Nikolas Sargeant
The crypto and Web3 industry did not have a great year in 2022, but 2023 has seen massive growth and shows no signs of stopping. This is in part due to the overall market turnaround, but there seems to be more at play here. It’s easy to forget, but Web3 is an incredibly young industry. Because of this, there are major breakthroughs happening all the time, and new innovations help the industry to branch out, offer more to communities, and continue on the path to maturity. It’s a time in the industry life cycle where things move fast and opportunities are plenty. And because a significant part of Web3 is linked to a financial component, there are a growing number of ways that people can invest. There are some platforms, such as Metatime, that are even bringing in some of the creative Web2 business models and enhancing them with a Web3 treatment. Let’s dive into the opportunities that have evolved in 2023, and look out on the horizon for those innovations in development now.
Standard Fare
Though Ethereum has moved away from mining and Proof of Work platforms such as Bitcoin have high barriers to entry, there are still mining models alive and well in the Web3 space. The most interesting are those that use various hybrid models that enable miners to contribute what efforts they can, and the reward is not a winner-take-all but rather a distributed set of earnings. This creates more opportunities for people who want to mine but do not have specialized equipment.
Staking and farming continue to be massively popular, both in centralized and decentralized forms. There are countless variations on this model, but staking has proven a reliable method for earning returns on many different platforms, and has helped platforms to create more stability in return by utilizing the liquidity.
Exchanges are often seen not as investment opportunities as much as active trading platforms. They are for trading, but longer term purchase and holding should not be overlooked, and there are other ways to earn a return as well. An interesting trend that has emerged has been the copy trade structure. There are variations here as well, but in general a less advanced trader can “copy” the moves of a more experienced trader they feel is doing a great job. While there is of course risk here, it can be a way for a novice who doesn’t have the time or skill to become a master trader to ride on the shoulders of giants. The master traders, in return, can earn rewards simply by allowing others to copy their trades.
Creative Investment Opportunities
As mentioned above, platforms like Metatime are working to create a large number of investment-driven products for Web3, many of which have successful analogs in the Web2 space. Some, such as an enhanced NFT marketplace, are Web3 focused, allowing users to not only buy and sell NFTs, but rent them out to others for a specific length of time. This type of investment gets more interesting when NFTs are things like valuable video game assets, where renting a skin or weapon might make more sense than earning or buying it. There are a growing number of crowdfunding style opportunities as well. Structures like crowdfunding product/service ideas become a lot easier in a Web3 environment where there is borderless currency used. There are even opportunities where artists wishing to launch major projects can present their ideas to the community and attract investors.
It’s important to note that many of these types of investments are traditionally for more wealthy participants, especially as the minimum buy-in can be preventive to many. Some Web3 projects in the works include things like real estate, where the platform decides to make a purchase and then offers the community to invest in a share of the property (sometimes also sharing rental income). In terms of shares, there are also a handful of platforms working to tokenize traditional shares of companies, allowing Web3 communities to use tokens to purchase full or partial shares of stock-traded companies.
What’s interesting is that large, traditional companies are starting to take notice, especially as these investment opportunities give interesting overlaps. Kalyon Insaat, for example, is the largest construction company in Turkey (and one of the largest in Europe). They have invested in Metatime because they believe these types of investment opportunities show a lot or promise. It doesn’t take a leap to imagine a construction company utilizing Web3 investment platforms to build and sell properties or even large scale projects. Further, these normally massive investments can be split across a large and global community of participants who all want to partake in hopes of a good return.
Looking Forward
As Web3 continues to evolve, we will continue to learn more about what it is capable of and how a global, borderless platform can benefit us in countless ways. Though 2023 has already given us much, the many projects in the works to expand Web3 offerings are truly exciting. 2024’s opportunities may just put 2023 to shame, and let’s hope that it does.
