The co-founder of Polygon, a well-known Ethereum scaling platform, Sandeep Nailwal, has expressed his opinions on the potential of Web3 gaming and its function in promoting widespread cryptocurrency adoption. Nailwal was asked about practical use cases for blockchain outside of trading and payments during an AMA session on the r/India subreddit of Reddit.
The largest chance for bitcoin adoption, according to Nailwal, is in the gaming industry. He said, “I think gaming is the largest scale opportunity for crypto.” He emphasized the huge funding Web3 games have received, with over $2 billion spent in the industry just last year.
“There are some top games launching in Web3 in the next 6-18 months and it would be very interesting to see if some of them are able to crack the crypto code. Last year itself there was $2 billion+ in funding for Web3 games.”
Nailwal added that a significant chunk of this money has been secured by Polygon and the companies that make up its ecosystem, including Immutable X. He expressed the expectation that some of these games might be quite successful.
Using its EVM-compatible zk-rollup technology, Polygon is actively creating a scalable gaming blockchain in partnership with Immutable X. This new network seeks to improve blockchain games by facilitating quicker transactions and providing additional advantages.
When questioned about the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies, Nailwal acknowledged that speculation had both benefits and drawbacks. He explained that this speculation has been both a “boon and bane of crypto.” He continued by saying that speculating attracted top talent as well as a sizable number of speculative customers and applicants.
“Boon cuz it attracts top talent towards the industry, bane cuz obviously, a large number of users and applications are speculative in nature,” he added:
“But one could argue that any potential big industry invites a lot of speculation early on. It was the same with the Gold rush area and it was also the same for the Dot com boom.”
Nailwal compared early speculation in potentially game-changing firms to historical events like the Gold Rush and the Dot Com Boom in an effort to support his assertion.
Nailwal pointed out that the blockchain industry is still in its infancy and that only Bitcoin and Ethereum’s ecosystems are currently completely decentralized. He argued that gradual decentralization is crucial as protocols and applications gain importance over time. It might not be required to accomplish total decentralization right away, according to Nailwal.
The Nakamoto Coefficient, a measure of the degree of decentralization in a blockchain network, is a rating provided by Polygon. Nailwal was also questioned about this rating. Indicating that four node operators most likely control around one-third of the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain, NakaFlow assigned Polygon a grade of 4. Nailwal expressed his gratitude for the grade and stressed the need of continuing the decentralization effort.
Sandeep Nailwal’s AMA session clarified the possible role of Web3 gaming as a driver of broad cryptocurrency adoption. He emphasized Polygon’s efforts to create a scalable gaming blockchain and voiced optimism for the success of upcoming Web3 games. Nailwal acknowledged the speculative aspect of the cryptocurrency market but saw it as a talent magnet. Additionally, he stressed the significance of gradual decentralization as blockchain ecosystems develop.