Crypto Was Something With A Soul Until It Was Not - But It Should Be So, Soon!

Not sure how many of you know this, but since leaving the last web3 project I worked for in June, I decided to take a breather, take a few steps back, re-assess my role in this space, and do a bit of soul-searching…

Although I am still pretty active in my personal capacity, my free time made me think a lot about the things I did and did not like in this space.

Although I have never had such thoughts since 2017, this was the first time I was almost considering looking into Web2 jobs…

After meeting many people at IRL events over the past few months, I realized I was not alone. You are not alone!

Many feel the same way and, just like me, are trying to find their sweet spot here - and for each of us, that sweet spot was different.

So how is my soul searching doing so far, you might ask?

Have I found that sweet spot of mine? (spoiler: not YET)

Going back to The WHYs

I got into the space completely by chance.

A writer friend introduced me to Steemit (I really miss those days btw)… I found a new audience, earned crypto, and went down the rabbit hole.

But I think what’s more important is not how I got here but why I decided to make my career in Web3 and eventually stay (even during bear markets…).

I think the important points in my “onboarding” journey were:

• Being surrounded by amazing like-minded people who were not greedy degens but rather creatives/creators and devs with rebellious spirits and value systems similar to mine. For our group, it was about more than just the money. What made me feel good about us was that even those who ended up making a lot of money stayed the same good people - the money did not spoil them.
• The origin story of the technology, as well as its ethos, fascinated me, and it made me very curious. There was something extremely fresh and exciting about it. Not knowing how things will pan out in the future; the anticipation, the feeling that we could contribute to how the future would look like was very appealing.
• Back then, there weren’t (YET) so many fake influencers, so I picked and learned from the best: those who did not have hidden agendas, were ethical, and were not here purely for the money.(H/T Andreas Antonopoulos)

Eventually, What Ebbs Shall Flow

It would probably be too good to be true if all had stayed the same way since then, wouldn’t it?…

During the past six years, I’ve been part of an ICO team, worked in blockchain marketing agencies, DeFi, NFTfi, web3 gaming, did a few NFT art collabs using my fiction with amazing artists, spoken on many stages in different countries, consulted web3 founders, published top web3 stories in different publications, been a part of many communities, and as a result: have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of this space from all possible angles.

If you’ve missed my attempt to explain what’s happening, you can check this.

What am I (are we) missing?

A few years ago, I spoke to Dima Buterin (Vitalik’s father) for an hour on my podcast (here is the full episode with the full transcript).

During that conversation, he said something that stuck with me since then.

”The write up from Vitalik, which he did at the end of the year 2020 – his closing notes for 2020. It was a wonderful write up.

But the one aspect that the number of people notice and I noticed that right away – he mentioned that a project has to have a soul.

And to hear that from Vitalik, it was really amazing because I know that he has a brilliant technical mind, philosophical mind as well and that he’s becoming more and more comfortable with using very soft, but extremely important terms that talk to some crucial aspects of reality.

And what does it mean for a project to have a soul?

Like, can you define it?  You can not.

But then you can look at this and you can feel it.”

I think that at the stage we are at in web3/blockchain/crypto (whatever you want to call it), that’s exactly what we’re missing.

There is a deficit of projects (and people) with a soul!

That, in turn, results in an overwhelming amount of fakery - fake projects, fake founders, fake influencers, and even fake investors.

It also results in web3 brands with tons of money, delving into the short term instead of focusing on their purpose and sustainable business models.

They’re ending up adding zero value to the space.

Not saying that there are no initiatives and projects with a soul, vision, and amazing founders - but it feels like those are in the minority.

So I personally feel like all that glow from my naive Steemit times has worn out a bit. Now, finding the real ones takes time and effort: the projects and the people who genuinely care.

So what now?

Just as Dima mentioned on that podcast - you can’t define what a project with a soul is… but you can feel it.

And probably that’s exactly what I am looking for now… that feeling… the one I had so many years ago when I joined the space…

Although I am searching within my soul, what I should do instead is find those who are building projects with a soul… and contribute there.

or maybe…

Meanwhile, I should come up with a space where we could capture and preserve that soul and grow it together.

This probably has been the most honest and raw article so far.

So, if it resonated with you or if you’re building a web3 project with a soul, please feel free to reach out on X since the feeling that I’m talking into the void is not great.