Mayda team members Hope Kuehne & Michael Scarcella went to Austin last week for Consensus, a gathering of the crypto community hosted by CoinDesk. Apart from lots of tech and tacos, here are their findings:

1. THE HYPE

Web3 buzzwords are overplayed, but the underlying technology advancements and foundational industry are exploding. Being there in person, it was evident that there is a robust industry growing.

Critical business sectors showed up in full force from legal, accounting, and data security to media outlets, gaming, and social media platforms.

2. BRAND ENGAGEMENT

Brands are starting to put more weight behind immersive web3 initiatives and collaborations with web3 native creators.

👨‍👦Small and Large-scale consumer brands were present, signaling that web3 tools can offer value to their audiences (if there is a meaningful strategy in place).

🔌Brands are investing in research to understand performance metrics in web3 and how they translate to KPIs in web2

🔧Brands and agencies alike were consistent in the pursuit of how to market web3 to a wider audience. The key, utility and making the product make sense for the consumer regardless of the tech powering it!

🎨Brands in the space are cautiously engaging with AI, especially as a tool for sustainable growth and creativity!

3. GROWING RESILIENCE

“Regulation” dominated the discourse and is clearly an encouraging but also scary prospect for many in these spaces. From the US Government publishing it’s blueprint on AI, to the European Parliament passing it’s MiCA (crypto assets) legislation. It's clear that this global shift is opening doors for the decentralized ecosystem. Here's hoping these shifts will provide onramps to wider adoption moving forward.

5. WHAT WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT

Our ECD, Ben Smith recently said on Whalar’s Everything is Better With Creators podcast, “If you can think it, you can make it” and though that has industry wide implications for those of us who have made our careers about making things – it also means that in the creative space, ideas and ingenuity are moving faster than ever. We’re already creating in web3 spaces and with AI tools, and we’re finding that we are still in the driver's seat. And since we are a bunch of dreamers over here at Mayda, that’s pretty exciting.