At ETH Denver, industry leaders delivered a stark critique of Web3’s progress. ETH Denver founder John Paller stated the space has been “epically bad” at building usable consumer products, while Aztec Network’s Zac Williamson argued crypto is still hated by regular people due to poor user experience. Both agreed that for mainstream adoption to occur, blockchain technology must become invisible to users, powering applications that are genuinely better than their Web2 counterparts.
Prominent figures at the recent ETH Denver conference delivered a blunt assessment of blockchain’s failure to reach mainstream adoption. ETH Denver founder John Paller told attendees that Web3 has built amazing technological scaffolding but has been *”epically bad at getting regular people to use regular things.”*
Paller said the industry has not meaningfully replaced everyday digital tools with better decentralized alternatives. He noted that blockchains currently are not cheaper, faster, or offering a better user experience than existing systems.
Aztec Foundation co-founder Zac Williamson offered a similar critique, stating “Crypto is hated—hated, capital H—by regular people.” He attributed this to scams, casino-like games, and a lack of applications that improve users’ lives.
Williamson argued that applications like Farcaster don’t offer a better experience than Facebook, and crypto payment rails offer a terrible user experience. He insisted that adoption requires building compelling applications that are superior to Web2 alternatives.
A major technical barrier is that using crypto apps requires understanding wallets and private keys. Williamson stated “You have to know about crypto to use a crypto app, because the UX sucks.”
Both founders believe mainstream adoption will happen when blockchain operates invisibly. Williamson stated “The success case for blockchain is you don’t have blockchain,” with apps simply using the technology underneath.
Paller drew a parallel to the early internet, which initially focused on protocols rather than consumer products. He suggested artificial intelligence could help speed up the shift by removing complexity for users.
They framed the current market downturn as a potential turning point for builders. Williamson said the industry must increase the volume of valuable products and reduce the bullshit that currently dominates public perception.
