🔎 Is Web 3 Under or Overhyped?
Happy Friday Friendos,
Welcome back to the Kernal newsletter: the friend that's first to call you out on 2 things:
- your BS about "validating" your idea
- how many times you quote the all-in podcast at coffee
My guess is you probably wanna drive out to the summer cabin early. So let's get straight to the newsletter 🚙
Today's Line-Up:
- 🔎 Top use cases of web 3 you should know
- 💡 Startup ideas you'll wanna save for a rainy day
- 📚 Weekend reads the IG algorithm won't recommend you
Don't get me wrong. I love talking tech tools. But when it's Friday happy hour in July, I'm all about my Moscow Mule 🍹
🔎 Top Use Cases of Web 3
We've seen the ups, we've seen the downs. We've seen the heroes, and we've read about the clown. But the biggest question we're all thinking: is web 3 hear to stay and if so, what are the biggest use cases that back it up.
We did some digging (into our email inbox) and found this 10/10 piece from Packy that hit home on these answers. So we drummed up a little recap for you to feel up to speed 🥁
Here's the short list of web 3 use cases that exist today curated by Packy:
- 📌 NFTs: $31.3 billion of volume in the past year on OpenSea alone
- 📌 Decentralized Exchanges: the leading DEX, Uniswap, has handled over $1T in volume
- 📌 DeFi Protocols: Compound, Maker, Aave, and other DeFi lending protocols have held up well during the sell-off while centralized DeFi lenders have struggled
- 📌 Real-World Lending: Goldfinch and Jia help close the credit gap in developing countries.
- 📌 User-Owned Marketplaces: Braintrust has doubled Gross Service Volume to $74 million in the past five months while keeping its take rate at an industry-low 10%.
- 📌 Connected Device Networks: Helium and DIMO facilitate networks built by users and ecosystems of applications built on top of user-owned data.
- 📌 Stablecoins: USDC, DAI, and other fully/overcollateralized stablecoins facilitate payments, especially internationally. There are $155 billion of stablecoins in circulation.
- 📌 Evan Conrad Use Cases: In a blog post, Evan Conrad highlighted non-government money, cheap loans, Filecoin, Lab DAO, Radicle, Helium, Toucan, and Golden.
That's a lot of use cases for our scoreboard. But we all have to do our own research. The bottom line? Web 3 isn't just a buzz word. It's an ecosystem. And time will tell if it takes over more and more startup real estate in the years to come.
Read Packy's full article here or reply to this email with your thoughts. If it's a unique POV, we may just feature your quote next week.
✨ Featured Startup Ideas ✨
To stay on brand, we rounded up some web 3 startup ideas you can chew on. Click, up-vote and comment on your favs:
Got a golden idea of your own? Make today the day to share it. Tweet it at us and we'll re-share it with our community.
Weekend Reads:
💸 NFT Unicorn Deep Dive: Li Jin writes on how the newest NFT unicorn (Magic Eden) has mastered scale through transparency, creativity, and community
✏️ New Stratechery: Ben Thompson breaks down Spotify and Netflix's business models
💡 Curiousity Cure: the latest Farnam Street blog shares some timely mental models founders should be thinking on
🔎 First $1: This newsletter simplifies how to make your first dollar on the internet. If you're a pro, forward it to a friend
🍔 McDonald's Empire Explained: Ever wondered how McDonald's $42B real estate empire was built? Take a look at Trung's article for the answer.
🐦 Tweet of the Week:
We may have to turn this tweet into a billboard we love it so much.
Thx for reading. Have a roaring weekend.
💚 The Kernal fam
P.S. Thanks to Kernaler Emma Eisenhauer for sending in some kind words about the newsletter. In her own words: "it's the only newsletter I don't delete. Hands down the most interesting and entertaining newsletter I've ever subscribed to!"
Got feedback, ideas or a Kernal pet peeve? Hit reply. We wanna hear it fam.
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