of blockchain technology, spoke about the technical challenges of Web3 and said that it could take up to a decade for it to go mainstream.

Hughes said one of the biggest challenges that could stop Web 3 from going mainstream is that it may be too “difficult or risky to use”, which may not allow a lot of people to engage with it. 

“The majority of people involved in this space at the moment are quite tech-savvy and willing to take on risk. But when you are talking to Bill the plumber in the local pub, he isn’t really interested in understanding all of the technical complexity that is currently required to be able to use this stuff. He doesn’t want to have to worry about the risk of it being stolen or losing his keys,” he added.

Further, he said that there were also regulations to consider. If the regulations go too far, that might be the final nail in the coffin.

When asked, “Web 3 might go mainstream?”, he said, “My gut feel is five to 10 years. And by mainstream, I’m thinking a billion users. This space is moving extremely fast. I’ve been part of a lot of cutting edge technologies in my time and this is by far the fastest moving space I’ve ever been involved in. A year here is 10 years everywhere else.”