WEF 2022: Web3 no longer just about crypto and DeFi, says Polkadot founder Gavin Wood

Blockchain startups building for the Web3 economy have attracted billions of dollars in venture capital funding this year alone.

Although Web3 has become a sort of buzzword in the cryptocurrency community, its application and utility extend far beyond the world of blockchain, according to Polkadot (DOT) founder Gavin Wood. 

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Wood talked about Web3 applications and whether the all-encompassing concept needed to evolve past its current usage. “I don’t think Web3 needs to evolve, really, from its origins too much yet but maybe in the future, it will,” he said before explaining the merits of the technology:

“The key takeaway is the freedom from the need to trust. I don’t want to hope or have blind faith that the service I’m using is operating correctly or dealing with my data correctly and not being hacked.”

Mayor Francis Suarez also loves that Cointelegraph merch. #WEF22 #Davos2022 #CTDavos pic.twitter.com/eCMVV90q8O

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 24, 2022

Wood also explained the advantages of Web3 being thrust into the limelight as a concept that refers to the next stage of the internet’s evolution:

“The rise of the term Web3 is encouraging because it means that people are seeing this underlying technology feed into different applications — the ones they didn’t necessarily expect [...] It’s no longer about Bitcoin, it’s no longer about crypto, it’s no longer about smart contracts just, it’s no longer about DeFi. It’s like we are starting to understand that this is a broad platform for building new kinds of services [that] Web2 just couldn’t.”

Related: WEF 2022: Bitcoin should be seen from an innovation perspective, says Miami mayor

Wood was also asked about how he plans to survive the crypto bear market and how other companies can maximize success during periods of sustained downward price action.

“Build, a lot,” he said. “Most of Polkadot was built in the bear market that was around between 2018 and 2021 [...] The numbers don’t need to be high to do that [...] You don’t need to raise tens of millions for your white paper to do that.”

Venture capital fell in love with the blockchain in 2021, with a new @CBinsights report showing a 713% increase in funding. https://t.co/6n0RGLzN1o

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) February 5, 2022

Nevertheless, Web3 projects have attracted significant capital from venture firms that see huge opportunities in the decentralized internet. As reported by Cointelegraph, the Web3 gaming and metaverse sectors, alone, have attracted over $3 billion in venture capital funding since mid-April. Looking at the crypto market as a whole, funding from venture capitalists reached $14.8 billion in the first quarter of 2022, which was almost half of last year’s combined total.