Unveiling America's Web3 Landscape

Project overview:  

This project delves into the American public's understanding of Web3, a potential paradigm shift in the internet landscape characterized by decentralization, blockchain technology, digital assets, and cryptocurrencies. I aim to build a comprehensive picture by comparing public perception across diverse cityscapes: 

• New York City: Representing the financial hub, NYC's residents might hold unique perspectives due to its association with traditional financial institutions. 

• Seattle: As a prominent tech hub, Seattle's population may exhibit a higher level of familiarity and potential interest in Web3 due to its technological nature. 

• Denver: Representing a city with a potentially more conservative demographic (becoming more liberal in recent years yet still less progressive than NYC and Seattle), Denver's residents might offer contrasting viewpoints compared to the other two locations. 

Project Goal:

Develop a comprehensive understanding of the American public's current knowledge and attitudes towards Web3, identifying potential trends and variations across different demographics and geographical locations 

After this project, I expect to have comprehensive answers to the following questions: 

• Primary Research Question: What are the variations in public comprehension and perception of Web3 technologies, including decentralization, blockchain, digital assets, and cryptocurrency, across demographically diverse urban populations in New York City, Seattle, and Denver? 

• Secondary Research Questions: 
  • To what extent do socio-demographic factors, such as age, income, and educational attainment, influence the depth and breadth of understanding of Web3 concepts among individuals? 
  • What are the discerned benefits and potential challenges perceived by residents of New York City, Seattle, and Denver regarding the integration and utilization of Web3 technologies within their respective communities? 

Methodology:  

• Background/ Literature review: I also received a Van Skilling Award from the Economics & Business Department to conduct research on cryptocurrency, monetary policy, and economic development. Therefore, I have attained a wealth of background knowledge and literature review of this emerging industry. In 2023 and 2024, I have lived in both Hanoi and London. I went to many crypto events in Hanoi and the London Blockchain Summit to broaden my horizon in this field. Now with such knowledge and experience, I want to extend the scope of my project on crypto–moving from a technical approach to an ethnographic method: interviewing people from different demographics.  

• Interviewee Demographics:  
  • Professionals: I will interview people within the competitive business and technology field, including but not limited to: Web3 + Blockchain + Cryptocurrency, Investment Management, Consulting, Insurance.  
  • Students: mostly business and tech-related majors from famous business and engineering schools  
  • Individuals with non-technical backgrounds: random people at restaurants, coffee shops, shopping malls, etc.  
• Interview Protocol:
  • Regarding working professionals, people working at the abovementioned firms are either my friends, CC alumni, or folks in my professional network I reached out to before and set up meetings with them in person this summer 
  • Regarding students and teachers at aforementioned universities, I have reached out to my friends studying at those schools. They will arrange interviews for me with their friends. I have also been given professors’ emails to reach out and ask for interview surveys.  
  • Regarding members of the public: 
  • NYC: I will approach random individuals at these main spots: Time Squares (crowded spot), Financial District (where I intern), Downtown Brooklyn (where I live). I also reached out to a KOL in Vietnam who usually does random public interviews about crypto to ask for advice.  
  • Seattle and Denver: I will interview families and friends of my friends who I will live with.  

• Participants’ answers: will be stored via note taking. I will let people know the notes of their answers strictly follow the confidentiality requirements of the general research protocols  

• List of questions:  

General understanding: (if they aren’t familiar, I will explain briefly)  

1. In your own words, can you explain what you understand by the term "Web3"? 
2. Have you encountered any of the following terms: decentralization, blockchain, digital assets, cryptocurrency? If so, what do they mean to you? 
3. Where do you primarily get your information about new technologies like Web3? 

Perceptions and opinions: 

1. What are your initial thoughts on the concept of Web3? Does it sound appealing or concerning to you? 
2. Do you believe Web3 has the potential to significantly impact various aspects of our lives (e.g., finance, communication, governance)? 
3. What are some potential benefits and drawbacks of widespread Web3 adoption that you can think of? 

Knowledge and interest: 

1. Have you actively sought out information about Web3 or related topics? If so, what motivated you to learn more? 
2. How confident are you in your understanding of the technical aspects of Web3, such as blockchain technology? 
3. Would you be interested in learning more about Web3 and its potential applications in the future? 

Demographic factors: (let them know these identifying factors will be kept confidential) 

Age: [Ask for age range] [18-70] 

Occupation: [Ask for general occupation category] [any careers] 

Education level: [Ask for highest level of education attained] [high school - PhD] 

City of residence: [Specify the city being interviewed in] 

Findings

1. New York City

New York City is associated with Wall Street and Financial District. During my internship at Galaxy, I talked to many professionals working in the Investment Banking, Trading, Asset Management, Blockchain Infrastructure, etc. team. Most of them come from a traditional finance background, but they are fed up with the intense or tedious working environment of TradFi, so they move to Web3 with many exciting applications and a more open-minded, younger environment.

Also, some of them give up their high positions at those firms to come to Galaxy because they are super interested in the new era of Web3. They want to be the early investors who help engineer a new economic paradigm. Both of these groups hold a bullish view about the crypto market. Despite a lot of ups and downs, they have been with Galaxy for more than three years. They keep working here because they are truly excited about the potential of cryptocurrency.

When I went on a lunch with a group of middle-aged Asians at Galaxy who worked in legal and compliance departments, they were still very open-minded. Even though the regulations for crypto industry are still vague and constantly changing, they firmly believed that crypto and web3 in general would continue to thrive in the near future.

Turning to the perspectives of young people working in the financial services and technology industry, I talked to students aged from 20 to 25 interning and working at corporate America in NYC, ranging from Lazard, Santander to Morgan Stanley, Evercore, Blackstone, etc. Even though they had no background knowledge in Web3, they are very interested in learning more and excited about the growth potential. Some of them even thought about working professionally in this realm, and asked me many questions about the technicalities of bitcoin and ethereum.

Overall, for the finance hub of New York City, people regardless of race, gender, and age are all fascinated about the growth of Web3 and look forward to seeing more applications from Web3 into the Web2 world.

2. Seattle

Seattle is different from NYC in the fact that it is a tech hub, where headquarters of many big tech firms are located. I interviewed Nghi Lam, a CC alumnus and an insurance trainee at Liberty Mutual in Seattle. She expressed her deep interest in Web3 and thought about how she would underwrite cybersecurity or even crypto insurance. She said the process of unwriting insurance contracts for Web3 would have a lot of potential since not many firms had touched on it. I also went to University of Washington, Seattle to interview students there. Most of my interviewees were Computer Science and Engineering majors, but most of them were still dubious about crypto or knew little about this sector.

3. Denver

Regarding interviewees in Denver, they seemed to be indifferent about cryptocurrency. When I interviewed one of my friends working in management consulting at Bain, he did not give many insights into the prospect of Web3. Most of the survey's participants said that crypto was cool, but they did know what it really was and was also not interested in learning more about it.

4. Conclusion

To sum up, there are variations in public comprehension of Web3 in these three cities. People working and living in New York City seem to be the most excited about Web3 and cryptocurrency, while Seattle dwellers do not know as much about the industry and Denver residents show the least interest. The project outcomes fell under my expectations. However, it is fascinating to note that knowledge of Web3 varies by location more than by age, occupation, or education level. In NYC, how much a financial analyst knows about Web3 might be significantly different from a university student, yet in Seattle and Denver, a software engineer, a consultant, a graduate student, or an Uber driver all share the same level of understanding of and interest in crypto.

Personal Impact and Next Steps

Since I am very interested in pursuing crypto as a profession, understanding how people in different cities in the U.S. conceptualize crypto has been super beneficial to me. Comprehending the consumer market of crypto pushes me to think further about how I should navigate my career and help build products that appeal to more customers. As a Mathematical Economics major, I am also thinking of writing my thesis about the economics of cryptocurrency, potentially diving deeper into how the Federal Reserve would impose monetary policies for this industry sector. Therefore, being able to see America's Web3 landscape would help me crystallize some ideas and narrow down the potential topics for my thesis.