This shift tells us that we’ve moved from merely discussing improvements in web3 UX to major players building innovative solutions to tackle this problem, as evidenced by teams like Coinbase, ZeroDev, Privy, etc., all building and launching their own smart contract account offerings. With this, the ecosystem can address other pressing concerns beyond web3 UX, leading me to the second takeaway.
2. More consumer dapps are the next critical need to drive web3 adoption
If you read our takeaways from last year’s EthCC, you'll recognize this point as a recurring theme. Unfortunately, unlike web3 UX, where we’ve seen a lot of progress, we haven’t seen nearly as much advancement in this area. It’s well-known that for web3 to onboard the next billion users, there must be enough attractive consumer dapps to keep them engaged. Many have debated why this problem persists, now that we’ve made progress with the web3 user onboarding experience, poor UX can no longer be the primary issue, right?
Some argue that the problem stems from funding predominantly going to infrastructure builders over consumer dapps due to the potential for quicker exits, while others believe the lack of regulatory clarity is causing dapp developers to pivot to infrastructure instead.
Whatever the case may be, we at Consensys are dedicated to solving these problems. This is evident in our lawsuit with the SEC, which seeks to gain more regulatory clarity, as well as our Scale program, which actively seeks out and funds builders in the ecosystem.
3. For improved L2 security and transparency, increased collaboration across teams is required
At this point, it is no longer news that L2 rollups are the future of Ethereum scaling. While we’ve seen many innovations around L2s, especially within zero-knowledge rollups, discussions on how to make proving systems more transparent were a common theme throughout the week.
There was also a particular emphasis on the need for Optimistic rollup teams to collaborate more to improve fraud-proofs. Builders agreed that existing solutions have issues and are vulnerable to Sybil attacks that undermine the fraud-proof system's safety, settlement speed, and decentralization. This was a strong theme at this year's EthCC, especially among blockchain security experts.
4. AI will unlock a new dimension of blockchain dapps
Another key takeaway is the immense potential of integrating AI with blockchain to unlock new possibilities for dapps. Deep learning models excel at processing vast amounts of data to identify patterns, make predictions, and enable decision-making processes by leveraging neural networks that mimic the human brain's cognitive processes. Combined with a blockchain network’s transparent, decentralized, and censorship-resistant economic settlement layer, this integration would enable immutable data storage and trust-minimized digital interactions.
A much-discussed use case is leveraging AI's data analytics capabilities to enhance security by detecting fraud and scams through the vast pool of data available on the blockchain. However, we have yet to see widespread implementation of AI within dapps. The integration of blockchain and AI could unlock entirely new business models, create operational efficiencies, help automate repetitive tasks, enable more secure and efficient data exchange, enhance decision-making through AI-driven smart contracts, and improve overall trust and transparency in key infrastructure and economic processes.
5. Never underestimate the power of side events for community building
This year, more people have discussed the side events they attended rather than the main ones. Could it be that the one-on-one access to speakers and product teams makes side events more attractive for attendees? For context, Consensys hosted over 12 side events this year, and they were all packed with people interested in meeting and chatting with the team.
A lot of this might be attributed to the location choice in central Brussels, which is very walkable and allowed attendees to easily hop out of one event and take a 2-minute walk to another side event instead of traveling outside the city center. I don’t think this fragmentation, as some people call it, is bad. Ethereum itself is permissionless, and I don’t believe this is as negative as some have suggested. However, there have been numerous suggestions on X about improving this and refocusing attention on the main event.
