Various Ways Web 3.0 Projects Can Build a Strong and Persistent Community in the Crypto ‘Winter’

As the global financial market took a hit this year, cryptocurrencies have not been spared. Bitcoin is currently trading at 72% below its all-time high while some of the weaker altcoins are out of the picture. But more importantly, this raging bear market has proven the importance of keeping the community intact and more active than ever before. 

If the Web 3.0 ecosystem were to turn into a ghost town, it would be a nightmare for the internet natives who yearn for privacy and control over their data. At the very least, the community ought to remain vibrant for three main reasons: sustain demand for the next uptrend, enable seamless onboarding through peer support and increase the longevity of innovations. 

But how exactly can projects in this nascent market achieve a sustained momentum? Well, it is not a walk in the park but there are several ways to go about it. Most of the Web 3.0 projects that are currently thriving follow an almost similar playbook. The next section of this article covers three approaches that stakeholders can adopt to keep the ecosystem strong and active. 

1. Community Incentives 

Although criticized by Web 2.0 diehards, the incentive model behind Web 3.0 innovations is a huge part of the industry’s success. It all started with the infamous Crypto Kitties game which clogged Ethereum’s network in 2017, now the blockchain gaming industry is worth billions. Notably, the hype behind Crypto Kitties was mainly fueled by the game’s incentive model, which allowed players to purchase, collect, breed and sell virtual cats in the form of a Non-fungible token (NFT). 

Half a decade down the line, we have more advanced Web 3.0 gaming ecosystems such as Axie Infinity and Derby Stars where incentives are playing a major role in community building. The former hit a record high of $4 billion in NFT sales earlier this year; on the other hand, Derby stars recently completed a successful migration from Terra blockchain to Polygon (78% of the NFTs were migrated).  All thanks to keeping the community active through pre-determined and random incentive programs. 

That said, NFT projects should be careful not to overdo reward initiatives. This is because their native innovations can easily lose value if focus shifts from building practical innovations to giving away free collectibles or internet coins. All in all, the goal is to keep the community active while retaining/building on the underlying value through these tough market conditions. 

1. Tapping Into the Latest Trends 

Another way to keep the community active is by tapping into the latest trends; for example, the past two years ushered in the era of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. While Bitcoin remains king, it is a no-brainer that most of the recent adoption was propelled by the aforementioned ecosystems. Now more than ever, we have an entire community interested in Web 3.0 applications, including traditional financial institutions. 

So, how does cutting into this edge strengthen the community? For starters, the crypto market is well known for its ever evolving nature, innovations come up faster than one would expect. Likewise, the community is always in search of the next trends. That brings us back to the importance of moving with the current wave; according to Dapp Radar, most of the projects that witnessed a significant community growth in the past two years are either DeFi or NFT based. 

To put into perspective, over 50% of the active Dapp wallets in crypto are interacting with play-to-earn ecosystems. A game like Splinterlands currently ranks among one of the most used DApps, with close to 350k users within the last month. This activity is much higher than what the Bitcoin blockchain experienced in a similar period. 

1. Community Meetups 

While it may seem obvious, most of the existing blockchain projects do not hold physical or digital community meetups to keep the participants engaged. This is a recipe for disaster, it is quite hard to sustain the building momentum without creating spaces where the community can exchange ideas or engage in fun and competitive activities. Moreso, in a bear market. 

One of the blockchain projects that seems to have mastered this playbook is Polygon, a leading Layer-2 chain built on Ethereum. Currently, this DApp building platform enjoys a total value locked (TVL) of over $1 billion, hosting a range of applications. But more importantly, Polygon has been building a physical and online presence throughout the world by organizing meetups, hackathons and educational forums to onboard more people into Web 3.0. 

Evidently, the Web 3.0 community can only thrive by maintaining constant channels of interaction and learning spaces. Projects that take on this path have a more likelihood of success given the potential talent pool and other resources such as word of mouth marketing. These are the ones that will survive the crypto ‘winter’. 

Conclusion 

It might take a while before financial markets are out of the woods. That being the case, niche ecosystems such as crypto have to be flexible and adopt innovative ways to keep the community active. The examples featured in the previous section are but a few of the ways to survive this bear market. Other factors such as transparency in a project’s roadmap could also go a long way in building trust and nurturing talent to continue with the innovation.