My Web3 Awakening
Entering web3 has been an unmatched experience. Maybe my particular entrance has been the fairytale version — and that very well may be the case — but I’ve been in the space less than a month, and I already feel like I’ve found my tribe.
It’s interesting what happens when you put yourself out there. Creating a persona somewhere new, as someone who simply didn't exist there yet. It opens the door for you to be whoever and whatever you want to be without the constraints of a web2/IRL identity. It leaves room for you to exist in this digital era the way you see yourself in your head. Or maybe as an alter-ego that you’ve been keeping hidden from your first-degree connections.
Personally, entering the space gave me a place where I can authentically be myself. An exaggerated version of exactly who I am in real life, but like, with the volume turned all the way up. Showing up as 100% me IRL hasn’t always worked in my favor. So here, the first impressions of who I actually am — the person behind the keyboard — are hidden behind an NFT that’s used as my pfp. It’s a whole new culture for me, but somehow, it works.
Before I get into that, let me start at the beginning.
I first invested in crypto in March 2020. It was a baby investment that wouldn’t hurt me if it tanked, but could possibly be a nice little cushion of it mooned. And that was it. I just let that investment sit there and do its thing.
It wasn’t until mid-November that I tapped into #CryptoTwitter, which was after MONTHS of standing on the sidelines and learning from my husband (then fiancé) who was already forging his way into this new world. Through his experience and our conversations on the topic, the concept of NFTs began solidifying in my head. When I realized I was fully comprehending the myriad of information he had been spewing in my direction, I decided it was probably time to do my own research (side note: always DYOR!).
A quick search of the #NFTs hashtag from my personal Twitter account unlocked loads of information and exposed me to part of the Twitterverse I wasn’t yet aware of. It wasn’t long into this research that I found the first project I could actually relate to. It was an all-women pfp project, and it immediately stole my heart.
About 10 minutes after this discovery, I found my husband (still then-fiancé) and gave him a full report on my findings. I knew that the project had already minted out (meaning all the original NFTs had been purchased and revealed) and that the floor was rising (meaning the price of each individual NFT in the collection was getting higher). I made it very clear that we needed to get on this train ASAP. I could feel it in my bones that this project was going to be my entry into the space.
From there, we started looking through secondary listings on OpenSea. It didn’t take long before we found my forever CC. My husband (yes, still fiancé at the time) confirmed that I loved her and bought her for me as a wedding gift. It was official: my first ever NFT was a Crypto Chicks! Right then and there, the degen version of Becky was born.
Next up was picking out my ENS (Ethereum Name Service) domain name. My husband explained the significance of an ENS being a more publicly-adoptable wallet address. Not only was it a wallet identifier, but it was also seen as part of a person’s digital identity in this space. We snagged my (married) name and my dox, which was more like a half-dox from the beginning by nature.
And then… we waited. We had loads going on IRL at the time and were getting married a few weeks later, so we decided not to make any more moves on my behalf until the wedding had passed.
Fast forward to a couple of days before Christmas (and more than a few excited efforts from my newlywed husband to get me up and running), I decided it was time to take the leap and create my degen account. My husband helped me set up my own NFT wallet and transferred my digital assets. He was so excited to finally be able to deliver on his wedding gift; a gift I know I can never repay in fiscal terms. Not because it’s financially unreachable (yet 🚀), but because the gift he gave me will forever transcend its monetary value. And now that I was officially onboarded, we both understood that we were diving headfirst into a full-fledged movement.
Bringing this story back to the present tense.
I’ve officially been active as a degen for a few weeks now, and I’m realizing what “being part of this space” actually means. I had no way of making the connection at the time, but what my husband had actually gifted me was a ticket to a community. A community that shows up and is actively building the future with a combination of technology, the communication channels we have available in web2, and the visions of what we want to see web3 become.
When you put your “feet on the ground” in a realm that’s this new, you quickly understand that you’re helping to build a new digital reality. A reality that you can vote on by supporting projects and ideas. It’s the connection you feel to this space and its participants that really threads the whole concept together. A feeling that certainly does not come with the right-click + save/“it’s just a jpeg; I can own it, too!” hype. It’s definitely not the same as being there and experiencing it.
The best thing you can do is put yourself out there.
My best advice for entering web3 is to find the action on Twitter. For me, that meant creating a new degen account that was separate from the rest of my life. You absolutely do not have to do this, but doing so has benefitted me in a few ways. Why, you ask? Because when you create a new account and operate behind a pfp, there are a few things that happen:
- You don’t have to stare at your own face. Somehow, I find that to be a much less intimidating way to operate online. Web2 tends to feel so curated, and seeing a picture of my face plastered at the top of my profile always reminds me that my presence there is supposed to be reflective of the “image” I’m trying to maintain. That often feels very suffocating, if I’m being brutally honest.
- You can literally be anything — anyone — you want to be! For me, that meant being my most authentic self. That’s why I was so attracted to the Crypto Chicks art. It resonated with me but wasn’t actually me. At least not as everyone else had always assumed they knew me.
- You get to start from the beginning. No existing audience members who may or may not have a preconceived notion of who they think you are/should be. No expectations you may otherwise feel the pressure to meet or exceed. Just you and this brand-new world you’re exploring.
And then you jump! Introduce yourself. Follow your favorite projects. Engage with those who interact with you and start up conversations with people who share common interests. Join Twitter Spaces. Put yourself out there. Join the Discord servers for your projects. Put yourself out there again. Welcome newcomers. Interact with more people. Rinse & repeat.
The Twitter convos are usually a series of intros and welcomes and GMs and GNs. Sprinkle in the WAGMIs and bottle the excitement! You’re going to find your people. But here’s the thing: to be successful in the social sphere of this new digital territory, you have to be a) authentic, b) genuine, and c) consistent.
And it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are naturally scammers and bots and people posing as trustworthy frens who are fully willing and ready to take advantage of newbies in the space, BUT– if you can lean into the people that you trust, ALWAYS DYOR, and understand that it’s all a learning experience for each and every one of us, you’re definitely GMI.
My final thoughts.
Remember that overall, this space is still very new. While there are vast amounts of experience already present in web3, it evolves on a daily basis. The people coming in now are still super early. So many of the utilities and use cases are still in their most infant phases. And so many of the brilliant minds that will continue to change and alter what the space will become haven’t even landed yet. But we’re all here together. Learning. Growing. Looking out for one another.
For me, that’s what makes being part of the web3 movement so beautiful.
