The web3 true degens

I’ve been writing a lot about web3 and pretty much all my posts have largely been positive. It’s probably fair to turn the tide a bit and look at some of the negative things I’m seeing right now.

I’m not talking about the clunky interface and tech as well - that stuff is come along as web3 develops and grows. I’m going to focus on the bad behaviors that crypto and NFTs that I’m seeing quite a bit on Twitter and my Discord servers.

There’s a running “joke” in web3 where people self-deprecate and call themselves degen, short for degenerate. This term is used in the same light as a degenerate gambler, but in the web3 world, focused more on the crypto and NFT space. We make light of the word and I go as far to call myself a degen.

The market has been trending down the last few days. We are now seeing the crypto market largely follow the equity market. Along with the downfall, I’ve seen the true degens emerge from darkness and it isn’t pretty.

Most shocking to me is just how rampant leverage is used to buy crypto. One individual mentioned that he’s lost everything he had twice already over the last year and he’s just starting to build everything back up. Yet, he’s sitting here in a $1k+ floor NFT project.

I don’t love this aspect of web3. The insane gains have created a lot of scammers, rug pulls and pump and dumps. On a less nefarious side, it has created a lot of gamblers, “ true degens” if you will.

I’m all for a good bet every now and then. Gambling can be fun if it’s done responsibility. Ordinary individuals levering up 10x to buy a shitcoin or ape into a NFT project is not just gambling, it’s stupid.

As web3 evolves, I’m hoping we’ll start to see much less speculation and more focus on great projects.