Decentralized Brand Economies: The Key to Blockchain Mass Adoption
An introduction to brand-centric decentralized marketplaces
This paper presents the concept of “decentralized brand economies” for the first time and demonstrates how blockchain technology can be leveraged to build an experiential engagement infrastructure. It outlines the set of core principles a brand should follow to deliver value aligned with the needs of Gen Y, Z, and Alpha, and gives a practical implementation approach for a blockchain-based brand community engagement platform.
Written by Dr. Andreas Freund.
TL;DR: Here is some fuel for the CryptoTwitter warriors:
- Internet [web2.0] mass adoption did not start with money, and neither will blockchain [web3.0] mass adoption.
- Decentralized Finance (DeFi) will be a fast follower, not a leader.
- As exciting as DeFi is, the tethering of use cases into regulatory frameworks that are not designed for seamless user experiences does not lend itself to rapid blockchain mass adoption.
Applications that combine the following will enable blockchain mass adoption:
- Hyper-productivity for Gen Y and Gen Z
- End-user engagement and incentivization technologies such as AR/VR with AI and blockchain
- Experiential communities that give people a sense of “belonging”
- Economic utility and control for end-users
- Minimal adoption friction
- Seamless and fun user experience
- More than half (58%) of consumers aged 25 to 34 say they’d be likely to spend more money on a brand’s products and services if they are part of meaningful brand communities.
- Decentralized brand (follower) economies targeting Gen Y, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha with no direct bridges to the world of fiat money will bring the first wave of blockchain mass-adoption.
What is a Decentralized Brand Economy?
A decentralized brand economy is a combination of two elements: brand communities and decentralized marketplaces for brand related assets. A brand community is a global group of people who love a brand and its purpose and have organized themselves around one or more aspects of a brand — social advocacy, special products, brand representatives, special brand stories. A decentralized marketplace is the digital version of an old style weekend market where people are free to peddle their different fairs without a central market manager. In combination, when brand communities leverage distributed ledger technology to create a decentralized marketplace, it is called a “decentralized brand economy.”
If blockchain is to become the new global fabric for value exchanges and thus value democratization, it is imperative to find a path to rapid mass adoption. How do we get 1 billion+ people utilizing blockchain in their daily lives?
Read the full white paper at the ConsenSys Blog.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author above do not necessarily represent the views of Consensys AG. ConsenSys is a decentralized community with ConsenSys Media being a platform for members to freely express their diverse ideas and perspectives. To learn more about ConsenSys and Ethereum, please visit our website.
