An analysis of the ecological positions in the WEB3 industry. Today, I will briefly explain how to find some upstream and downstream participants in the WEB3 industry, such as VC, exchanges, and other organizations, if you want to participate in WEB3 and work in the WEB3 industry.
This includes how to get started with WEB3, how to learn WEB3, but there hasn't been an analysis of the ecological positions in the WEB3 industry. In fact, just like other industries, the WEB3 industry also has different participants and roles. In the foreign trade industry, we mainly divide the participants into seven categories, which I have listed here. This definition is not a completely standard definition, and there may be more participants involved. But here, I have listed the seven most common participants for everyone to become familiar with.
There are seven main participants in the WEB3 ecosystem.
The first is VC,#
which is what we traditionally call venture capital, investment firms, exchanges, and media projects. In the decentralized qualification organization, which was not common in our web two era. In WEB3, because of blockchain, tokens, and NFTs, people from different countries and regions can work together in an organization or community to accomplish something. Today, I will help you understand the characteristics of each ecological position, the well-known institutions, and the qualities you need if you want to work in this field.
OK, the first one we will talk about is VC venture capital. In the early days of WEB3, there were not many VCs involved. Most of them were Crypto and native developers, as well as some small organizations. Over the years, with the gradual rise of WEB3, more capital has flowed from WEB2 to WEB3, so more VC investment firms have started investing in early-stage projects. Some well-known VC firms include H6Z and Paradigm, which are popular in the Crypto native field. There are also Dragonfly and other Chinese VCs. I have listed some well-known Chinese VCs such as A, N, and T Capital, Hashke, etc. However, listing them does not mean that one is better than the other, I just want to give you an understanding.
Finally, I also mentioned something called Public Chain VC. Although VC is called a venture capital firm, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to establish a capital to be called a VC. Many public chains, such as Polygon and BMB Chain, have their own funds within the chain. They invest in projects that represent the chain, including Flow and Dipper Labs behind it. These can be understood as capital and can also be considered within the scope of VC.
So, many large supply chains are also considered part of the VC ecosystem. If you have a background in finance or have experience in the financial industry, you are suitable for working in VC organizations in WEB3 and continuing to work in finance-related roles such as investment research. However, if you are not from a finance or economics background and still want to enter VC, it is not impossible. VC still has certain requirements and high standards for education, English proficiency, and work experience. VC is an organization and institution that requires comprehensive abilities.
The second is exchanges.#
Exchanges, like VC, have a lot of information in the industry, including information about projects and the latest technologies. They are centralized exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, Okex, and Huobi.
The most common function of exchanges is to buy and sell tokens or coins. This is their main function. So why are exchanges important in the industry? It is because exchanges have many project parties. If a project wants to issue its own token, it needs to contact the exchange or the exchange will proactively approach them. Therefore, exchanges have a lot of information about projects. Exchanges also have a large user base. Where there are users and traffic in WEB3, it becomes a gathering point for a lot of information. So, exchanges usually have their own funds, such as Binance Labs and Coinbase Labs. They each have a lab representing the experimental laboratory behind their public chain. Labs usually conduct research, invest in projects, or incubate their own projects. So these exchanges not only have the function of fiat-to-crypto conversion but also have functions related to VC asset management. It is similar to traditional securities companies that have their own asset management departments. Therefore, VC and exchanges are two important institutions in the industry. To enter these two institutions, the threshold is relatively high, requiring English proficiency, educational requirements, and relevant work experience.
The third is media,#
In overseas markets, there are many well-known media outlets such as CoinDesk, Coin Telegraph, and CoinMarketCap. In China, there are also well-known media outlets such as Odaily, Foresight News, BlockBeats, and ChainNews. Being in the media has its benefits. Media outlets can help projects or organizations release news and reports, providing industry-related information in a timely manner. Media outlets have a large number of followers and traffic. In WEB3, where there are users and traffic, media outlets become aggregation points for a lot of information. So if you want to participate in the media, there are various roles and positions. First, you can work in marketing and business development, reaching out to project parties. Second, you can work as a researcher in the media because most media outlets have their own columns. If you are good at writing research reports and conducting research, being a researcher in the media is suitable. Media outlets also have a leverage effect. Through traffic and continuous connections with project parties, they can earn money through information asymmetry, including helping project parties with marketing. Therefore, if you want to participate in the media, you can work in business development, operations, or become a professional writer or columnist.
The fourth point is project parties. In the WEB3 industry, there are many different types of project parties. I have listed three categories: supply chains, protocol layers, and application layers. These are rough classifications of projects in the industry.
We usually call them INFRA, which stands for infrastructure.#
In this industry, if you don't have infrastructure, if you don't have underlying supply chains and protocols, such as communication protocols, information distribution protocols like RS3, and other protocols, the upper-layer application cannot implement many functions.
The fifth is developers.#
Just like in the traditional web two era, without early internet protocols, you wouldn't be able to create many mature applications. So in the industry, there are many types of project parties. The most direct ones are supply chains, such as Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Optos. These belong to public chains. Public chains have their own project teams for technical iterations and updates.
There are also project parties at the protocol layer, like RS3, which is responsible for information distribution. There are many protocol projects, such as ERC4907, an NFT lending protocol on Ethereum. These projects have teams behind them constantly updating and iterating. You can participate in the projects of these protocol layer and infrastructure layer teams.
The sixth is applications.#
There are many types of application layer projects, such as gamefi, NFT, and metaverse. For example, building a metaverse, land-based projects, 3D sandboxes, and dcentuland. There are also applications related to DAO governance. There are many application layer teams working on these projects. If you are good at building things, have strong organizational and business development abilities, you can work in these different project parties and receive decent rewards. The entry barrier is relatively low for operations, but there is also a high ceiling. If you are a developer, you are more suitable for working in infrastructure and public chains. Of course, if you want to build an application, it is also possible. So I won't go into detail about these three categories.
If you want to work for a project party, you must first consider whether your personal traits match the project party. When working for a project party, your focus may be limited to a specific project, unlike VC, exchanges, and media, where you have a broader perspective and a more comprehensive understanding of the industry as a whole. However, working for a project party allows you to focus and specialize in a specific field, such as gaming, DeFi, or NFTs.
There are pros and cons, and there is no absolute good or bad. It depends on your personal preferences and inclinations. Personally, I prefer to focus on a specific field and conduct in-depth research, so I would choose to work for a project party in a specific domain. This is my preference, and not everyone is the same. Therefore, it is important to choose an ecological position that aligns with your personality and interests.
The seventh is KOL, which stands for Key Opinion Leaders. We call people like Vitalik Buterin and Elon Musk as broad KOLs because they have a lot of influence in the industry. They are already well-known and influential figures in the web two era. So when they say something on Twitter, it can potentially cause a project or concept to become popular or even cause the price of a cryptocurrency to rise. In a narrower sense, KOLs in the WEB3 industry are people who have a certain level of expertise and insights in a specific field or industry and can benefit others with their insights. So I have included project founders, YouTubers, self-media creators, and researchers under the category of KOLs. Not everyone who does YouTube or is a project founder can be called a KOL. They must have experience and contributions in a specific field and be widely recognized by the industry to be considered a KOL.
KOLs have a lot of influence in the industry, which can potentially bring opportunities for economic returns. Even individual investors can consider writing research reports, creating YouTube content, or participating in projects as a form of KOL. This allows them to contribute to the industry and potentially earn economic rewards. This is the influence of KOLs in shaping the industry. Individual investors can also participate by observing and researching the industry, finding information on their own, and becoming KOLs in their own right.
So today, we have reviewed the different ecological positions in the WEB3 industry and summarized the seven ways to participate in WEB3 and work in the industry. The main focus is on the first six points, which are the directions you can consider. Today's video is a brief analysis of the ecological positions in the WEB3 industry, but there are still many details to explore.