Does Web3 Have an Accountability Problem?

A glance into a two-way mirror.

I’m getting back into writing. So, think of this article as an an open-ended excuse for me to rant. I’m trying to get back into the habit, anyway. So, it kinda works out.

I’m usually very quiet on these subjects, because in my head, they never lead anywhere meaningful. Recently, however, it kind of feels odd to not chime in with two, three or four cents to add to the topic.

I hope this doesn’t come off as me sitting on my pale, glowing, high-horse as I lecture the masses, or whatever. I hope it comes off more as an honest observation from a bystander that usually doesn’t say anything.

And look, it’s 6 AM. Sorry if I mince my words.

What is Web3 Anyway?

I officially joined the space in October of 2022. I won’t get into why or how, but I will get into what kept me there.

The idea of building a new, decentralized, user-centric version of the internet swooped me off my feet.

The notion that there was a solution out there that could provide real transparency, whilst simultaneously providing equal opportunities to people in lower-income regions kept me hooked.

And the vision of self-custody — no, self-accountability — is why I never lost hope.

Although I’ve contemplated it, I’ve never lost hope in the space… but I’ve seen many lose their faith in it. And that, to me, is much worse.

ac·count·a·bil·i·ty

I love Web3, but Web3 is a mess — and that’s fair. We’re literally building the new internet. Many of us are trying. But it’s not gonna be all sunshines and rainbows. That’s not real.

But still; I can’t help but notice that we’ve seemingly lost all sense of accountability in the space. As a founder, content creator and professional in the space, I’ve seen a few things that you have… and haven’t. Here’s a long list:

Breathes in.

• Traders buying things with money they can’t afford to lose, then getting angry at influencers for shilling them rugs.

• Influencers shilling you projects they know are rugs, because they are personally, and unfairly invested.

• People launching projects, protocols and/or startups with zero intention(s) of working at least 8 hours a day on it, for the next 5 years (at least).

• Folks demonizing founders that do stick around for trying, while simultaneously buying into projects that have no whitepaper, roadmap or revenue model(s).

• “Traders” saying they want founders to do the things listed above, buying in once they deliver it, then dumping it if it doesn’t 2x overnight.

• Founders quitting, burning out or rugging after they realize the contradictory nature of the above, but before they’ve delivered on their word.

• Gamblers calling themselves traders, and traders calling themselves investors.

• Protocols preying on ecosystem-wide desperation via points, airdrops and other temporary metrics.

• Content creators that don’t actually create any of their work, but say they hate AI.

• Midfluencers calling influencers out for things they would do in the same position.

• Influencers that made (and still make) their money scamming their following playing victim, whether it be through denial, dramatic long-posts or attack.

• Founders paying influencers to shill you memecoins that they created.

• Influencers getting mad when other influencers call them out for doing it.

• Founders arguing and talking down to people, opposed to educating them.

• Marketplaces wars: A nonstop onslaught of shade on the timeline and one-dimensional features that end up nuking founder projects to zero.

• The irony of the above is we caused it. Starting with 0% royalties.

• Developers taking on more clients than they can handle, resulting in unresponsiveness, poor work or straight up rugging.

• Clients demanding unreasonable things with unreasonable deadlines.

• Shady individuals launching predatory protocols that are purely extractive.

• Few are trying anything impactful or new.

• The few that are doing something new successfully hate on folks that haven’t caught up… flexing on them, rather than guiding them in the right direction.

Breathes out.

Crypto Twitter is about as serious as it sounds. That’s another thing: outside of our bubble, no one takes us seriously, and we don’t have anyone but ourselves to blame. We’re constantly rugging each-other. Whether it be financially or socially.

Is it possible to recover?

Is It Over?

The saying “a few bad apples ruin the bunch” really stands out here. If you spend a lot of time on social media, these issues seem magnified. In reality they’re quite small in comparison to the rest of the shady things that happen and have happened, well, in everywhere else… Especially in major finance industries.

I don’t know how else to say this but, uh. People are dumb. We do dumb things.

In the 80s, Jordan Belfort swindled investors out of $200 million dollars. $5-6 Trillion was lost to the speculative, dot-com bubble. The market crash of 08 was caused by a series of bad decisions that wiped out a whopping $2 trillion from the global economy.

For reference: $2T is the total market cap of all of crypto.

Trust me. It’s not just us. It’s the whole world.

And why do we always have to linger on the bad?

Jupiter Exchange did $15B in volume this month. Bitcoin flipped silver to become the second largest ETF commodity. My brother in Christ: The Bitcoin ETF was approved.

To me, crypto is actually doing pretty okay. If you zoom out, at least.. and at the end of the day, crypto has a straightforward use-case.

In time, the issues I listed above will be fixe- er, managed. Whether that be through regulation, understanding or (you guessed it) accountability.

So the next time you jump on CT and you’re disheartened by the state of things, take a deep breath and take a look in the mirror. Become the change… Or go outside.

Yeah. You should probably just go outside. — Lite.