A Web3 vibe check with Round13’s Satraj Bambra

This week on the BetaKit Podcast we talk about cryptocurrency. Or NFTs? The blockchain? Web3? Maybe just digital assets?

Pick your poison, but 2022 was not a great year for any of the terms or technologies I just mentioned (for more see our 2022 review episode). What was once up and to the right is simply down, down, down (with one exception we note on the pod).

“When you have a washout like we just had, you’re really left with core fundamental value, and that’s what people are building now.”
– Satraj Bambra

And that momentum has already carried itself into the new year. Crypto.com, Coinbase, and blockchain.com just all announced significant staff cuts. Coinsquare just pulled out of its CoinSmart acquisition deal (to possibly merge with WonderFi—we’ll keep our eyes on that story).

And then there’s the standard mix of clownshow typical to this space. Like the Logan Paul CryptoZoo mess, and then whatever Sam Bankman-Fried, the totally under arrest founder and CEO of FTX is up to on his Substack (?).

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say we thought the new year would be a good time for a Web3 vibe check. And because Rob and I are noted pessimists, we’ve brought on an optimist: Satraj Bambra, Partner at Round13’s Digital Asset Fund.

Bambra isn’t here to defend an industry (or the behaviour of those within it), but he does provide a lot of context and perspective on a variety of topics. Like why the recent Web3 washout is good for the long-term health of the space, why he actually prefers a focus on Digital Assets rather than labels like Web3, Web5, WebWhatever, and how the metaverse might be the killer app for digital assets (as revealed to us through Roblox).

Perhaps most importantly, he also speaks to what it is about this space that seems so appealing to the current generation of engineers—in short, the opportunity to add new layers to the internet.

So strap yourself in, this one is all over the place in a way that only the BetaKit Podcast can be. Let’s dig in.

The BetaKit Podcast is sponsored by AWS.
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