Technological Barriers Impeding the Mass Adoption of Web3

At CoinDesk's Consensus 2023 conference in Austin, Texas, a panel comprising of Web3 executives, a consultant, and an agent discussed how despite an increasing number of brands and creators entering the Web3 realm, the ecosystem's user experience needs to be enhanced to effectively onboard new members and accelerate mass adoption.

“Every click that you need to take in the (onboarding) process, you're going to lose 50% of people,” said Julie Garneau, head of Web3 at brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, during “The Opportunities and Roadblocks of Mass Adoption” panel discussion. “I need the tech people to help me fix that on-ramp because it's so critical.”

Andy Sack, co-CEO of Forum3, a Web3 loyalty startup that advises retailers such as the Starbucks Odyssey project, believes that the idea of needing to protect a wallet in order to have a Web3 experience is unfamiliar to most consumers. According to Sack, this is one of the key barriers to adoption, as it creates an additional layer of complexity that can be intimidating for users. To overcome this, Sack suggests that the industry needs to prioritize creating a more seamless and intuitive user experience that can help consumers feel more comfortable and confident when interacting with Web3 platforms.

A number of crypto-native and Web2 brands have been striving to narrow the divide between Web2 and Web3 audiences and accelerate mass adoption. Chris Jacquemin, the head of strategy at talent agency WME, which has signed over 50 Web3 creators, noted that the "vocal minority within Web3 is literally the foundation of actually establishing credibility" when exploring different communities through social media.

The brands need to “figure out how you can balance the partnership and relationship between somebody that has no presence currently in this space but needs to build it because this will be here forever,” Jacquemin said.

Ariel Wengroff, the VP of Communications at Ledger, believes that Web3 offers an unprecedented opportunity for brands to build and maintain direct relationships with their audiences while being accountable for those connections. She sees this as a significant shift from the traditional approach to marketing and customer engagement. However, Wengroff acknowledges that the success of this approach depends on the industry's ability to overcome the challenges of user adoption, which currently limit the potential of Web3. To fully capitalize on the potential of Web3, Wengroff emphasizes the importance of creating user-friendly interfaces and improving the overall user experience to help consumers feel more comfortable and confident when engaging with these platforms.

Wengroff envisions that "enterprise security" and "governance" will be indispensable for a brand, serving as additional evidence of a product's reliability for consumers who make regular purchases.

"I think the power will be when other brands learn from what everyone else is doing, Starbucks including," Anheuser-Busch's Garneau said.

Ariel Wengroff, VP Communications, LEDGER; Andy Sack, Co-CEO, Forum3; Chris Jacquemin, Head of Strategy, WME; Julie Garneau, Senior Director, Head of NFTs, Blockchain and Metaverse, Anheuser-Busch, and Rosie Perper, Deputy Manging Editor, Web3, CoinDesk (Shutterstock/CoinDesk) (Shutterstock)

Another huge influence on onboarding to Web3 will be artificial intelligence, with both positive and negative impacts, said the panelists. "AI is going to drive Web3 usage," Sack said. "AI is going to create the need for the blockchain."

"AI and the speed with which it's moving, and the deep fakes and really the destruction of reality in the metaverse, or the ability to manipulate it, is going to require a system of trust," he added. "And that will also require a system of cryptography to verify one's identity."

The panelists were unanimous in worrying about how AI will onboard users, however. "I don't expect that transition to be smooth," said Sack. "It's going to be choppy."

Source Coindesk