In April 2020, at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Silicon Valley heavyweight Marc Andreessen published a call to action for the world’s innovators and dreamers: “It’s time to build.” The United States appeared to be in deep trouble, according to Andreessen’s diagnosis, after decades of political stagnation and misdirected investment. Where were the flying cars, robotic assistants and the great public infrastructure we were promised?

Andreessen, who helped create the first web browser, Mosaic, and went on to reinvent the venture capital industry, drew some criticism for his admonitions. But if you look closely, it seems that even skeptics of Andreessen’s brand of techno-optimism would agree that little is being built in America. For example, while still at Vox, Ezra Klein wrote, “America’s inability to act is killing people”—finding an explanation in the kind of political gridlock that political scientist Francis Fukuyama neatly describes as a “vetocracy.”

This article is part of CoinDesk’s “BUIDL Week” and excerpts from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the top stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here.

The world has changed significantly since Andreesen’s original essay, but few could honestly disagree that the message still applies. Having witnessed medical shortages in the era of COVID, global supply chain disruptions and rising consumer prices – hardships that affect everyone, but perhaps differently – it is clear that there is still room for innovation. But the old political disagreements still seem to apply. US President Joe Biden made “Build Back Better” a core promise of his election campaign, and was arguably hoarded when he actually took office.

That is partly why the crypto industry is still relevant, and should probably be raised higher in the public conversation. At their best, crypto protocols are open source systems available to everyone. That sounds like a blanket statement, but that’s only because the core mentality of building “credibly neutral” and “general purpose” technologies can be applied anywhere. Web3, rightly called a buzzword, hopes to reinvent everything from money to social media and even the internet itself.

This is a challenging time to write an essay like this. Last year, after the collapse of a systemically important stablecoin, several bankruptcies and also the collapse of one of the most high-profile cryptoramps, the world saw “crypto” at its worst. In the wake of FTX, a massive fraud almost without precedent, the industry must rebuild itself and regain public trust. I am optimistic that it is not only possible, but likely. As many have noted, the many failures of centralized companies have only proven the viability and need for true decentralized alternatives.

CoinDesk’s “BUIDL Week,” the second edition of Consensus Magazine’s flagship theme week series in 2023, is focused on that very issue. The pack will feature profiles of developers including Casey Rodamor, creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, who remains as committed as ever to making Bitcoin resilient; essays by experts like SingularityDAO’s Marcello Mari, who explores where Web3 and artificial intelligence collide; and features covering a range of topics, including a community-led hackathon for Solana, a data-driven exploration of Bitcoin’s patronage system, and Ethereum’s long-awaited Shanghai upgrade.

Crypto has taken a hit, but as a friend and former colleague of mine once said, “DeFi has already won.” With exceptions, disintermediate crypto protocols designed to function during crises have not only done just that, but continue to grow. That may be why venture capitalists CoinDesk’s Brandy Betz interviewed said they are plowing money into crypto “infrastructure,” having learned a hard lesson about the dangers of centralized finance.

Still, this optimism comes at a challenging time for crypto. The industry can probably weather another market downturn, but it looks like the real threat to crypto growth will come from the political sector. Ironically, it looks like many disparate parts of the US legislative and executive branches are finally able to work together to regulate crypto – in what some industry experts have called “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” drawing comparisons to Obama-era policies with directing. banks to disfavor legitimate but inappropriate industries.

Undoubtedly, rebuilding crypto will involve a collaboration between industry participants and lawmakers to pass laws that protect consumers from scam companies and predatory players. The hope is that lawmakers will also learn to see crypto as crypto is meant to be, using code to advance everyone’s interests. It’s time to build.

In April 2020, at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Silicon Valley heavyweight Marc Andreessen published a call to action for the world’s innovators and dreamers: “It’s time to build.” The United States appeared to be in deep trouble, according to Andreessen’s diagnosis, after decades of political stagnation and misdirected investment. Where were the flying cars, robotic assistants and the great public infrastructure we were promised?

Andreessen, who helped create the first web browser, Mosaic, and went on to reinvent the venture capital industry, drew some criticism for his admonitions. But if you look closely, it seems that even skeptics of Andreessen’s brand of techno-optimism would agree that little is being built in America. For example, while still at Vox, Ezra Klein wrote, “America’s inability to act is killing people”—finding an explanation in the kind of political gridlock that political scientist Francis Fukuyama neatly describes as a “vetocracy.”

This article is part of CoinDesk’s “BUIDL Week” and excerpts from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the top stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here.

The world has changed significantly since Andreesen’s original essay, but few could honestly disagree that the message still applies. Having witnessed medical shortages in the era of COVID, global supply chain disruptions and rising consumer prices – hardships that affect everyone, but perhaps differently – it is clear that there is still room for innovation. But the old political disagreements still seem to apply. US President Joe Biden made “Build Back Better” a core promise of his election campaign, and was arguably hoarded when he actually took office.

That is partly why the crypto industry is still relevant, and should probably be raised higher in the public conversation. At their best, crypto protocols are open source systems available to everyone. That sounds like a blanket statement, but that’s only because the core mentality of building “credibly neutral” and “general purpose” technologies can be applied anywhere. Web3, rightly called a buzzword, hopes to reinvent everything from money to social media and even the internet itself.

This is a challenging time to write an essay like this. Last year, after the collapse of a systemically important stablecoin, several bankruptcies and also the collapse of one of the most high-profile cryptoramps, the world saw “crypto” at its worst. In the wake of FTX, a massive fraud almost without precedent, the industry must rebuild itself and regain public trust. I am optimistic that it is not only possible, but likely. As many have noted, the many failures of centralized companies have only proven the viability and need for true decentralized alternatives.

CoinDesk’s “BUIDL Week,” the second edition of Consensus Magazine’s flagship theme week series in 2023, is focused on that very issue. The pack will feature profiles of developers including Casey Rodamor, creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, who remains as committed as ever to making Bitcoin resilient; essays by experts like SingularityDAO’s Marcello Mari, who explores where Web3 and artificial intelligence collide; and features covering a range of topics, including a community-led hackathon for Solana, a data-driven exploration of Bitcoin’s patronage system, and Ethereum’s long-awaited Shanghai upgrade.

Crypto has taken a hit, but as a friend and former colleague of mine once said, “DeFi has already won.” With exceptions, disintermediate crypto protocols designed to function during crises have not only done just that, but continue to grow. That may be why venture capitalists CoinDesk’s Brandy Betz interviewed said they are plowing money into crypto “infrastructure,” having learned a hard lesson about the dangers of centralized finance.

Still, this optimism comes at a challenging time for crypto. The industry can probably weather another market downturn, but it looks like the real threat to crypto growth will come from the political sector. Ironically, it looks like many disparate parts of the US legislative and executive branches are finally able to work together to regulate crypto – in what some industry experts have called “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” drawing comparisons to Obama-era policies with directing. banks to disfavor legitimate but inappropriate industries.

Undoubtedly, rebuilding crypto will involve a collaboration between industry participants and lawmakers to pass laws that protect consumers from scam companies and predatory players. The hope is that lawmakers will also learn to see crypto as crypto is meant to be, using code to advance everyone’s interests. It’s time to build.