Uptick Network | Transitioning to the Web3 Mindset
Brian Xin, the founder of Uptick Network, participated as a guest speaker at Web3.0 Disruptors Week, where he discussed the evolving transition from Web2 to Web3. In this session, he highlighted the significant shifts in mindset and paradigms that are necessary within the industry.
Below, we provide a written version of the Roundtable session that took place, moderated by Justin Goldston, a distinguished professor at Penn State University. This transcript captures their in-depth discussion on the topic, providing valuable insights on the Web3 mindset and its current and future state.
Justin: What are your thoughts on the current and future state of Web3?
Brian: “We are definitely still in the very early stages of Web 3.0 because people are still debating the clear definition of the term. In my view, we are in a river of no return. That is the trend we are working towards. This actually brings me back to my old days in 1998/1999, which was the first bubble period of the Internet in Silicon Valley. We experienced a similar period, with bubbles and a lot of crazy stuff with not very useful cases. But that all belongs to the early stage of something. That’s why I’m pretty optimistic about it.
Diving into the details that we can see, it really means something real for us. In Web3.0, it means a better framework to protect our property, privacy, and also bring a very strong trustless technology infrastructure to hold it. So, at the same time, especially with blockchain and NFTs, these are foundational blocks that are part of it. It means the future of commerce, social, and economic models built into this brand new system, which is a natural evolution of our human society and also the technological world.
That’s why I’m pretty optimistic about Web3.0, but on the other side, I also want to say that people should not have too high expectations at this stage. People want to see very sexy use-cases, but it might not happen because, at this stage, the infrastructure is still being built, so there are a lot of components being built in parallel. That’s why we need to have the patience to wait for that. Maybe at this stage, we will see more practical and simple use-cases happen, but the more complicated cases will maybe happen a little bit later when the infrastructure becomes a bit more mature.
So in general, I am pretty optimistic. It means there is great opportunity for the industry”.
Justin: We have a younger generation that will have different perspectives on aspects such as the Metaverse and Web3, and they may be thinking about things differently. What are your thoughts on that?
Brian: “I think no matter what age we are, we need to live in the current market and trend. That’s the way to stay young forever. Age doesn’t matter. At this moment, I think it’s very important to learn what decentralization is about. That may bring a lot of common topics and common ground with the younger generation, or even some open-minded older generation.
In my view, in the case of the Metaverse and Web3, because I am more focused on blockchain and NFTs, I think those are the fundamental blocks to enable that. Also, talking about decentralization, it’s not just about the technology itself; we are talking about mindset. It also involves the operational model, which should also consider decentralization, which is a community-based model.
Then we need to talk about how to make money. Because of the nature of blockchain and NFTs, we can build economic models into it. That is also different from our traditional model, which we can also call a decentralized business model. There are three layers: technology, operation, and business model. That is the full mindset we need to have in order to communicate with the current generation because they will grow up in such an environment and they will not have such boundaries that we had before.
We need to recognize that you own your data, you own your assets, and of course, you own your business. That’s the framework we need to talk about in order to live with any type of generation together”.
Justin: How has your mindset changed with the Web3 movement?
Brian: “I think in order to work in Web3 and be a driving force to push it forward, we do need to have the right mindset, especially an open one. Currently, I think there are two directions people are working on.
One is from the crypto-native/Web3 part, where we try to do something creative and new. That’s one aspect we are experiencing right now. This requires a true believer mentality and entrepreneurship to do that. Otherwise, you cannot break the boundaries.
On the other side, we cannot just play in our own circles; we need to break through and penetrate into the general public. That’s why, in my case, I also need to take a step back to think about how to help the current industry transition from Web2.5 to Web3. In our practice, we are talking about NFTs, and they represent all types of unique digital assets, not just artwork or collectibles. That’s why we define collectible NFTs and also functional NFTs.
On the side of collectible NFTs, it will be more Web3-natives. We can experiment a lot based on that. On the side of functional/utility NFTs, actually, we can help traditional businesses build a bridge from the current business model to the new one. So that’s something we are practicing, and especially I see a huge potential in the realm of utility NFTs such as ticketing, or membership/loyalty; there are a lot of things. That’s the whole new world that we need to explore and make it happen.
I think in our mindset, no matter whether we are working in the Web3-native space or building the bridge from Web2.5 to Web3, we need to have the same open mindset and be entrepreneurial. We also need to be creative and risk-takers. That’s the spirit we need to have in order to create some great opportunities for the future”.
Justin: I am super excited to see NFTs in the Web2 world and have those organizations transition over.
Brian: “Today’s talk reminds me of an old phrase we had in the early days of Microsoft: ‘Practical Magic’. That is something I really want to talk about. For most people, they see it as us building something magical, and they don’t really understand. At the same time, our group of people belong to the pioneers of Web3. We need to be more practical to build that bridge through infrastructure, and NFTs are part of the asset layer within the infrastructure.
So, in my view, those are very important.
For those people who want to build a new business, or transform their current business into Web3, they also need to be very careful in choosing the right platform and the right infrastructure. That is the only way we can make success cases and make it sustainable. In my view, it is really important at this stage not to rush into something you don’t understand, or that you’re not sure about, but step by step you will see the light”.
If you’d like to watch the full version of this interview, you can do so here
Uptick Network is building business-grade NFT infrastructure and ecosystems for Web 3.0; redefining how value is created on the internet.
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