Since the official release of the Ordinals protocol at the end of 2022, people have seen the different possibilities of Bitcoin as a value network, and more and more people have begun to explore what narratives the Bitcoin network can actually carry. This exploration is gradually changing the narrative mode of digital assets, and Meme, as a long-proven direction, has once again rejuvenated its vitality on the Bitcoin network. However, looking through the data, it can be clearly found that the popularity of Meme narratives on Bitcoin is constantly declining between 2023 and 2024. Many communities are tired of this and are eager to find the next new outbreak point, which indicates that the Bitcoin ecosystem is about to usher in a transformation from short-term frenzy to long-term value.
From the Meme narrative trend started by CryptoKitties in 2017, which set off a trend of Meme narrative assets on the Ethereum network, to the Ordinals protocol, inscriptions (BRC20), runes and other concepts on Bitcoin in 2022, Bitcoin and Ethereum have gradually formed their own unique trajectories in this narrative evolution. However, these Meme Tokens and NFT narratives, which have spawned great enthusiasm in the short term, are facing sober reflection and deeper transformation in the community over time.
In this process, the decentralization of the issuance mechanism and the individualization of the issuing unit have become the hallmarks of the change of Meme narrative. In the early days, the issuance of Meme assets was mostly led by the project party or team, and marketing and capital support constituted the main driving force. However, in the Bitcoin ecosystem, the community's spontaneous Meme-driven mechanism has replaced it, and the issuing units have become more decentralized, independent, and even individualized. Although this de-capitalization evolution is in line with the core spirit of Bitcoin, it is still a zero-sum game in essence, and many projects are still looking for value in speculation and high-frequency trading. The limitations of this model have gradually become apparent, and many investors and community members have begun to wonder: Can crypto assets break through short-term games and truly become a tool for carrying value and enabling real-world applications?
This reflection has triggered the crypto community's attention to Web3 applications and the precipitation of actual value. More and more people are beginning to give up their attention to Meme and turn their attention to Web3 applications that can provide actual value. For example, Friend.tech, Bluesky, and Lens have all received varying degrees of attention. We can find that the Web3 application narrative is rapidly accumulating its audience, with a trend of replacing the Meme narrative, and is becoming an important force in promoting technological progress and ecological expansion.
From decentralized finance (DeFi) to decentralized social media and games, Web3 applications can provide a more substantial way to empower the digital economy. Compared with the single Meme model, the application scenarios of Web3 not only meet the developers' needs for innovation, but also allow users to directly participate in and benefit from the growth and value-added of the ecosystem. This is not just a change in narrative, but also a qualitative change from speculative gaming to value precipitation.
The trend of Web3 applications in the Bitcoin ecosystem also reflects the continuous progress of the underlying blockchain technology. With the evolution of Bitcoin and sidechain solutions, its high performance, low fees and security have made great progress, supporting more complex and high-frequency application scenarios. More and more innovative projects have begun to explore Web3 applications on Bitcoin, bringing more stable liquidity and more real user needs to the ecosystem. This means that Bitcoin is not only a storage medium for digital gold, but also the underlying infrastructure of decentralized applications, providing a more solid support for value precipitation.
To realize the true potential of Web3 and the value vision of decentralization, Web3 applications must overcome the key obstacles in their current development. Although the vision of Web3 applications is to allow users to have data sovereignty and enjoy the freedom of a decentralized ecosystem, these practical problems, from data silos to high fees, are still restricting the widespread implementation and actual value of Web3 applications. Below, we first analyze the current obstacles to the development of Web3 applications from four aspects, and in the following section, we will combine the applications that have actually landed in the market to explore possible paths to break through these bottlenecks.
1. Data silos: Breaking down application barriers and restoring user data sovereignty
The core concept of Web3 applications is that users have data sovereignty, allowing users to freely shuttle their own data between different platforms. However, many Web3 applications still tend to build their own user circles, trying to build a "decentralized" version of the moat. This data island phenomenon makes it difficult for users to seamlessly migrate their data or identities between different applications, but instead creates a problem similar to the application barriers in Web2.
Real Web3 applications should have the characteristics of "data privatization": users own and control their data and can choose to bring data to different applications without being subject to platforms or data providers. For example, user data on a decentralized social platform should be able to be directly brought to another Web3 application without recreating identity or data. This will not only make the user experience of Web3 applications smoother, but also lay the foundation for richer user interaction and ecological collaboration. Through the further development of data privatization and open protocols, a technical foundation can be provided for breaking data silos.
2. Lack of unified identity: Building an on-chain identity system to achieve seamless interoperability
As explained in the previous point, users at this stage often need to recreate their identities in each application when they move between different Web3 applications. This limitation not only brings inconvenience, but also makes the interoperability of Web3 applications extremely complicated. An ideal Web3 ecosystem should support users to maintain a unified identity between different applications without the need for repeated authentication or migration.
On-chain identity system can provide a solution to this problem. By creating a verifiable digital identity on the blockchain, users can seamlessly move between multiple Web3 applications. This system allows users to easily switch freely between decentralized social, financial, and even metaverse applications within an on-chain identity framework. This not only enhances user mobility and experience, but also makes data and asset interoperability between applications more convenient and reliable. The realization of this unified identity system is not only a sign of Web3 applications moving towards maturity, but also creates conditions for promoting cross-ecological collaboration.
3.High fees: Find low-cost, sustainable solutions
High transaction costs are the main bottleneck for the development of Web3 applications, especially in networks such as Ethereum and Bitcoin. For most users, frequent transactions and interaction costs make it difficult to use Web3 applications. Therefore, in order to make the cost more affordable for users, many projects have begun to design economic models to subsidize users, but this approach is not a long-term solution, and high costs still limit the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem.
Some low-cost blockchain networks and sidechain solutions provide ideas for solving this problem. For example, Bitcoin's MVC sidechain solution has achieved remarkable results in high performance and low fees, making complex applications and frequent interactions more feasible. In the future, the blockchain industry should further develop low-cost scalability solutions, or use Layer 2 expansion technology to reduce transaction costs to a user-acceptable range, so that Web3 applications can be popularized among a wider user group.
4. The ecosystem is not closed: cross-platform interoperability, creating a one-stop user experience
Currently, Web3 and Web2 applications are similar in interaction: users need to switch applications between different platforms to complete various interactive operations. However, the moat effect of different platforms in the Web3 ecosystem is more significant, and it is difficult to provide a one-stop seamless experience. For example, it is difficult for users to easily transfer assets obtained in on-chain financial applications to social or gaming applications, resulting in the dispersion of application scenarios and the fragmentation of experience.
To solve this problem, Web3 needs to build a more closely connected and interoperable ecosystem so that users can perform cross-application operations in the same ecosystem. Web3 applications can not only achieve interoperability through open protocols, but also design cross-platform asset sharing and operation modes. For example, the income generated by users in decentralized finance (DeFi) can be directly applied to decentralized games, or converted into rewards in decentralized social applications, thus forming a closed-loop ecological experience. In this closed-loop system, the Web3 ecosystem will truly realize the vision of "one-stop" operation, so that users do not need to switch platforms repeatedly, and the experience is smoother and more natural.
Although the implementation and development of Web3 applications are accompanied by many practical challenges, there are already some applications and protocols on the market that are exploring feasible paths to solve these key problems, mainly focusing on the rich practices accumulated in the two major chains of Ethereum and Bitcoin. However, from the historical data, although Ethereum has carried a large number of Web3 applications in the early days, the expansion and cost issues have always restricted its development among a wider user group; in contrast, since the release of the Ordinals protocol, the potential of running Web3 applications on the first-layer network of Bitcoin has gradually emerged, although it also faces obstacles such as high fees. However, through the linkage between Bitcoin and the second-layer network and the application of different decentralized protocols, we can find some ideas worth learning from.
From the perspective of fees, although the security of the Bitcoin network is highly recognized, its fees are still high for the operation of daily applications, which makes simple interactions expensive and difficult to popularize. We found that a second-layer network called MVC may provide a practical solution. It provides a feasible path for the long-term implementation of applications with high performance and low fees. On the MVC network, the 0 block confirmation technology allows transactions to be confirmed in real time, and its cost is only one-half millionth of the Bitcoin main chain fee. This feature makes MVC an ideal storage chain that can divert frequent data interactions from the Bitcoin first-layer network, thereby reducing the burden on users and improving the availability of applications. From this application practice, it may be possible to achieve high-frequency and low-cost interactive experience under the premise of ensuring security through the coordinated division of labor between the first and second layer chains in the future.
In addition, data silos and unified identity issues also seriously restrict the overall collaboration and user experience of the Web3 application ecosystem. On the market, Nostr and MetaID protocols have been exploring this field for a long time and have provided some practical solutions. The Nostr protocol attracted attention in 2022, bringing decentralized social applications Damus, Amethyst and snort.social. These applications attempt to achieve data openness and user autonomy in a decentralized environment, allowing users to control their data flow more freely and avoid the trouble of repeated identity registration. Nostr's exploration emphasizes the portability of user data, which provides valuable technical inspiration for cross-application collaboration and unified identity management.
On the other hand, MetaID's practice on the problem of data silos is also impressive. As a protocol developed from the BSV network, MetaID has experienced a longer period of iteration and has accumulated rich experience in decentralized data management. Through the MetaID protocol, users' data can not only flow freely between different applications, but also seamlessly connect with different types of applications such as decentralized social platforms Show, Buzz and BitBuzz, further demonstrating the potential of data privatization and controllable flow. This application scenario shows that unified identity management and data privatization solutions can be promoted through standardization and openness between protocols, thereby more effectively addressing the problem of data silos.
In terms of ecological closed loop, the MetaID protocol presents a more comprehensive solution. MetaID not only supports social applications, but also provides a trading, management, and issuance platform for NFTs and Tokens. This multifunctional ecological structure provides convenience for users to complete different operations in the same protocol system. At the same time, with its unified identity system, users can freely shuttle between different applications and achieve a one-stop operation experience through a single identity. Such an architecture effectively avoids the trouble of repeatedly using different wallets and creating wallets in various applications, and greatly improves the fluency of use.
This model brings another significant advantage, that is, the incentive scheme at the protocol level becomes possible. With the design of MetaID, users can access the incentive scheme of the protocol layer while participating in any application and enjoy the benefits brought by the closed loop of the ecosystem. This model makes the incentive no longer limited to a single application, but extends it to the underlying support of the entire ecosystem, so that users can continue to receive incentives when using various applications. This design of closed loop ecology and unified incentives not only increases user stickiness, but also provides a solid support for the sustainable development of the protocol.
Although the actual implementation of Web3 applications faces many obstacles, with the support of high-performance and low-cost second-layer networks and decentralized data protocols, feasible solutions to these problems are gradually taking shape. The division of labor between the first layer of Bitcoin and the MVC network, and the data sharing and unified identity practices of the Nostr and MetaID protocols show a clear direction forward. Through these innovative application explorations, the future of Web3 is not limited to technological breakthroughs, but also lies in how to truly realize the rights and interests of users and the implementation of value transfer in a decentralized ecosystem.
Image source MetaID browser, you can see that MetaID data records have reached nearly 7 million pages
After the gradual improvement of the underlying infrastructure such as tariffs and identity protocols, we may really be able to look forward to the accelerated arrival of a comprehensive and prosperous Web3 ecosystem. Recently, MetaSo, an open source middleware suite focusing on the Web3 social ecosystem, was officially released, bringing new innovation opportunities to developers. With a highly integrated architecture, developers can complete the deployment of social network nodes in just 20 minutes. Through simple operations, a decentralized social network system can be established. Data ownership, protocol-level incentive mechanisms and user-friendliness are brought together in MetaSo, allowing everyone to operate their own social network nodes and truly connect the vast world of Web3. Of course, although MetaSo has greatly reduced the technical threshold, deploying nodes still involves certain basic costs such as domain name registration and server leasing. For this reason, for any Web3 network that hopes to achieve healthy and sustainable development, a refined incentive plan for operators is indispensable. Looking back, whether it is Lens or Bluesky, although they are decentralized social platforms, these applications have always been lacking in the design of incentive mechanisms. To explore their inner workings, most of them still adopt a centralized approach of fighting for themselves. MetaSo's ambition is obviously more than that. It attempts to build a network ecosystem of collaborative operations, co-construction and sharing, and connect every node and user through protocol-level incentives.
Combined with the protocol-level incentive model mentioned above, MetaSo extends the incentive link directly to every participant and node. High-quality and influential users can not only drive the node's voice, but their influence ranking also directly determines the incentive amount that the node can obtain. This concise and clear incentive logic has invisibly spawned two important ecological development paths: on the one hand, in order to attract high-quality users, nodes will continue to iterate and explore diversified token economic mechanisms; on the other hand, users are motivated to enhance their own influence and strive for more incentives. This top-down and bottom-up two-way incentive mechanism is expected to effectively promote the virtuous cycle and continuous activity of the entire Web3 social network. For ordinary users, MetaSo also supports nodes to decide on their own to distribute incentive amounts, so that users can "benefit from interaction".
In the past, this kind of incentive and ecological co-construction was often subject to practical obstacles such as imperfect tool chains and weak infrastructure, but MetaSo has broken through this bottleneck with the preparedness of its own ecology. Whether it is token issuance or asset circulation, developers can choose a variety of launch plans and DEX platforms in MetaSo, which greatly improves the overall scalability and coordination efficiency. Such a highly integrated ecosystem is the core driving force behind the rapid growth of Web3 social networks. It is worth noting that MetaSo has spawned a series of innovative applications shortly after its release. For example, some developers have implemented robots that can directly access Web3 functions in chat groups based on the deep expansion of MetaSo. Through such tools, users can seamlessly publish Web3 dynamics, send digital currency red envelopes, and participate in a variety of interactive applications in group chat scenarios. These spontaneous innovations are just the tip of the iceberg of ecological vitality. With the continued participation of more nodes and developers, the full outbreak of the Web3 ecosystem in the future is full of expectations. Moreover, according to data at the time of writing, the total number of transactions in MetaSo has exceeded 110 million times, and the number of nodes has also expanded to 30, which means that there are already 30 different applications in the MetaSo ecosystem.
We can see that the Bitcoin ecosystem is brewing an unprecedented change, and Web3 is embarking on a transition from "meme narrative" to real value precipitation. This is not only an evolution of the blockchain ecosystem, but also a redefinition of the concept of decentralization. From a high-performance second-layer network to a closed-loop ecosystem with unified identity and private data, Web3 will bring about a comprehensive innovation in user experience, value transfer, and incentive models. What we are witnessing is no longer a stacking of technologies, but a revolution that re-empowers users and lays a future blueprint for decentralized applications.
On the eve of this revolution, innovations on Bitcoin are constantly accumulating strength. MetaID, MetaSo and other protocols have opened up ways to break through data silos, break down identity barriers, and lower tariff thresholds. With the expansion of these pioneering applications, a brand new track will gradually be brewed, and the value will return to every actual user with such development. It can be said that the full outbreak of the Web3 ecosystem is already at hand. In the future, true decentralized value transfer will no longer be a vision, but will become the core of our digital life.
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