What is the next wave after DeFi and NFTs? a16z partner Chris Dixon is optimistic about four major areas

(This article is authorized to be reprinted from DeFi Road, with the original title "A16z Partner Chris Dixon: The Next Wave of Blockchain Applications After DeFi and NFTs Might Be These", please see the original article for reference)

(This article is authorized to be reprinted from "The Way of DeFi", with the original title "a16z Partner Chris Dixon: The Next Wave of Blockchain Applications After DeFi and NFTs Might Be These", original article here)

Note: The original author is a16z Partner Chris Dixon.

Imagine you were an ambitious, adventurous founder in the golden age of mobile internet around 2009-2012, when Uber, WhatsApp, Instagram, Venmo, Snapchat, and many other top apps were born.

Since then, the adoption of mobile internet has experienced an S-curve growth. While people continue to build great mobile apps, the fruits of victory have already been picked by predecessors.

And the frontier of this decade is building applications on programmable blockchains like Ethereum.

Blockchains are virtual computers running on a physical computer network, possessing new features and functionalities that traditional computers do not have.

When blockchains have highly expressive, nearly Turing-complete programming languages, we say they are programmable. And the most popular programmable blockchain today is Ethereum.

Programmable blockchains are interesting for the same reason mobile became interesting when it opened up to third-party development through app stores - the best ideas often come from the edges.

We saw this during last year's "DeFi summer", when the first wave of crypto/blockchain killer apps emerged: Uniswap, Aave, Compound, Maker, and more.

DeFi showed that building inclusive, fair, transparent, and composable financial services is possible. In Wall Street, value flows to centralized institutions, while in the DeFi world, value flows outwards to the edges.

And this year, NFTs and gaming are the next wave of explosive blockchain applications (such as NBA Top Shot, CryptoPunks, Axie Infinity, etc.). You can see this from the rapidly growing sales volume on the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea:

For some, NFTs may seem silly, like toys. But NFTs are important because they provide better economic benefits for creators and developers compared to existing Web 2 platforms.

So what will be the next wave of blockchain killer apps? It's hard to predict the wave of computing, but there are some interesting emerging categories.

1. DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) are internet-native global collectives that share resources, build products, and work together towards common goals.
2. Social tokens are a new way for creators to earn online. They eliminate rent-seeking intermediaries and foster the growth of microeconomies that grow alongside fan communities.
3. Blockchain-based social networks make a firm commitment to users and developers, allowing them to build on a solid foundation without worrying about API and economic changes.
4. 3D worlds and metaverse experiences supported by cryptographic technology allow people to socialize, earn, and build mini-worlds while ensuring interoperability and true ownership.

These are just some ideas, entrepreneurs are better at building the future (rather than predicting it like me). The best ideas are likely yet to be conceived, or they may seem unfamiliar to us today.

If you work in the crypto space, you're used to the derision of outsiders who think what you're doing is silly or a scam. For the work people are engaged in, we often haven't even named it yet, this field is too new.

That's what it feels like to work at the beginning of an S-curve, programmable blockchains are the frontier of computing, just like personal computers in the 80s, the internet in the 90s, and mobile internet in the past decade.

Today, looking back at the classic moments in computing, you wonder what it was like to be there.

Well, you're there! The Homebrew Computer Club of 2021 is DAOs or Discord servers, but the pattern is the same. Enthusiasts share ideas, and tinkerers tinker away at night and on weekends.

These are the good times of living on the edge.