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“It feels to me that the biggest issue remains education”, Tim Grant, head of EMEA at Galaxy Digital, said about mainstream Web3 adoption.
Web 3.0 can be broadly described as the next iteration of the internet, defined by its blockchain-based, decentralised infrastructure.
Discussing the catalysts to create the next billion users in Web3, Grant said that regulation is “a very easy answer”, and cited the examples of more “progressive” nations that are already supportive of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
For Grant, education is still the key priority, as it will enable institutions and policy makers around the world to have a more profound understanding of Web 3.0.
“I’m assuming that everyone in this room is an evangelist. We’re here because we understand the space. So we’re talking to the hundreds of millions of people outside of this room who have these predetermined views about some stuff that goes back to 2017 and are no longer relevant”, Grant said in a conversation at the ongoing Binance Blockchain Week.
Grant believes that the Web 3.0 technologies are already viable, citing the examples of emerging trends such as tokenomics and DAOs, and how they can be “fantastic new tools”.
“There aren’t enough senior executives who get that and are applying resources to take their companies out of the 20th century and into the new world. That’s the biggest impediment”, he opined.
A better future?
Hailing from traditional finance, Grant described the industry as “very adversarial”, something he has yet to experience in the Web 3.0 space.
“If you’re my competitor I’m going to box you out. It’s a very well ingrained 20th century, Friedman economics sort of adversarial story in traditional finance”, he said, referring to the US economist and intellectual leader of the neoclassical school of economical thought known as the Chicago school.
“It just doesn’t exist in the same way in this world [Web3]. At this point, we’re all eyeing up a better future. We’re seeing a better future for governance, corporations, and individuals”, he emphasised.
Ultimately, Grant believes that collective effort from both the public and private sectors will be crucial.
“This isn’t going to be a government-led solution. Governments don’t have the knowledge to do this properly. This is an exciting element of the future – collaboration and education”, he concluded.
Grant was previously the CEO of Switzerland’s SIX Digital Exchange. In 2021, he joined Galaxy Digital, a financial services and investment management company dedicated to the digital assets and blockchain technology sector. The firm is founded by former hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz.
