The Invisible Wall Between Projects and Users

I’ve spent a good share of time in crypto by this point having started in 2018. Since that time:

• Launched multiple startups/projects

• Spoken to tens, if not hundreds of projects

• Been an active on-chain user across the ecosystem

• Run Discord/Telegram groups but also participated in multiple as a user myself

In essence, what I’m trying to communicate is that I’ve bee on both sides of the equation multiple times and there’s an invisible wall that everyone feels but not everyone has run into.

The first side of the equation is users, there’s *so* many products that exist in the wild but how do you actually know which ones are safe and which ones are scams/not worthy of your time? Unfortunately you don’t really know in any perfect way.

There are however, multiple imprecise ways you might rely on:

• What is your trusted influencer on CT saying

• What are people in your local network saying (Telegram groups etc)

• How much TVL/usage does the product have?

• Who is behind the project?

• Is the code open source?

Ultimately, what you’ll probably do is:

You’ve just launched your new product and you’re excited for users to start coming along and engaging with you on Twitter/Discord. At first it’s quite fun feeling the energy and excitement alongside your time.

Fast forward a few months, after using your Morning Phone of peace, it’s time to pick up your phone. It’s Discord again. Some message previews you see:

• “where is the team, i asked a question 10 mins ago and no answer. rug?”

• “this product is the worst thing in the world. the staking apys are only 15%”

• “i’m trying to deposit funds but the button doesn’t work in the way i thought it would”

• “u guys r scammers and im going to file a class lawsoot against you”

• “i accidentally sent funds to the contract directly and now they’re stuck, can you help?”

You sigh and hope the community manager figures out a way to handle these random complaints. You do wonder though, what if some of these are actually your most valuable users who are depositing millions of dollars and by making/keeping them happy you could grow your protocol? The problem is you don’t. You don’t know if the person using your protocol is worth $2 or $2m. This Tweet from Tony encapsulates it perfectly:

In my mind it comes down to this:

• Platforms where users interact with projects have no sense of a user’s on-chain identity

• Good, high quality users, don’t know which projects to trust because the information is so fragmented and social consensus has investment bias baked into it

As a result of these two problems, we end up with the current state of the ecosystem: hot trash. A system where investors who don’t care about the products but squarely here to make a quick buck win ten times out of ten and those that work hard to create real, long lasting products end up demotivated and ultimately… poor.

There are attempts at solving this issue through:

• Developing ways to directly message users (messaging protocols)

• Web3 social media apps (lesn/farcaster)

• On-chain messaging (Etherscan reader)

• A plethora of products

Unfortunately they all struggle in one major dimension. Until you have a solution that can genuinely allow users and projects to connect with each other in a healthy way, this place will remain a mess. I have some ideas on how to solve this but that’s for another time.