2022 Wasn’t All Bad for Crypto
The top 3 narratives and 15 of the best pieces of web3 content
👋 Welcome to the 41st issue of The Syllabus from Invisible College—a newsletter that helps you navigate the fast-moving world of web3. To get it delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe here:
🎉 2022 Year-End Giveaway
We're giving away over $3,000 in prizes this Friday at 9 am PT!
If you’re a Decentralien NFT holder and you earned at least one event POAP in 2022, you’re eligible to enter. Check out the details in the token-gated #offers channel in the Invisible College Discord.
If you earned a POAP but you’re not an NFT holder yet, come join us! There are some crazy good deals on Magic Eden right now.
It’s not hard to find content that writes off 2022 as just a series of crypto failures. From the Terra to FTX blowups, the $100M+ hacks, NFT rug pulls, and everything else in between, there’s no doubt that it was a trying year.
But it wasn’t all bad.
Below are the top three highlights we saw in crypto in 2022.
ETH Merge
On September 6th, 2022, the Ethereum blockchain officially moved from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS). In other words, it went from energy-sucking miners to stakers where the energy used to validate a transaction is akin to a single Google search.
In a previous post, we called The Merge “one of the biggest blockchain updates ever” and now we think it’s fair to say it was, in fact, the biggest ever.
It was also smooth as butter, which was especially impressive considering it had been described as “swapping out the engines of a plane mid-flight” leading up to the event.
Huge props to the core Ethereum development team for making it the most anticlimatic (in a good way) update possible. You will be thankful for their work during the next bull run when you have a great answer to the environmental impact questions your friends and family will inevitably ask. Just say it uses 99% less energy than YouTube does and see how they react.
DeFi holds strong
At least one positive thing came out of the FTX debacle. It highlighted the strength of DeFi, especially when compared to FTX’s Wall Street version of crypto.
As we wrote previously:
Throughout this whole debacle, all the truly decentralized protocols continued to operate perfectly. Meanwhile, most of the centralized actors building on pseudo-crypto rails are going down one by one.
Or, in a pithy tweet:
The beauty of the most battle-tested DeFi protocols is that they just work, regardless of the price movements of the underlying tokens. They’re strong because they’re built on smart contracts that self-serving centralized actors can’t alter.
By using these protocols, you’re also automatically opting into the core tenets of crypto: decentralization, transparency, and trustlessness.
As Ryan Sean Adams from the Bankless podcast succinctly put it:
When you adopt crypto protocols, you adopt crypto values.
So when the next bull run comes around, ask yourself if the projects you use or invest in fit within the crypto ethos. If they aren’t, then be wary.
NFTs become more mainstream
In 2022, we saw the biggest NFT brands make significant moves.
Snoop and Eminem performed at Apefest at NFT NYC where they premiered a music video featuring their Bored Apes.
Doodles raised $54 million and named Pharrell as their Chief Branding Officer.
Proof raised $50 million for their Moonbirds project.
Azuki raised $30 million.
Some of the biggest brands in the world are also getting involved in NFTs.
Nike created custom shoes for NFT holders as part of their acquisition of RTFKT.
Tiffany & Co made custom jewel-encrusted “NFTiff” pendants for 250 CryptoPunks owners.
Starbucks launched an NFT loyalty program called Odyssey.
Even a regional carwash company in San Diego called Soapy Joe’s used NFTs for their “Summer Passport” loyalty program. Anne Mauler, their vice president of marketing, told Coindesk, “We are seeing numbers that we have never seen in our 11-year history in terms of people going to multiple sites. They are blowing it out of the water.”
As more and more marketers experience the power and utility that NFT technology can unlock, the more and more mainstream they’ll become.
Final Thoughts
While the macro markets outlook doesn’t look particularly rosy for 2023, there are still plenty of people building, investors deploying capital, and brands experimenting with the technology. There’s no doubt that crypto is here to stay.
As always, none of this should be construed as financial advice. Please do your own research.
🗣️ Come chat about the latest web3 narratives with us on Twitter Spaces later today at 1 pm PT 👇
We’ll be back next week with a look at some narratives to look out for in 2023!
The best 2022 recommended reads and listens
We combed through our past issues and dug up our favorite blog posts, tweet threads, and podcast episodes from other creators.
Here are our top 15 picks:
The Casino and the Genie
Mario Gabriele from The Generalist addresses the FTX situation and ends with some words of wisdom for those who are still building in the crypto spaceWtf is web3?
Cobie explores the raison d’etre of web3 as well as some of the best arguments of web3’s criticsPeople are the New Platforms
David Phelps argues that platforms succeed by becoming protocols—which means people succeed by becoming platformsWeb3 and The Curse of Solutionism
Jason Choi explains how to avoid building token-based products that don’t solve problemsInfinite Regret
Zeneca writes about dealing with regret in a market that has seemingly infinite opportunitiesHow to Survive a Bear Market
Olaf Carlson-Wee joins Blockworks’ Empire podcast to give some timely bear market adviceA Theory of Justice for Web3
Li Jin and Katie Parrott make the case for how web3 can be our chance to make a better internetJohn Collison in conversation with Stanley Druckenmiller
Watch the co-founder and president of Stripe interview the investing icon Druckenmiller at the Sohn Investment ConferenceWhere are all the crypto use cases?
Evan Conrad addresses this often-asked question from crypto skeptics head-onAtoms, Institutions, Blockchains
Josh Stark writes a theory piece on how blockchains are the connection between money, law, and governmentWhat are NFTs?
Daniel Tenner (a.k.a. swombat) uses an apt metaphor to explain what NFTs are and how powerful they can beThe Future of the Bitcoin Energy Debate
Troy Cross argues that Bitcoin can help usher in a more renewable energy mix in this nuanced discussion on The Breakdown podcast"Everyone's So Confused" — Here's What 171 Students Told Me About The Current State Of Crypto
Noah Edelman from WTFcrypto writes a report on the blockchain industry — where it stands and where it's headed — according to the people building itHarsh Truths (Not Only) For Crypto Noobs
Matti from Wrong A Lot outlines seven “truths” that are applicable to everyone who’s dabbling in the crypto spaceWhy I’m Less Than Infinitely Hostile to Cryptocurrency
Scott Alexander from Astral Codex Ten writes a well-argued and measured piece about crypto
And here was our most-read piece of the year:
We’re excited to share more amazing content from web3 creators in 2023!
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