Web3 falls short. The sites and apps we’ve built lack the personalization and richness that Web3 is uniquely positioned to provide. While Web3 has achieved fundamental innovations like decentralization, sovereignty, and improved privacy, navigating this decentralized ecosystem still feels nearly identical to Web2.
This opinion piece is part of CoinDesk’s Web3 Marketing Week.
Wallet awareness is the key to creating a digital adventure that is not only enhanced, but differentiated from Web2. It’s about leveraging the rich pseudonymous information in our wallets to create unique interactions. Unfortunately, wallet awareness is still conspicuously absent from Web3, leaving a gap in the potential for a truly immersive and personalized digital journey.
Currently, wallets are distinct from Web3, but function like traditional logins. You connect, sign a transaction and access content, but the site doesn’t respond to the rich information your wallet contains. This limits wallets to mere access points without improving the digital experience.
This absence of ‘wallet awareness’ is glaring. True Web3 content must respond to wallet data, creating dynamic and personalized interactions. In Web2, some sites already offer customized experiences based on user data. Web3 should go even further by using wallet information to deliver standard curated content, targeted recommendations, personalized growth marketing, and actionable insights.
Wallets contain vast pseudonymous data that reflects our interests and desires. Wallet awareness takes advantage of this to offer a highly personalized digital journey. It’s the innovation that will really differentiate Web3 from Web2. And on-chain growth marketing will be one of the areas with the most adoption in the near term.
Portfolio awareness is rudimentary
Despite the potential, wallet-aware Web3 interactions remain scarce.
It is most common in the DeFi landscape, where we regularly connect wallets to communicate with apps. However, personalized recommendations are rare. DeFi apps are highly transactional, limiting wallets to mere entry points rather than gateways to rich, personalized journeys.
A bigger problem is that portfolio awareness, even in its basic form, is lacking where it is most prevalent. Outside of DeFi apps, crypto seems to lack wallet awareness on a large scale. Users can go through an entire decision-making funnel – from discovering a project to investing and deploying its assets – without encountering this once. Wallet aware experiences are hidden in community portals, where again we only use wallets to make short transactions to get a role or be placed in a channel.
The places in crypto where wallet awareness could shine conspicuously lack it. Imagine visiting a series of crypto research sites, connecting your wallet to each site, and seeing a ‘for you’ page with publications relevant to your holdings everywhere you surf. This should be the norm.
Achieving full portfolio awareness requires a new approach to building Web3. Apps like Warpcast (Farcaster) and growth marketing tools like Spindl, Serotonin (my company) and Addressable are starting to show what is possible, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Wallet awareness is an aspiration, but it is something we as Web3 builders must achieve if we want to create a truly unique Internet.
To overcome the limitations and invasive practices of Web2 and realize the potential of decentralized technology, we must prioritize wallet awareness. By doing this we can create a more personal, dynamic and engaging Web3 that stands out from the past and paves the way for a better digital future.
The path forward
I believe Web3’s success depends on more than just decentralization and improved privacy. To truly differentiate it from Web2, we need to embrace wallet awareness. This means building an internet where digital experiences are tailored to the individual, leveraging the rich data in our wallets to create something uniquely Web3.
Imagine an internet where every interaction feels personal, where content is curated just for you based on the pseudonymous data in your wallet. This is not a distant dream, but an achievable goal right now. A wallet-aware Web3 can transform the way we interact with the digital world, making it more meaningful and tailored to the needs and preferences of each user.
The effects of portfolio awareness extend beyond the on-site experience and the way you acquire users. Onchain marketing can use wallet awareness to deliver personalized ads based on wallet activity. This approach respects user privacy by using pseudonymous data and does not investigate the user’s personal background. With wallet data, on-chain marketing can create an advertiser-user relationship based on respect and utility, delivering relevant and useful ads tailored to the user’s interests and assets. This creates a more engaging and meaningful marketing experience, far removed from the intrusive practices of Web2.
As builders and innovators in Web3, it is our responsibility to push the boundaries and strive for more than just incremental improvements. We need to create a web that is not only decentralized, but also deeply personalized and responsive to its users.
The path to a fully realized Web3 is still ongoing and wallet awareness is a crucial step in that journey.
Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.
