2024 has been an interesting year, one of the milestones of course being Bitcoin finally breaking and going over $100,000. Between the launch of crypto ETFs, crypto’s impact on elections, and the rise of crypto AI agents, it’s been a wild ride. In this year-end review, we’ll highlight the key Web3 trends and developments of 2024 and explore what they mean for builders, users, and investors heading into 2025.

As we start another year, we’re looking back and reflecting on the events and accomplishments of 2022. The year was punctuated by ups and downs, but more importantly, 2022 was a time of growth and change.

2022 was a tumultuous year for Web3, as it was for many other industries. Despite that, we saw many established brands enter the Web3 space. Nike is consistently exploring the edge of new digital technologies, and they continue to be a leader in the Web3 space. Last year they were joined by a plethora of other brands and projects across multiple industries — Lamborghini, Disney, Starbucks and Rimowa, just to name a few. Here’s a look at some of the brands and companies that ventured into Web3 in 2022.

Dan Shields is one of the most enthusiastic blockchain advocates and community builders we've met; in addition to co-founding and organizing Denver's popular weekly blockchain meetup, being an instrumental organizer of ETHDenver and ETHBoston, Dan has been an active builder of the Denver and global blockchain communities for the last two years. His popular meetup fosters creative thought and insight reminiscent of the Homebrew Computer Club and his startup Aproflow aims to revolutionize the way bright young students enter the workforce.

Blockchain is becoming mainstream. For many in the crypto community, this acceptance is long overdue. However, as with any new emerging technology or industry (e.g. artificial intelligence or marijuana legalization) there remains a fair share of skeptics; those who are comfortable with the status quo and are quick to point out flaws in the system, opportunities for misuse, and the potential for the already disenfranchised to be further taken advantage of. For those of you who are cautiously optimistic and want to learn more about blockchain, we want to debunk some of the popular myths for you.

By now, you’d be hard pressed to name an industry that hasn’t begun exploring the potential of blockchain technology. Increased transparency, reduced transaction costs, faster settlements, user control over data and true network decentralization — the benefits could revolutionize many industries. With cryptocurrency being the most mainstream application of blockchain technology, it may not come as a surprise that the banking and finance industry seems to be leading the way in adoption.

This is Part 2 of a series on the blockchain developer job market.

In Part 1, we presented high level findings from our research on blockchain developer jobs as a result of surveying major U.S. recruiting sites. We were inspired to conduct our own research after seeing “Blockchain Developer” listed as the number one emerging occupation in LinkedIn’s 2018 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report. Quite a few people responded to Part 1 with insights and experience, and we’re excited to share insights from one of them here.

David Gadd consults with organizations regarding talent acquisition — specifically, helping them grow their in-house Blockchain teams. David didn’t agree with all our conclusions (it wouldn’t be very interesting if he did) so we reached out to have a conversation around what he’s been seeing, and are excited to report back to you with another perspective from an industry insider with their ear to the street.

In December LinkedIn published their 2018 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report and unsurprisingly (to us at least) “Blockchain Developer” was listed as the number one emerging occupation in the United States with a staggering 33x growth in 2018 alone. While this news is encouraging for anyone involved in the blockchain ecosystem, it doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. In fact, it creates more questions than answers: What industries are hiring blockchain developers? Where, exactly, are these jobs? How large are the organizations hiring? What skills does a blockchain developer need to have? And what are the most popular protocols?

How do developers view blockchains and what obstacles do they face? This is a question we continuously examine through conversations with developers and business owners, as well as by consuming articles, studies, and reports. One paper we came across recently, titled Blockchain in the Eyes of Developers, was an analysis of over 10 years of questions and answers at the cross section of software development and blockchain from Stack Overflow.

To best understand how Esprezzo can meet the needs of the developer community, we’ve been conducting surveys and market research with developers who share a variety of professional and technical backgrounds.

While many are familiar with the capabilities and benefits that come with using blockchain to develop web and mobile applications, it’s surprising how many haven’t conveyed an interest in blockchain.

But if developers are exposed to news and reports similar to this recent TechCrunch article, it won’t take them very long to understand that blockchain presents developers an enormous opportunity to boost their careers and their bank accounts.