@base is interesting because Coinbase brings distribution that most L2s don't have.
the tech is fine, the real moat is the 100M+ people who already have a Coinbase account, onboarding is the hard part and they're solving it.
The hottest narrative entering 2026 is not AI x crypto, it's equity perps on-chain
Hyperliquid's HIP-3 markets hit $26 billion in trading volume and $1 billion in open interest before most people had even heard of them
Trading Tesla shares on-chain from anywhere in the world
For anyone curious, you can already claim a ticket for tonight’s draw. It's an early protocol called : @epinikiagame
Takes seconds, low friction, and a shot at a serious upside.
Our first draw surpassing $1,000,000 in $EPI to win!
Come participate now with just a Gmail account to claim your ticket 🚀
Join us : https://t.co/oe1PySOg3L
regulation is a blocker, but tbh the biggest blocker is still trust.
most people don't use web3 bc they don't trust the apps, not bc it's illegal. fixing trust requires time and a few more years of non-disaster.
Honestly, I think this is one of the most interesting innovations that answers a real need, now we need to see how it will be implemented in the future within the ecosystem.
Monolithic chains do everything at once: execution, consensus, data availability.
Modular chains split those jobs across specialized layers.
The result is that you can now spin up a custom rollup in hours instead of months.
right now, for me nfts aren't dead.
the speculative pfp era is dead. the use cases that survive are the ones w/ actual utility underneath : ticketing, credentials, memberships.
different game, smaller hype, more real.
Basically that’s it, airdrops are now real processes for well-built projects.
If you have an airdrop with the same mechanics as in 2021, you probably have a scam that will airdrop you $12 for $1200 of farming
Airdrop meta 2026 is different from 2021 and most people have not adjusted yet.
Protocols are filtering harder. Raw transaction count no longer works. What actually gets you qualified now: meaningful on-chain activity, and being a real user of the product.
For me, "community-driven" usually means "we don't have a roadmap."
Governance is great when the protocol is mature, before that it's mostly theater.
Real builders build, then decentralize!
unpopular opinion: most L2s don't need their own token.
the token is for fundraising, not the protocol.
a few will survive on merit, most are fighting for the same liquidity with different branding
Onchain identity is still massively underbuilt.
Your wallet has years of transaction history but there's no good layer that turns that into a reputation you can actually use.
HUGE gap, someone will fill it!
For me, the gap between "interested in web3" and "actually using web3" is still huge, and it's almost entirely a UX problem.
-> gas fees, seed phrases, bridge confusion. We know the problems, the solutions are slow...
Every cycle has a narrative that sounds smart but is mostly vibes... last cycle it was "the metaverse" or "NFT" this cycle it might be "AI x crypto" or "RWA" some of it's real, most of it isn't, learn to tell the difference.
The biggest unsolved problem in web3 rn isn't scalability. It's that normal people have no reason to open a wallet until there's a killer use case that isn't speculation, today, adoption stays niche.
Hyperliquid is doing something most perp DEXs aren't: actually keeping revenue onchain and distributing it back. The model is simple, the execution isn't.
Been lurking long enough, time to actually post.
I'm gonna write about web3 protocols, what makes them worth watching, and what's just noise.
No price calls, no hype. Just the stuff i actually care about.