On the Flow World Tour in Chiang Mai, Vitalik Buterin, cofounder of Ethereum, joined Dieter Shirley, cofounder of Flow, for a fireside chat with about the next generation of consumer crypto. 

They discuss:

• How the technical architecture of decentralized platforms affects users
• Overcoming web3 user experience and adoption challenges 
• The role of fun and engagement in crypto apps

Video and highlights from the chat are below. 

Watch Dieter and Vitalik Discuss The Future of Web3

A Summary of Dieter’s Fireside Chat with Vitalik

The conversation between Dieter and Vitalik centered around the next generation of consumer crypto apps. Vitalik cofounded Ethereum and helped create the underlying platform that would enable a new generation of blockchain applications. In 2017, Vitalik and Dieter would cross paths when Dieter cofounded the first in that new generation of blockchain applications, CryptoKitties, introducing both Ethereum and the wider world to ERC-721 (“the first NFT standard”). Dieter later cofounded Flow, with the Flow network’s most recent upgrade introducing full EVM equivalency alongside access to Ethereum’s liquidity and infrastructure.

Killer Apps in Consumer Crypto

Dieter built one of crypto’s first killer apps with CryptoKitties, and that experience is why success for Flow is measured in consumer experience and adoption. Dieter says: “We were very lucky with CryptoKitties… There were a lot of people interested in and excited about the cats.” But Dieter goes on to reveal viral success came with obstacles, and onboarding consumers to crypto was a major challenge: “What we found was that it was very difficult for people to get into that ecosystem.”

Throughout the discussion, Vitalik emphasized the importance of maintaining core crypto values while pursuing mainstream adoption. "I think we should not come to the conclusion that we need to stop caring about being decentralized or being open source," he stressed, highlighting his commitment to supporting public goods. He also introduced what he calls the "walk away test" for evaluating crypto applications: "If the developers permanently disappear, do users still get their money or do users still have something that's useful?"

As the first consumer crypto product to reach mainstream audiences, CryptoKitties usage temporarily overwhelmed the Ethereum network. Despite this, Vitalik tweeted he liked the project because it “illustrate[s] very well… the value of a blockchain.”

That experience inspired the multi-role architecture of Flow, and led to the creation of the first blockchain designed from the ground up for consumers. It also led to the creation of Cadence, the world’s most powerful smart contract language, and the programming language that Flow uses (in addition to EVM equivalency enabling Solidity). “We wrote a language based on some research out of Carnegie Mellon in terms of applying linear types in the blockchain context,” Dieter says, “and it turns out that linear types are just such a good fit for tracking value and managing rights access rights and security."

Finding New Users with New Technologies

Dieter underlines that these technical achievements enable consumer audiences, but audiences can’t be expected to understand them. “I think expecting every single user to understand asymmetric cryptography... that's a great MVP,” says Dieter. “But in the long run, we'll be able to do better." 

Vitalik agreed with Dieter’s vision of reducing technical complexity for devs, noting that "you don't want to push all of the responsibility to developers… especially you don't want to push responsibility for doing things that involve deep tech to people whose specialty is not deep tech."

As far as overcoming the challenge of onboarding, Vitalik believes that the process should be seamless for both first-time and long-time crypto users. "The ideal approach is that if you don't already have a wallet, the app gives you a wallet, if you do have a wallet you should be able to link it in." (Which is why Flow has walletless onboarding for new users.)

How to Create the Next Viral Hit

Vitalik’s advice for the creator of the next killer app: don’t try to make the next Twitter, Facebook, or TikTok. Try to make something new. "Everyone is trying to make the next Twitter,” said Vitalik, “but then Twitter was not trying to be the next Facebook, TikTok was not trying to be the next Twitter... Facebook was not trying to be the next MySpace."

The CryptoKitties team followed this advice when their sequel, “CryptoKitties: ALL THE ZEN!” launched as a telegram mini-app. Now accessible to over a billion telegram users, the game balances the onchain features of the Flow network with the accessibility of a game almost anyone can pick up and play. It also follows Dieter’s advice on finding viral success: “Make it more fun, make it more engaging, make it more silly… that’s something we’ve learned with this community.”

Create the Next Killer App on Flow

Dieter and the Flow team were recently in Bangkok for the next stop on the Flow World Tour. 

Join them on the next leg of the tour by creating a project with killer app potential!