As I was walking around CES 2023 in Vegas earlier this month, I noticed that nearly every startup used the terms “metaverse” and “web3” to describe their company.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, lost Billions of dollars to build that metaverse.billions or more evaporated Hacks and scams from the web3 project for the past year alone. Regardless of all the trials and tribulations these spaces have faced over the past year or so, the tech industry is still sold on web3, and the metaverse is trendy, cool, and the next big thing.
But the subtext of it all is like, “Don’t say ‘cryptocurrency’.”
Don’t Be Fooled: Cryptos Are Rising Due to Market Manipulation
I attended several panels at the annual gathering, the world’s largest technology industry event, specifically on web3 and the metaverse. Panelists for these talks ranged from CEOs of successful technology platforms to executives from global branding agencies and marketing firms. Everyone had high hopes for what web3 and the metaverse would bring in the near future. Entertainment industry heads talked about how great these spaces are for the artists they represent. It didn’t look like it.
But at the panel I attended, no one dared mention the word “crypto.”
It wasn’t that hard for them to avoid it. Terms like web3 have become buzzwords in the tech industry and are often translated to bastards of their original meaning. For example, web3 actually refers to an internet service or platform powered by decentralized blockchain technology. CES was a real attempt to redefine web3 as essentially giving creators control over their Internet content. Essentially, this makes web3 just a tweak of “web 2.0”. “Web 2.0” became a big buzzword in the tech industry nearly 20 years ago.
But not everyone mentioned it, but the word “blockchain” was mentioned where appropriate. Several exhibitors gave away his NFTs for free as merch to promote their businesses. But the closest I’ve gotten to someone saying the word “crypto” on a panel I attended was when an advertising executive uttered the word “token.”
Cryptography is the primary use case for blockchain. But the word was rarely uttered. But it makes sense. Over the past six months, a number of major cryptocurrency companies have gone bankrupt. Cryptocurrency holders who haven’t lost their money to widespread scams may end up losing money when the exchanges, lenders, or tokens they trusted to invest in go down.
Crypto wasn’t completely MIA from the web3 conversation. There was a panel called “How to Manage Your Crypto” — all about crypto wallet security measures. . Another panel was called “How to Stay Warm in the Crypto Winter”.
Take a look at our booth layout map on the main showroom floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center and you’ll find a huge section of companies in the robotics industry, health tech space, and more. And if you look closely, far inside the huge space, there’s a small, alley-sized section labeled “FinTech.” There couldn’t have been more than a dozen companies there, and even then, very few companies prominently mentioned cryptocurrencies in their signage or marketing materials. Two cryptocurrency payment platforms and one Bitcoin mining hardware company were counted as cryptocurrency representatives. Notably, not a single major cryptocurrency exchange or platform had a booth at the event.
In fact, the largest crypto-related presence on the entire multi-day show belongs to industry-covering news outlet CoinDesk, most recently broke the story About Alameda Research, which led to the demise of FTX, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. Even in his CES highlight reel on CoinDesk, few people talk openly about cryptocurrencies.
Often times, the biggest announcements at CES aren’t new product announcements, but nuanced signs about the tech’s future gleaned from trendy things. So while there is no doubt that cryptocurrencies are not currently “in”, that does not mean they are dead. There will always be VCs and other investors looking at money in cryptocurrencies. But what was clear to me is that the industry recognizes it. consumer Be wary of spaces. And that was enough to keep him whispering crypto chatter at CES this year.
