51 Web3 predictions for 2023
2022 has been a roller-coaster ride for Web3.
From Nike and Adidas to Starbucks and FIFA, mainstream brands finally leaned into the technology with strong support from ecosystem developers like Ethereum, Polygon, NEAR, Algorand and others. But 2022 also saw a slew of Web3 natives — yes, we mean FTX, Terra and Celsius — collapse, causing a steep drop in the crypto market.
Yet Web3 continues to chug along, onboarding millions of users through integrations with Big Tech behemoths like Reddit, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These are big milestones for a technology most mainstream brands avoided like the plague up until a few years ago.
The numbers don’t lie either:
- 4,35 million — owners of blockchain-powered Reddit avatars
- $185 million — Nike’s total NFT revenue
- $3.4 billion — expected revenue for Web3 content platforms in 2022
- $17.7 billion — total VC funding into Web3 in 2022 (Q4 not included)
As we gear up for 2023, we’ve scoped out some of the bigger trends we expect to shape up over the next year. We’ve broken down our predictions across five separate categories, including DeFi, NFTs, the metaverse, Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols, and DAOs.
So without further ado, here are our 51 Web3 predictions for 2023:
DeFi
1/ There will be a 0-to-1 moment in DeFi user acquisition, with a new take on liquidity mining emerging.
2/ Exchanges will continue to be the most used DeFi applications.
3/ The true identity of Chef Nomi from SushiSwap will be revealed in the FTX court proceedings.
4/ In the second half of 2023, institutional TVL (total value locked) will increase dramatically as institutions prepare for interest rates to decrease in 2024 and crypto derivatives markets to pick up.
5/ Cosmos interchain TVL will increase tenfold.
6/ L2 TVL will increase three times as fast as Ethereum TVL in 2023.
7/ Large game publishers will start to enable GameFi/NFTFi platforms for their assets.
8/ Amount of money lost in hacks will increase in 2023.
NFTs
9/ The term NFT will start to become antiquated.
10/ A new NFT token standard will become the de facto, dethroning ERC.
11/ OpenSea will move to second place in NFT monthly volume.
12/ Adidas will follow Nike and acquire a metaverse platform.
13/ Instagram will have an NFT launchpad and make it easy for people to sell NFTs. This will create a mini NFT bull run focussed on microtransactions.
14/ Nike’s Swoosh creator platform will struggle due to a lack of a distribution channel.
15/ Gucci will continue to be the most innovative brand in the space with the most activations across the metaverse and Web3.
16/ Yuga Labs will acquire two more of the top 10 NFT collections.
17/ Floor price of Bored Apes and Punks will double by the end of 2023.
18/ TikTok and Snap will also enable NFTs for creators to challenge Instagram, Facebook and Reddit.
19/ Activision Blizzard will integrate at least one blue chip NFT collection into a new blockbuster game.
20/ Brands will collaborate more on Web3 initiatives and leverage each other’s audiences.
21/ Creator NFTs will be a major trend, as creator ad and sponsor revenues decline.
The Metaverse
22/ Fornite’s creator platform will bring 250,000 creators to the metaverse.
23/ Yuga Labs will successfully launch Otherside with a custom built-in wallet solution optimized for onboarding mainstream users.
24/ Metaverse will see a big backlash in the media as some brands get frustrated with poorly thought-out activations.
25/ Mark Zuckerberg will be forced to step down as CEO of Meta due to perceived failure and overspending on metaverse expansion.
26/ Snap will launch an AR-enabled metaverse experience complete with a dedicated app store.
27/ Decentraland and The Sandbox will be overtaken as leading Web3 metaverses, based on DAUs.
28/ An AR-driven metaverse will be a bigger theme than virtual worlds in 2023.
29/ A big fashion retailer (ASOS, Zappos, H&M) will acquire a digital fashion marketplace.
30/ Two major gaming firms will unite to create a metaverse interoperability standard.
31/ Ready Player Me will be acquired by Nike or Apple for north of $1 billion.
32/ Apple will release their own avatars and avatar digital asset marketplace.
DAOs
33/ We will see the first $100 million-plus socially engineered DAO attack.
34/ In the same vein as ‘The Lean Startup,’ someone will publish the DAO Governance Bible in 2023.
35/ DAO M&As will start to become a hot trend by the end of 2023 — both by traditional orgs and other DAOs.
36/ Over 10 million people globally will become full-time DAO contributors across multiple orgs.
37/ We’ll see a local government launch a DAO with the intention of migrating before the end of the decade.
38/ We’ll see a company on the NASDAQ launch a DAO with the intention to later migrate.
39/ The DAO model will become a common founding alternative for new Web2 orgs, outside of the Web3 space.
40/ A major brand will launch a DAO to govern their Web3 efforts.
41/ Investment DAOs will start to appear on more non-Web3 cap tables.
42/ We’ll see a country DAO buy an island and declare independence, which will be recognized by the end of the decade.
Layer 1 and Layer 2
43/ Polygon’s $MATIC will reach top five on CoinMarketCap.
44/ Starkware, Arbitrum or zkSync will launch and become the fourth largest blockchain across key metrics, competing with Ethereum, Polygon and BNB Chain.
45/ Cosmos ecosystem chains will grow exponentially upon the launch of Atom 2.0. The whole ecosystem will look to challenge Ethereum in 2024.
46/ The first L3 will launch by the end of 2023 to great excitement.
47/ Alt-EVM chains will struggle to attract developers.
48/ Modular and Move blockchains will be a key trend, but will not match usage of L2s in 2023.
49/ L1/L2s will start making many more acquisitions and will be the source of most Web3 M&As.
50/ One 2017 chain with minimal activity will re-emerge as a new contender for the next bull run.
51/ Total L2 TVL will almost equal Ethereum TVL by 2023.
This wraps it up.
We expect Web3 to continue carving out its space in the mainstream through various integrations with established brands, tech platforms and game publishers.
In the meantime, Web3 natives and ecosystem developers will remain focused on improving tech solutions and optimizing services for mass adoption, which in turn will create more opportunities for growth and new streams of revenue.
As competition in Web3 heats up, we’re likely to see quite a bit of movement at the top in 2023, with new players entering the fray and established names seeking to reimagine their business models to keep up with evolving consumer trends.
PS: We do some really cool research reports breaking down the biggest trends across Web3 and the metaverse. In the past, we’ve released in-depth reports on Nike, Adidas, Gucci, LVMH and Budweiser among others. Check out the reports at the official Hype Research page.
