The new generation is coming, those WEB3 super post-00s

Author: Deep Tide

A great person once said, "Young people are full of vitality, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning; ultimately, the world belongs to you."

What are the good investment principles?

Everything will change, but it is up to people; capable individuals will always surprise you. "All-in talent" is the investment truth I firmly believe in.

The dawn of WEB3 is also rising, as digital natives born around "2000" are accelerating their entry into this field, bringing new vitality.

With curiosity about "WEB3 post-00s," Deep Tide TechFlow interviewed 6 young individuals born around 2000 to glimpse their WEB3 journey.

They come from world-renowned universities such as Harvard University, Tsinghua University, and New York University; some are already formal employees of well-known WEB3 funds, writing research reports and articles that go viral on social media; some are skilled in economic model design, serving as "consultants" for various game projects; some dropped out to start businesses and secured top-tier investments…

We asked them six questions:

1. Please briefly introduce yourself and what you are currently working on?
2. What opportunity led you to WEB3 and why did you choose to enter this field?
3. What is the most fulfilling thing you have accomplished in the crypto world?
4. Among the many tracks and fields, what are you currently focusing on or optimistic about?
5. What is a viewpoint that others may not necessarily agree with, but you personally recognize and believe in?
6. What advice and experiences can you share with young people who also wish to enter this industry?

Here are their stories.

Bobatea, Harvard University/Dragonfly, 2001

I am Bobatea (@0xbobateas).

I first encountered Crypto at the end of 2016 when I was still in high school. In 2017, I started buying Ledger cold wallets and BTC, just before the ICO boom.

I vaguely remember buying Doge at $0.003, and then the crypto market entered a two-year bear market. I missed the Cryptopunks Freemint because I was focused on applying to universities.

In 2020, I entered Harvard University as an undergraduate and became a founding member of the Harvard Blockchain Club, a Voting Member of the core DAO, and the head of the research group.

In September 2020, I joined Axie Infinity and became a community ambassador for Sky Mavis in the following months, allowing me to grow alongside the entire Gamefi sector. The most expensive Axie on the Axie website (369ETH) was sold by me, haha.

Now, I work as a Researcher at Dragonfly Capital Partners, focusing primarily on Web3, DeFi, GameFi, and NFTs.

After the bubble burst, we need to analyze what practical utility Crypto can bring. My answer is NFTs, especially top-tier PFP projects like Doodles, Azuki, and Clonex.

For example, I believe Azuki's strength lies in its potential to become a decentralized, interactive lifestyle brand for global anime fans, which is an NFT innovation we have never seen before.

Azuki represents a novel social way for Web3 natives. I believe that especially in the post-COVID world, 20-30-year-old (Asian) anime fans and Line Friends/Hello Kitty enthusiasts have a social need to find like-minded people worldwide, and Azuki serves as an entry point for building new connections.

Clothing, skateboards, and even anime production are merely byproducts of this community's connections, thus driving revenue beyond pure PFP trading fees.

In summary, the undeniable power of NFTs comes from Digital Ownership, but fundamentally, it is a new medium that allows humans to tell stories. At the same time, NFTs can capture the value of memes and serve as a store of social capital. Finally, NFTs use the Web3 tech stack to provide instant liquidity for social capital, allowing it to freely exchange financial capital through DeFi.

Therefore, I believe NFTs are currently the most important practical application of blockchain. If we firmly believe that people's virtual lives will surpass our real lives, and that online socializing will surpass offline socializing, then shouldn't the importance of our virtual assets also surpass that of our offline assets? In fact, some of my friends have already started using NFT PFPs to flirt with girls on WeChat…

Finally, my advice for young people wanting to enter this industry is to acquire some NFTs; there are good projects at all price points right now, but remember to Take Profits!

Wealth accumulation > Timing the market.

Aiko, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)/Folius Ventures, 2000

Hello everyone, I am Aiko (@0xAikoDai), I just graduated from university in May, previously a game designer, and currently responsible for investment and post-investment services for games and gamified applications at Folius Ventures.

I am particularly interested in researching game economic systems, tokenization, 100% on-chain games, and gamification practices.

I learned about the Crypto/NFT field from my peers in the school game studio last September and found a lot of interesting knowledge and exploration space, so I started learning frantically. At that time, I could have chosen to work at a major domestic game company after graduation or apply for a master's in game design abroad, but I felt that writing reports and doing research was more fun, coupled with the traditional gaming industry's lack of innovation in monetization and the impact of domestic industry regulations, so I ultimately chose the new field of Crypto.

The most fulfilling thing for me is probably being able to quickly grasp some new knowledge and have my suggestions adopted by the team. Because I am relatively young and lack practical experience in both traditional industries and crypto, I was initially very unconfident. Later, I gradually became able to discuss some complex issues with the team and genuinely help them solve problems, which made me very happy.

For example, I often receive DMs thanking me for a certain article I wrote, and the team built their game based on that content. Or I spent several hours communicating with the team about their issues, and later they really changed their entire economic model based on my suggestions, so I was quite happy that my opinions could be respected and that I could genuinely help.

Currently, I am mainly focused on games and gamified applications, which is simple because I entered the industry because of games, haha, and I will always look at problems with a designer's mindset.

Although I have indeed benefited from some track dividends, I also know very well that this track has many problems and issues. Continuing research is not solely because I want to capture a large market share from Web2 games, but because I find that traditional games have many inherent issues, and I believe that solving problems and know-how to improve the industry is more important.

Moreover, gaming itself is a cross-disciplinary and professional field, with greater exploration space, which is more suitable for someone like me who thinks driven by interests. Later, I found it very interesting to research many things related to DeFi, AMM, Marketplace, and NFTFi.

Having been slapped in the face multiple times and maintaining a critical attitude towards things, I feel that there isn't much I firmly believe in right now, haha… But I personally still believe that the future model of Crypto + games will not be like it is now, nor will it be the so-called skill-to-earn or stablecoin approach that forcibly separates economic systems. Any method that attempts to summarize all games with a single model, detached from user experience, will not work. I should elaborate on this viewpoint in my next big report.

Finally, my advice for young people wanting to enter this industry is to study hard (repeat ten thousand times), be diligent and serious in both life and work, and maintain independent thinking.

This industry is full of cheap flattery and myths of overnight wealth; if you are not firm enough in your heart, it is easy to get lost. Additionally, the work intensity is quite high, with working 15+ hours a day being the norm, so you need to manage your emotions well and maintain a healthy and regular lifestyle.

Wiger, University of Science and Technology of China Youth Class/LCC, 1999

My name is Wiger (@JizhouW) Wei Jizhou. I graduated from the Youth Class of the University of Science and Technology of China and am currently a partner at LCC, which is involved in both primary and secondary markets and provides financing and technical services.

At the same time, I am also the head of the technical guild at Buidler Dao, which gathers quality developers. We hope to create a training ground for Web3.0. In addition to producing content, I also participate in various project developments, such as the Metashield plugin for intercepting phishing websites and contract abuse. I am currently working on a low Gas platform called GasSaver, and I also teach two classes every week, sharing content on contract development and quantitative analysis.

I initially got into this industry because I heard the story of my senior, who roasted cats, which sparked my interest in the crypto industry. In May 2021, I made my first bucket of gold; from June to July, I developed on-chain arbitrage with Jiawei and Xiaocheng; in August, I researched contracts with Jiawei and Junhong; from September to November, I studied Dex/Cex quantitative arbitrage… I would like to especially thank Mr. Xia from OKX at that time, who helped us a lot.

By the end of the year, I worked with Yueqiao on chain game research; at the beginning of 2022, I did quantitative research at a private equity firm in Shanghai for three months, and after returning to school, I worked with Xiebai and Junhong to create a high-frequency trading framework and batch write factors.

In March, I was fortunate to meet Lucie, Mr. Huang, Shui Shui, and Hao Ge, who introduced me to a different field, starting to research Web3.0 projects and investment strategies. In April and May, I began experimenting with a million in funding, and in June and July, I worked on my product development… this is my growth trajectory.

The most fulfilling thing for me is that I have been climbing up, gaining resources, wealth, and influence that most of my peers do not have. When the Mimic project launched, I spent five minutes writing a script and snatched 188 of them…

In WEB3, I focus more on infrastructure development. If Web3 projects can bring convenience to daily life, that is the greatest significance for me. Therefore, I will work on low Gas platforms, intercept phishing websites, and may later develop NFT applications and more convenient payment methods…

In the long run, developers are the most important force driving the development of an industry. At the same time, bear market development and bull market harvesting; we are very willing to focus on research during this phase and contribute more to the ecosystem and society later.

Overall, in my view, the core of Web3.0 is four points: climbing up, information asymmetry, capital volume, and project development.

I really want to thank Shui Shui, Hao Ge, and NGC for their tremendous help, as well as Mr. Xia from OKX, who fully supported us in the early stages of our research. That phrase "seeing from the heights" has motivated me for an entire year.

My advice for young people wanting to enter this industry is to learn English well, learn programming, have solid skills, and maintain good personal awareness. It is best to suppress gambling tendencies, do more internships, and conduct more research. This is a very early-stage field that requires constantly seeking opportunities and contributing to the industry.

Finally, I would like to conclude with a quote from my favorite author, Zang Shan: "Come out of the mountains and slay all."

msfew, New York University/Foresight Ventures, 2001

I am Yao Suning, known online as msfew (@msfew_eth).

Currently, I work as a researcher at Foresight Ventures, focusing mainly on zero-knowledge proofs and modular blockchain infrastructure, responsible for research and output of viewpoints. Most of the research reports in Foresight Research are written by me, such as "Chronicles of Crypto Thought."

At the same time, I am studying at New York University and will soon be a junior. My previous routine was attending classes in the morning and working on Web3 in the evening. This summer, I interned at Google as a developer, and recently, my routine has been morning Web2 and evening Web3.

I have two hobbies in life: one is writing rap music, which has about 2 million plays on NetEase Cloud; the other is fitness. I participated in bodybuilding competitions in high school, and I was in the school track and field team in elementary and middle school, breaking the shot put school record in high school.

I deeply understood Crypto because of two events: In April 2021, a classmate made a lot of money trading meme coins, so we often went to the school's study room to mine Monero using public computers (because we didn't have permission to install software); in the summer of 2021, I interned at UnionPay, where the department had a blockchain team, which piqued my interest. During those two months, I gained an in-depth understanding of consortium chains and digital RMB, as well as Bitcoin and Ethereum…

Around October 2021, by chance, I saw that Foresight Ventures was recruiting researchers on GitHub. I was very interested in the blockchain and venture capital industry, so I submitted my resume and was accepted, gradually starting to work in this field.

Currently, what gives me a sense of accomplishment mainly relates to research. For example, my research results have been copied and disseminated in various formats such as audio, video, and text. Initially, I was quite angry, but later I thought, "The greatest ideal of a creator is for their work to be spread," and being plagiarized means the content has value, which aligns with the free and information-explosive era of Web3.

Since I joined Foresight Ventures a year ago, our dissemination channels have grown 17 times through the in-depth and sustained output of the research team.

Among the many tracks in Web3, I mainly focus on two aspects:

Technology (Developers): I am optimistic about zero-knowledge proof technology. Its popularization will allow Web3 developers to enter the ZK development field. ZK is also an important technology for solving trust and scalability issues. At the same time, the maturity and reshuffling of infrastructure development during the bear market will allow more developers to understand Web3 and improve the experience of existing developers.

Applications (Users): I am mainly optimistic about NFTs. The concept of NFTs is simple and straightforward, making it easy for users to understand, and the infrastructure and utility surrounding it are rapidly developing. NFTs can derive applications in identity, social, and finance, and will still be a very large track in the future.

Of course, in my view, Web3 cannot replace Web2; Web3 will always be Web3. Forcibly converting Web2 applications into Web3 is a clumsy endeavor.

My advice for young people wanting to enter this industry is:

1. Recharge: Degen a bit; you'll understand through losses.
2. Input: Read the weekly reports and research from Foresight Research's WeChat public account, and daily check Techflow, Foresight News, and follow Twitter and RSS subscriptions.
3. Integrate: Make Web3 a part of your life; "earning money should be as natural as breathing."
4. Output: Communicate and collide with others; don't be afraid of making mistakes, as most people don't understand anyway.

Yiki, Tsinghua University/y2z ventures, 1999

Hello everyone, I am Yiki (@huangxiaocong2), the vice president of the Tsinghua University Blockchain Association (THUBA), an intern at y2z ventures, and I have also worked as a product manager at Rct.ai.

In 2021, I interned at a media outlet, writing several articles on the tech industry and digital currency, which led me to interview some crypto exchanges and investors. Because of this opportunity, a good friend invited me to THUBA and the Zhu Jiao Fan group, where I saw more peers in the industry discussing topics and job opportunities. I realized that to truly understand an industry, one must experience working in it rather than being a bystander. Fortunately, I found an internship opportunity in the THUBA group, and I am currently mainly involved in primary investments and writing research articles at y2z ventures… The colleagues at y2z ventures are all very capable, and I am learning a lot here.

Currently, the most fulfilling thing for me is probably writing the article "A Ten Thousand Word Essay: The History of Cryptocurrency Regulation in the United States." This was suggested by tt, and initially, it was in English, as I wanted to make a small contribution to promoting crypto regulatory policies in Vietnam. Later, I felt that there were very few English readers, so I translated it into Chinese myself.

Writing this article was more about my own learning than a sense of accomplishment. I organized the history of the Crypto industry within a framework, and in the process, I understood the value of Crypto as a digital asset in the digital age. Before writing this article, I was probably just interested in Crypto but had doubts about its value; after finishing, I gained faith.

I am still in the stage of being excited about everything shortly after entering the circle. I have seen many Web3 projects and written research articles on NFTs, 3AC, and crypto regulation, but I also plan to learn development. Since I am involved in THUBA, I am also exploring DAOs.

As a student with a social science background, researching new network forms and social organizational methods is very appealing to me. Under the premise of deeply understanding and participating in the industry, I want to grasp stable operational logic and social laws amid changing phenomena, so I have been considering pursuing a PhD…

I always remember what tt said—become digital!

For young people wanting to enter this industry, I would say, for non-developers, I think internships in investment and research are the fastest ways to enter the industry. Writing articles can help you meet many friends, and also engage more with seniors and peers, join some DAOs or communities for support. Everyone is welcome to follow THUBA; we will soon hold a hackathon!

Peter, UC Berkeley/Web3 Entrepreneurship, 2002

Hello everyone, I am Peter Li Xingyu (@XingyuLi2022), a UC Berkeley CS + MATH dropout. I am currently a co-founder of Cedar NFT's buy now, pay later protocol and am involved in research and DeFi governance at Blockchain@Berkeley. Previously, I interned and conducted research at Berkeley AI Research, NASA, and AWS, and participated in many Blockchain hackathons.

I first encountered Crypto last summer during a hackathon, helping a shoebox NFT project complete its MVP development. As I deepened my understanding of blockchain-related technologies and their underlying values, combined with my past experiences in education, mobile internet, and digital transformation, I fully realized that Crypto is currently the field with the most opportunities, the greatest potential, and the lowest opportunity cost. The increasing influx of capital and talent further confirms my choice.

So far, the most fulfilling thing for me is my own project. From initially developing a chain game data analysis tool with a "let's give it a try" mindset, which gained over 100,000 users, to experiencing several product iterations, ultimately forming a team and gaining recognition from top institutions like Opensea, the journey has been full of twists and turns, but I have grown a lot and achieved much.

In the long run, I am very optimistic about NFTs as the infrastructure of the future digital world, bringing scarcity and value narratives. I also look favorably upon some technical solutions that address the low performance of blockchain infrastructure and the inefficiency of on-chain capital utilization (such as zk/zkvm/zkevm, bridges, NFTFi), as well as more interoperable ecosystems (cosmos, celestia, zora, etc.). I look forward to seeing the next paradigm shift in blockchain infrastructure or killer applications with innovative economic models in the future.

In my view, Ponzi is not necessarily a scheme!

For young people wanting to enter this industry, I offer the following advice:

1. Read more technical documents + project white papers.
2. As a user, try out dapps & protocols.
3. High-quality blogs/articles > high-quality podcasts >> Twitter Spaces / Twitter Shit Posts.
4. Learn Solidity & Rust.