Web3 Watch: EthCC attendees ask: “Where are the apps?”

Plus, a layer-1 for intellectual property is launching and Farcaster users peaked

article-image

EthCC modified by Blockworks

share

This week, crypto descended on Brussels for EthCC.

Given that Ethereum popularized smart contracts and was the home of NFTs during the space’s 2021 craze, it seems like consumer applications could have been prominently featured at the yearly Ethereum gathering. But some attendees felt that apps were too muted at the conference — and that crypto’s infrastructure era has overstayed its welcome.

The social lead of the Milk Road newsletter wrote that it “[f]eels like we’ve come to a consensus that we don’t need more infra. We just need usable apps.”

2077 Collective director Emmanuel Awosika said “one of those things I’m excited about is people finally (!) acknowledging consumer apps are necessary.”

Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs’ A.J. Warner said he “heard 10x the number of interoperability/crosschain proving ideas compared to novel user applications” at the conference.

Crypto may still be lacking in compelling consumer apps, but EthCC exit reviews definitely showed that the desire is there. This wishful thinking has shown up in other places too: The Arbitrum DAO notably is aiming to pour $215 million into crypto gaming projects.

Source: EthCC

Read more: The crypto infrastructure is here, but where are the apps?

This week, Electric Capital general partner Maria Shen released a “market map” categorizing over 1,500 crypto projects. Interestingly, more than one-third of the projects were labeled as apps. 

There’s also a case to be made that insisting on more apps might be putting the cart before the horse. Celestia Labs CEO Mustafa Al-Bassam said that crypto should focus on mastering its original use case of payments before it moves on to more complex applications.

Read more: Helio upgrades its Solana Pay plugin for Shopify

There are also crypto apps with real users, even if they don’t currently compete with the titans of Web2. Telegram has a lot of users, and the loosely-associated TON blockchain is drawing lots of attention (alongside lots of bots) to (admittedly rudimentary) Telegram games.

And with Solana blinks, you can now play Pokemon onchain directly within your X feed. So that’s something, right?

Story Protocol is launching a layer-1

A16z-backed Story Protocol announced this week it would be launching the “world’s first [intellectual property] blockchain” with its new Story network. 

The chain will let creators upload their intellectual property to the blockchain, where they can then set the terms for how the intellectual property can be used and monetized. Story cast the onchain intellectual property as being like legos, saying the chain would create an internet “legoland.”

In a seeming homage to the week’s frustration with crypto’s dearth of widely-used applications, Story co-founder S.Y. Lee said the protocol wouldn’t just be the “millionth defi chain/app without a clear use case in mind.”

One interesting stat:

  • Farcaster’s daily active users hit an all-time high for seven-day trailing average at around 67,000 late last week, according to a Dune dashboard.

Also of note:

  • Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic published a report linking “pig butchering” crypto scams to a “multi-billion dollar marketplace” popular in Southeast Asia named Huione Guarantee.
  • Soccer stars Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho promoted a memecoin called WaterCoin.
  • The forthcoming mobile shooter game “For The Win” announced it would be building on Solana.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Silk Road founder Ulbricht made a triumphant return to the Bitcoin Conference, 10 years on from sentencing

article-image

A Blockworks Research report looked at who could take up some of the marketshare in the launchpad space

article-image

Business-to-business stablecoin payments are on the rise, per a report from Artemis, Dragonfly and Castle Island

article-image

Crypto continues to do its thing: incentivizing behavior

article-image

Kraken will soon offer Backed ‘xStocks’ as Solana tokens

article-image

In a unanimous decision, the US Court of International Trade has ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are unlawful