Blockchain technology allows people to create decentralized applications as alternative solutions to the day-to-day infrastructure provided by institutions and other intermediaries. Web3 helps bridge the gap between these applications and those who use them.

Unlike its predecessors, Web3 represents full ownership of one’s content, assets, and identity. Without institutions, without intermediaries, without third parties. Just you and the blockchain.

This premise of ownership in this space also means that building an ecosystem around blockchain applications requires proactive engagement to drive the space forward. This is where the true builders differ from the speculators.

Ownership = Get to work

The community has played a crucial role in the development of the Web3 ecosystem since the early days of cryptography. Before Ethereum and the potential role of decentralized applications in crypto were still uncertain, a community was forming around Bitcoin: the first “official” Bitcoin conference dates back to 2013. There is still a community of hardcore Bitcoin enthusiasts. , many of whom believe that Bitcoin reigns supreme over all other facets of blockchain and crypto applications.

It’s worth mentioning that these maximalist groups are different from the Web3 community as a whole in that they are dedicated to a particular asset, chain, protocol, etc., rather than an app-based ecosystem as a whole.

Web3 communities are by nature decentralized and transparent and adhere to the idea that there are as few barriers to entry as possible. Ultimately, anyone can contribute to the space and help move it forward. As a result, projects on Web3 often offer various incentives for greater community participation and ownership. Although it is a fact in crypto that ‘code is law’, people are, and always will be, front and center when it comes to creating useful applications for the technology behind it.

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The strongest communities are formed when people step up and go beyond their community, becoming pillars of the space through their actions and leadership. The more pillars a community has, the more productive the space becomes.

Let’s take a look at the NYC Web3 community as an example.

Art Malkov has been a pillar of the NYC Web3 community since 2016, when he founded BlockchainNYC, one of the most active blockchain meetup organizations. There, he helped organize events like Take your business to Blockchainwhich was covered by Huffington Post and attended by blockchain natives and non-natives alike.

In addition to BlockchainNYC, Art was the visionary and mastermind of Blockchain weekend New York City Initiative, organized in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). A sister event to BlockchainWeek, it has had over 50 events across the city in 2019 under its umbrella.

BlockchainWeekend was one of the largest ‘IRL’ initiatives for the NYC Web3 community; rallied support from senators, politicians, and the New York City community, as well as many Web3 projects and organizations such as Coingecko, Gemini, Coindesk, and many more.

It is worth noting that this community work was done at a time when blockchain applications were not yet fully developed and there was a lot of speculation and skepticism surrounding the future of the industry. If it weren’t for the persistent efforts of the pillars of the Web3 community, things would probably stay the same.

Live events like meetups are a great way to speed up community development. People tend to form stronger opinions and convictions about something when they listen to and talk with other people who share similar interests; humans are social creatures by nature, after all.

“We just want to spend Monday nights with other people who are as passionate about crypto as we are. There are no guest speakers or panels at CryptoMondays. It’s just a place to go on Mondays and hang out with like-minded people.” Lou Kerner in forming CryptoMondays

Lou Kerner has also been a pillar in the NYC Web3 community in NYC. He founded CryptoMondays in 2019 with a simple premise: gather crypto to hang out and talk about crypto with each other in a simple way.

If you live in New York and want to meet other Web3s in a casual setting, check out CryptoMondays and their events calendar.

BlockchainCenter started in 2017 and was one of the first organizations to host live events for the Blockchain community here in the heart of New York City.

Today, EmpireDAO carries the torch as the latest Web3 coworking space in the Big Apple. At 190 Bowery, EmpireDAO is a 6-story space built to make Web3 natives feel at home. There are floors dedicated to artists, conferences, Solana projects and more. EmpireDAO embodies the spirit of decentralization and also serves excellent coffee.

Watch Mike Fraietta’s Solana Breakpoint 2022 talk to learn more about EmpireDAO’s origin story.

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Web3 is constantly growing and evolving, and the future looks bright. As mass adoption becomes more imminent and Web3 begins to add new users, a strong community becomes even more important. Everything came full circle this past CryptoMonday, as Art Malkov was invited as a speaker for a informal talk; He mentioned that “Web3 has evolved beyond the era of selling ideas and empty promises, and building good products has become much more important to consumers, investors, and projects in today’s era.”

The good news is that the pillars are still here and busier than ever. Art Malkov has led projects like Zilliqa and Iotex as his CMO and can now be found sharing his views on panels at major conferences like Benzinga’s Future of Crypto and the upcoming N.F.T. New York 2023.

CryptoMondays is better than ever with over 30,000 members in over 60 cities around the world! They continue to host socials for cryptocurrency enthusiasts every Monday night, and it doesn’t seem like they plan to slow down anytime soon.

Anyone can say, ‘I believe in the future of blockchain,’ and then buy some cryptocurrency, hodl it, and sit on the sidelines, which is not a bad thing. But if this were the standard course of action, there would be no Web3 space. People would lose their inspiration, the space would become centralized, and those coins would look much less attractive on the market.

I’ll say it again: the future looks bright for Web3. As insolent as the SBF-FTX situation has been, the narrative has been quite positive for the future of cryptocurrency and the blockchain.

At events like Benzinga’s Future of Crypto conference, there is a shared understanding that the industry will only rebuild stronger and better than before, and everyone is eager to get their hands dirty and help the space by being a part of it. Politicians like Tom (unbanked) Lumis Gillibrand are demonstrating a positive outlook on the value of blockchain technology and the future of cryptocurrencies here in the US.

These factors suggest that the Web3 community has grown recently and will continue to do so as more users join. In other words, if you’re looking to get involved in Web3, there’s no better time to start than now.