Web3 transaction costs

Jan 14, 2022

Acquiring early customers through trust requires planning, the FTC moves in on Meta, and will we be sitting in self-driving cars any time soon?

Lower transaction costs

From Noahpinion, by Noah Smith

We must prevent Web3 from becoming a world of micropayments (having to pay for things is not a feature).
Web3 should instead focus on lowering transaction costs, these aren’t paid in dollars but in time and mental effort, rather than introducing things that force people to pay more.
Creators need to target things blockchains do more naturally, e.g. improve file-sharing or build smart contracts to allow micro-startups to create ad-hoc partnerships and certify workflows.

From First 1000, by Ali Abouelatta

How do you acquire early customers when your business is rooted in overcoming a large threshold of trust?

Understand risk: whether real or perceived, address and understand every level of risk from technical and financial to social and psychological.
Build competence-based trust: ask yourself, can your business get the job done? You could, borrow trust, fill an information gap, build offline relationships and use a trust anchor (a big first customer).
Build systemic-based trust: this requires many processes and systems working together to be effective. Define accessibility, be transparent, act as an intermediary, and plan mitigation.
Build values & integrity-based trust: do people trust your character?

The majority of decentralized apps are, for the most part, unable to perform basic functions that other apps do easily. Every action requires some form of currency in order to operate - everything has to be signed for.
If 53% of mobile users leave sites that take three or more seconds to load, won’t the average user be too impatient for many multiple steps?
The core problem of decentralized blockchains is that they’re not decentralized (and have big privacy problems). Most ‘decentralized’ products have to operate and are powered by layers of centralized web infrastructure.

From Platformer, Casey Newton

Thirteen months ago the FTC looked to break up Facebook and reverse its acquisitions and with this week's ruling, they have been given the green light to go ahead.
What may or may not happen to Instagram and Whatsapp does matter a great deal but what could happen with the next-generation platforms matters a lot more.
The FTC’s attention should be on the future of Meta and the things that are still up for grabs. It was promising to see their recent inquiry into Meta’s VR app acquisitions.

Safety experts fear unrealistic expectations. The self-driving car would only drive safely in certain weather conditions and within geographic limits, consumers may also transfer too much driving to their cars.
General Motors, Geely and Volvo have all recently announced plans for personal self-driving cars, most are looking to follow Volvo’s Ride Pilot system:
- It goes beyond current driver-assistance systems, which expect drivers to still pay attention, and allow drivers to fully relax on certain highway stretches.
- Volvo, not the driver, will be responsible for safe operation when the system is active.