Don’t Call It ‘Crypto’: How Some Blockchain and NFT Projects are Rebranding – Decrypt

It is the technology that does not dare to pronounce its name.

You are looking for NFTs on Reddit or Instagram? You'll have much better luck searching."digital collectiblesinstead. Remember when blockchain was briefly sexy? The Bitcoin mining firm formerly known as Riot Blockchain recently rebranded itself as anti-riot platforms. The head of blockchain and digital assets at the World Economic Forum, Brynly Llyr, has even He suggested that the crypto space is completely rebranded around “decentralized systems.”

"For a while, definitely. No I want to call them NFT" saying NBA All-Star Baron Davis. Its photo and video rights management platform, SLiC Images, avoids any mention of the controversial technology.

Crypto, and all its associated jargon, are now toxic words. where once just adding the word "blockchain" to his name increased the valuation of his company, now crypto, Web3, NFT and the rest of the buzzwords that conjured images of a happy world are, for paraphrase Charlie Munger, rat poison.

Even the word "metaverse", which was supposed to define the latest evolution of the decentralized web, was hijacked by Mark Zuckerberg in a attempt to pivot Facebook (with somewhat radioactive results).

Although cryptocurrencies remain on the minds of "a younger generation clearly wary of non-traditional investments," the industry needs a "judicious refocus," argued Katie Baron, director of retail sales at trend intelligence firm Stylus.

“I think these terms have become somewhat toxic, particularly crypto and NFTs, in part because the initial feeding frenzy was presented as synonymous with a brave new ultra-democratized world where everyone could win big by investing in or creating digital assets. ”. she added.

For Dickon Laws, global head of innovation services at ad agency Ogilvy, terms like "crypto" and "Web3" have become toxic not only because of bad actors in the space, but because of the "terrible fit between product and the market".

“No one has made Web3 relevant or accessible to the masses, or really taken the time to understand how it solves 'mass' market problems or improves consumers' lives,” he said.

Laws said that the cryptocurrency "gold rush" of the last few years didn't take off with the masses because it didn't address issues that "your neighbors, family and friends, gym buddies, people you meet on a dog walk can understand and relate to." to."

Compounding the problem, brands and companies "did not follow their usual due diligence when investing," Laws said, meaning they had not made long-term plans to support their investment in blockchain technology. “So while it generated a lot of 'world first' headlines, they don't have answers for their stakeholders about what their money was spent on and its impact, which means continued growth and investment (good money after bad) is a really complicated matter. sell."

NFTs, in particular, when they weren't being ridiculed as environmental hazards (later fixed with Ethereum pass the participation test) was associated with the nastier get-rich-quick scams to hit cryptocurrency.

National Geographic abandoned his NFT plans following widespread criticism on social media, while the gaming industry has struggled with continued and consistent pushback from fans, with publishers of titles including worms and STALKER 2 forced to backtrack on plans to incorporate NFT into their games.

Rebrand or not?

So far, the NFT rebranding to "digital collectible" seems to have been a success; millions of reddit users have acquired their "collectible avatars".

"Everyone Says 'Digital Collectibles' Work" saying Alexandre Tsydenkov, founder of the NFT Paris conference. “Is it a better brand than NFT? I don't know."

“Every six months, people find a new word,” Tsydenkov added. “NFTs were a thing of the past, now it's the metaverse. But now Facebook is rebranding to Meta, so we need to change." Before trying to rebrand NFTs as something else, he argues, the crypto space should wait until "things have calmed down, and maybe NFTs can be mainstream without people understanding what NFTs are." .

So should all cryptocurrency companies consider rebranding and avoid using potentially nasty words in their names?

Katie Baron thinks it's definitely worth considering: "I would advocate contextualizing it in [your company’s] other communications, or delete it. Many of the more compelling metaverse-building companies don't include it: look at Journee or AnamXR. Blockchain especially – naming a company after a shared, immutable ledger is a bit unsexy!

However, some big names in the gaming industry ignore the setback and move on; I played NFT Blankos Block Party recently thrown out on Epic Games Store, while Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix is no apologies on its adoption of blockchain technology, the launch symbiogenesisan NFT game based on the Polygon blockchain, in February 2023.

Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft is doubling down on the blockchain and shows no signs of stopping. This week only, Ubisoft NFTs released of his popular Rabbids franchise in metaverse game the sandbox. "We understand where the sentiment towards the technology comes from and we must continue to take that into consideration every step of the way," Didier Genevois, Ubisoft's technical director of blockchain, said decipher in a 2021 interview.

He described the company's blockchain push as an experiment that "aims to understand how our players can receive and embrace the value proposition of decentralization."

pressing forward

In the long run, what we call technology won't matter, said Martin Raymond, co-founder of futures consultancy The Future Laboratory.

“I suspect that a lot of the reaction we're seeing is just bias toward the new,” Raymond said. “I think this happens with every innovation cycle or technology cycle; If you think about biotech, the first time it was a Frankenstein monster, the next time it's saving the planet."

Raymond argued that the Web3 terms used do not necessarily need to be rebranded. “I just think they need to detox,” he says. That is a task for the advocates who use the technology, the journalists who write about it, and the financial and banking industry that wants to take advantage of the technology.

agreed laws. “Web3 is as relevant to the average person as the term 'HTML,'” she says. "It's a crucial technological evolution, but do we need to know what Web3 stands for, like most people need to know what HTML stands for?"

Users don't care if a tool is an app, dapp, NFT, smart contract or IoT system. “What they care about is the benefit it brings,” he said.