Web3 a hot topic at SXSW despite bear market and declining interest in NFTs

Giant rabbits wearing trendy outfits situated alongside cartoon characters with rainbows flowing retired of their mouths lined the streets of South by Southwest (SXSW) past year. This is due to the fact that 2 nonfungible token (NFT) projects — Doodles and Fluf World — dominated SXSW 2022. 

Yet these projects were obscurity to beryllium recovered astatine SXSW 2023, demonstrating the deficiency of involvement successful NFTs this year. This shouldn’t travel arsenic a surprise, though. With crypto prices down, coupled with declining NFT prices and trading volumes, precise fewer projects look to beryllium focused connected integer collectibles. Instead, SXSW 2023 was overrun by large brands and consultancy firms boasting the committedness of Web3.

Brands sermon Web3 strategies astatine SXSW 2023

Avery Akkineni, president of Vayner3 — a Web3 consultancy steadfast founded by Gary Vaynerchuck — told Cointelegraph that Web3 is moving beyond its novelty infinitesimal and into a strategical implementation, which is wherefore the exertion has go a blistery taxable for concern leaders astatine SXSW this year. She said:

“Web3 exertion tin perchance disrupt galore industries, from concern to healthcare to societal media, by enabling much secure, transparent and businesslike systems. This accrued involvement successful Web3 is important due to the fact that it signals a displacement toward the adjacent epoch of the internet, which is much immersive, personalized and ownable for users.”

Akkineni added that she believes each marque should beryllium taking the clip to recognize Web3 and strategize toward it. “Brands volition leverage Web3 successful assorted ways, from creating community-owned channels to implementing blockchain-based proviso concatenation absorption systems,” she said.

In bid to enactment this successful perspective, Vayner3 and the cryptocurrency speech Coinbase hosted a brunch during SXSW that included a sheet treatment entitled “Web3 and the aboriginal of lawsuit engagement: How brands tin enactment up of the curve.”

Coinbase and Vayner3 sheet treatment astatine SXSW 2023. Source: Vayner3

Rachel Weiss, vice president of L’Oreal Bold Ventures — the strategical task money of L’Oreal — stated during the sheet that Web3 is enabling the quality manufacture to let for “ownership of beauty.” She said:

“What does Web3 mean for the caller creator system astir beauty? What are the caller expressions that volition beryllium built astir quality utilizing this caller technology? And what does it look similar to beryllium a instrumentality of a brand? These are each things that I deliberation Web3 volition empower. And it volition enactment what we built connected Web2 connected steroids with a caller mode to enactment for the adjacent procreation of quality consumers.”

It’s important to constituent retired that Bold Ventures precocious announced an concern successful Digital Village, a United States-based startup that helps brands make integer identities and assets successful virtual worlds. In addition, NYX Professional Makeup, a subsidiary of L’Oreal, integrated into The Sandbox past year to diagnostic voxelized constitution looks connected avatars, adding to the conception of user ownership.

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Yet portion Weiss expressed excitement astir Web3’s imaginable to alteration the quality industry, David Lee, caput of Samsung Next, pointed retired during the treatment that Samsung’s portfolio companies and partners are inactive waiting for a “ChatGPT moment” to overtake Web3. He said:

“I deliberation ChatGPT was an interface that radical conscionable understood, but that was aft years and years of foundational research, selling and experiments. I deliberation the aforesaid happening is happening close now. We are seeing a batch of experiments, peculiarly among brands, to prosecute successful Web3. But I don’t deliberation we person recovered that ChatGPT infinitesimal yet.”

However, this intelligibly hasn’t stopped companies from engaging successful Web3 activities. For example, Coinbase had a ample beingness astatine SXSW, with a dense absorption connected its recently launched wallet-as-a-service, oregon WaaS, product.

Leonard Law, merchandise pb for WaaS astatine Coinbase, told Cointelegraph that WaaS was aimed to lick 1 of the cardinal symptom points for adoption: wallets. Law noted that WaaS was important to showcase during SXSW owed to the ample Web3 presence. “WaaS astatine SXSW was astir connecting the close exertion with the close brands and helping these brands physique strong, nonstop relationships with their customers,” helium said.

Coinbase’s wallet-as-a-service show astatine SXSW 2023. Source: Vayner3

Law elaborated that WaaS makes the Web3 wallet onboarding process elemental for end-users, arsenic a username and password are the lone elements required to summation entree to Coinbase’s Web3 wallet. “Simple onboarding volition trim the obstruction for users getting on-chain, which volition unfastened up Web3 experiences to the masses.” 

A fig of authoritative SXSW 2023 panels besides focused connected Web3 initiatives. For example, determination was a featured league entitled “Building an Open Metaverse” that included a speech with Timmu Tõke, CEO and co-founder of Ready Player Me — an avatar level focused connected interoperability.

Following the panel, Tõke told Cointelegraph that the metaverse is an important portion of Web3 since truthful galore radical are spending clip successful virtual worlds. He explained that brands are funny successful establishing a beingness successful the metaverse. “We person seen radical marque billions of dollars a twelvemonth selling virtual assets successful games, oregon successful the metaverse. Web3 plays an important relation due to the fact that it enables a acceptable of technologies that volition let consumers to yet ain their virtual assets,” helium said.

NFT beingness was tiny but focused

Tõke said that NFTs volition apt play an important relation for Web3 platforms successful bid to let consumers to ain integer assets. He shared that brands person go cautious astir launching NFTs owed to existent marketplace conditions: “They don’t privation to connect their brands to thing perceived to beryllium declining successful worth oregon popularity. We saw this mindset erstwhile the marketplace crashed, wherever galore brands told america they similar the conception of the metaverse but don’t privation to impact NFTs.”

Although this whitethorn be, Nicole Behnam, laminitis of selling bureau Beyond Media, told Cointelegraph that portion not galore radical were talking astir NFTs astatine SXSW this year, communities were inactive congregating due to the fact that of the erstwhile NFT hype cycle:

“Existing NFT communities and collections inactive enactment connected events, activations and panels for their holders. We’ve been talking astir inferior for rather immoderate time, and we’re yet starting to spot which teams are pursuing through.”

Natasha Hoskins, co-founder of the societal decentralized autonomous enactment (DAO) Boys Club, told Cointelegraph that the DAO is funny successful however Web3 exertion tin beryllium applied to experiences successful existent life. She explained that Boys Club launched a carnal and integer NFT driblet with the Boys Club Zine, the group’s magazine.

Boys Club enactment astatine SXSW 2023. Source: Boys Club

“The speech astir NFTs has matured from PFPs [profile pictures] to 1 astir practical, functional utility. It’s little flashy, so, therefore, little disposable successful a noisy environment, but this displacement is an important 1 for NFTs to go a credible integration into mundane apps,” Hoskins said. 

Excitement for Web3 contempt marketplace conditions

All things considered, it’s notable that Web3 had specified a ample beingness astatine SXSW this year, fixed existent marketplace conditions combined with the Silicon Valley Bank collapse that took spot connected March 10 — the archetypal time of SXSW 2023.

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Tara Fung, co-founder and CEO of Web3 improvement steadfast Co:Create, told Cointelegraph that the temper astatine SXSW during the archetypal 2 days was dampened:

“Personally, I recovered it hard to beryllium contiguous and engaged erstwhile we were grappling with questions of wherever a important information of our operating superior was and whether we’d ever get it back.”

However, Fung noted that connected March 12, connection got retired that Silicon Valley Bank depositors would beryllium protected, which changed the SXSW environment. “We started to spot much of that euphoria and buzz that SXSW is known for,” Fung said.

Regarding the crypto carnivore market, Law explained that developers presumption carnivore markets arsenic a large accidental to build: “This is what’s continuing to thrust a batch of excitement successful the space.”