Every native of the crypto world should be familiar with the concept of Web 3.0. The Concept of Web 3.0, which typically refers to the next generation of the Internet that keeps all its data and content on-chain and owned by users, supporters believe this will help us build a more decentralized, user-friendly environment and effectively counter the centralized Internet monopoly giants.
The concept of Web 3.0 has been discussed a lot lately and will not be repeated here. Is Web 3.0 the future of the Internet, or is it just a lie made up by VCs to make money? Around this novel and fiery concept, a large and dramatic debate is raging on Twitter.
From Twitter founder Jack · Jack Dorsey to Elon Musk Elon Musk, to the famous venture capital agency a16z, trading platform Coinbase, crypto KOL, Internet columnist... This controversy has engulfed people from all walks of life on the Internet to join in, and the debate on social platforms is difficult to solve.
The controversy was launched by Twitter founder Dorsey and mainly targeted the well-known venture capital firm A16z. Interestingly, the venture capital firm, hailed as "one of America's most successful VCs," has invested in some of the world's best-known star companies, including Coinbase, Facebook, Roblox, Lyft, Airbnb, Skype, and Twitter, which Dorsey once led.
The full name of a16z is Andreessen Horowitz, because there are 16 letters between the initial letter a and the trailing letter z, giving rise to the shorter name a16z. Its name comes from the two founders, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. You may not know marc Andreessen, but the company he founded nearly led an era – Netscape.
After Netscape was acquired by AOL after failing to compete with Microsoft IE, Marc Andreessen has been active in the investment community for a long time. As a first-generation Internet wave and a first-time Internet bubble witness, Andreessen's a16z has been keenly betting on the future for years and has achieved remarkable returns. According to public information, on Coinbase alone, a16z's net investment net profit has exceeded $7 billion.
While the VCs at the forefront of the betting era once again tried to usher in a new era, they were met with unprecedented criticism from Dorsey, the crypto proponent who once helmed the monopoly tech giant Twitter.
On Tuesday, Dorsey tweeted criticism of Web3.0 as a tool for venture capital firms. Musk then joined the criticism of Web 3.0, accusing the popularity of the Web 3.0 concept as just a marketing approach. The founders of a16z and other Supporters of Web 3.0 have responded and refuted.
As one of the most well-known bitcoin proponents, Dorsey is not against the advent of the Web 3.0 era. The man who led the creation of bluesky, a decentralized social media protocol at the helm of Twitter, is not against decentralized Web 3.0. The focus of this debate is not on Web 3.0 itself, but on the present – is the Web3.0 advocated by VCs just a marketing tool for VCs to grab excess profits? Can today's Web3.0 really bring users the products of the Web 3.0 era and achieve its lofty goal of decentralization?
In the end, the debate ended unilaterally in the dramatic way that a16z founder Marc Andreessen "blacked out" Dorsey. Dorsey has also blocked a number of industry leaders such as a16z founder and Coinbase CEO. Others are still trapped in the field of public opinion and continue to have long and fierce discussions.
The big debate around Web 3.0 stemmed from a series of criticisms by Dorsey. Dorsey's core view is that Web 3.0 doesn't make anything more civilian. He argues that Web 3.0 simply shifts power from existing controllers — tech giants like Facebook — to emerging venture capital funds like a16z.
In a tweet on Tuesday, he described the decentralization of the Web 3.0 space this way, which is where the debate began:
"You don't own web3.
VCs and their LPs do this. It (referring to Web 3.0) can't escape the incentives they set, and it will end up being a centralized entity with different tags.
Find out what you're doing..."
Jack Dorsey has since continued to attack that "in the Web 3.0 world, VCs are the problem", implying that VCs such as a16z have invested in a large number of so-called Web3.0 companies, and users have not enjoyed the real Web3.0 product.
Shortly after his release, Musk also questioned Web 3.0, and Musk and Dorsey agreed on this point. Interestingly, Musk, known as the "marketing guru," also calls Web 3.0 a "marketing tool."
Musk tweeted, "Did anyone see Web 3.0?" I can't find it." Dorsey humorously replied, "It's between a and z."
There is no doubt that "between a and z" is a metaphor for a16z. Crypto artist Beeple is also following the new hot spots on the Internet, not forgetting to publish a new work of his own, in order to participate in the discussion of Web 3.0. Under this slightly ironic web5, Dorsey also makes a more direct satire of a16z, directly proposing the concept of WEB16.
a16z has been one of the strongest advocates of Web 3.0, investing heavily in Web 3.0 projects. Dorsey also has a wide influence in the crypto world, and he is perhaps the most well-known "bitcoin maxitarian" in the world. Although they are all well-known crypto proponents, the different crypto routes make it difficult for them to get along.
When crypto proponents meet crypto proponents, a great controversy that is tantamount to a religious war begins among different crypto factions.
a16z became the main bearer of criticism in this controversy, which is exactly what they deserve – they are making too much.
Rhythm has explained a16z's investment strategy in detail in the article "Black Cat White Cat". Over the past few years, a16z's website has disclosed 38 investments in the crypto space. Rhythm BlockBeats summarized these collations based on publicly available information and found that these projects completed a total of $2.512 billion in rounds with a16z participation (excluding projects with undisclosed amounts).
The investment map of a16z covers almost every major track of Web 3.0. Or for this reason, Dorsey's criticism implies that the average user can't make enough money in Web 3.0, and the vast majority of the profit goes into the pockets of VCs.
When you open a16z's official website, you'll find that this is a VC unlike any other. Unlike most VCs, which are simple and full of technology, a16z frequently updates a lot of information on the official website. A significant portion of them are from a16z investors. The most significant banner position on the official website is neither the historical investment case of a16z's success nor the latest investment trend of a16z' recent investment, but a16z's own media brand Future.
The strong media color brings to a16z, which is a different way of investing. Benedict Evans, a former partner at a16z, jokingly said in 2015, "A16z is a media company that makes money through venture capital." This also means that almost every investor in a16z will output a lot of content, and Future is constantly producing comments and analysis on the latest hot spots and trends, and even they can lead and create hot spots , such as Web 3.0.
In October of this year, a16z released a Web3.0 white paper that details the Web3.0 era in a16z's eyes. Previously, a16z also summarized a Web3.0 reading list, and Rhythm also translated it at the first time. Looking at the list, it is not difficult to find that a considerable part of the content is from a16z.
In the future, we don't know whether Web 3.0 will lead to a more decentralized next-generation Internet or become another scam and bubble. But at least for now, a16z is big enough to carry the banner of Web 3.0.
In recent months, VCs have been trumpeting the new concept of Web 3.0 and pouring billions, tens of billions of dollars into it. Not long ago, Sequoia Capital changed the word "company" in its Twitter profile to the more Web3.0 word "DAO".
After Dorsey's criticism, the evangelists fought back one by one against his questions. For example, in response to the skepticism that VCs hold the majority of Web 3.0's profits, Binance's CEO CZ replied, "Blockchain can solve this problem, and the Web3.0 project involves investors through financing worldwide."
In the face of criticism and ridicule from Dorsey and other opponents, a16z partner Balaji Srinivasan also gave his rebuttal. He said he respected Dorsey and everything Dorsey had built, but Dorsey's view of Web 3.0 was wrong, "Web 3.0 offers some possibilities for something better, not a guarantee."
The war of words also spilled over from Web 3.0 to the business the two had built, with Srinivasan rebutting it while still throwing accusations at Twitter. He argued that Twitter had abandoned its lofty ideals and succumbed to "corporate and political incentives." And that has undermined twitter's foundation — liberalism.
Dorsey gave his rebuttal, "Twitter was a company from the beginning, and that's what it was from the beginning." According to Dorsey, "Web 3.0 has the same corporate incentives, but this is hidden under 'decentralization.'"
As the most famous bitcoin proponent, Dorsey's quest for decentralization is well known. These "bitcoin maximarians" believe in bitcoin and decentralization more than anyone, including other crypto users. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson once explained to the public the dangers of VC to decentralization, "In an ostensibly decentralized ecosystem, over-involvement of venture capitalists is problematic because it can give them too much control over the project."
Chris Dixon, a partner at a16z, replied to Dorsey that he was a "big fan" of Dorsey and believed he would eventually see the value of Ether and Web 3.0. "Bitcoin is as great as digital gold, but we have other important applications that require other chains."
As the debate progressed into the midfield, Dorsey gave himself the role of a progressive critic, "If a tweet kills hopes and dreams, we're in even bigger trouble." At present, this statement does not seem wrong. Criticism can help solve problems or shift your energy to more important things."
Chris Dixon, partner at a16z, says, "In Web 3.0, all code, data, and ownership is open source." But this type of open source doesn't satisfy Dorsey, who believes that ownership is more important than open source of technology, "I believe in you and your ability to understand the system." It's important to focus on truly safe and resilient technologies that belong to the masses — not to individuals or institutions."
Some KOLs in the crypto community also gave the same statement as Dorsey. For example, Swan Bitcoin founder Cory Klippsten directly reprimanded the a16z founder for seeing the "scam" as "appealing".
KOL Coopahtroopa.eth, which is deeply involved in the DAO space, is more tolerant, noting that although "it is easy to dismiss Web 3.0 ... It may take years for the best model to be available, but the new inspiration comes from today's foundations. That alone is enough to keep us open-minded."
Others take a more neutral stance, such as Stephane Kasriel, head of Novi's digital wallet business, writing that "there are a lot of meaningful Web 3.0 projects," albeit "a lot of hype." VCs are simply looking for "maximum returns" for LPs.
Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, shares a similar view, writing, "Web 3.0 is partly owned by VC/LP and partly owned by others."
On the evening of December 22, the debate escalated further. Jack Dorsey tweeted coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong and a16z founder Marc Andreessen.
Few people may be more assertive in their decentralized beliefs than Dorsey. "I'm against the lies of centralization, VC ownership, and corporate manipulation. If your goal is anti-establishment, I assure you that ethereum is absolutely not. Don't believe me! Go and see the fundamentals."
On the 23rd, this big discussion came to a temporary end in a very dramatic form:
"I've been officially blocked by Web 3.0."
Dorsey wrote such a sentence on his own Twitter. At this time, a16z founder Marc Andreessen has blocked the Dorsey Twitter account. Twitter's core technology chief Nick Caldwell posted that Marc Andreessen also blocked himself.
This week Jack Dorsey removed a total of six Web3.0-enabled crypto and traditional VC industry "big names": The Intercept columnist Sam Biddle, crypto media and analytics firm The Block founder Mike Dudas, Coinbase founder and CEO Brain Armstrong, a16z founder Marc Andreessen, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss and Salesforce Senior Architect and Head of Technical Staff Tyler Roach.
At the same time, Jack Dorsey has focused on some users of the crypto community who support Bitcoin, such as "Bitcoin maxitarian" Mark Moss, Wired columnist Siva Vaidhyanathan, Hexa wallet, Bitcoin blog Fountain, Bitcoin Lightning Network Interface Service Breez, etc.
Faced with the embarrassing situation of being blocked, Jack Dorsey used the profile of a16z's official website: "A16z's goal is to connect everyone in the technology ecosystem through open source and decentralized blocking, blocking Twitter accounts."
The debate continues among other KOLs, and whether Web 3.0 is a scam or a future, only time will tell. Any proponent of Web 3.0 should remember that one of the great significance of Web 3.0 is to reduce the monopoly influence of technology giants such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter on the Internet, thereby bringing greater freedom to users.
But an interesting fact is that Dorsey, who opposed Web 3.0, was eventually blocked by the strongest proponents of Web 3.0.