De-mystifying Web 3.0 and potential solutions for sport for development and peace
Web 3.0 - a new paradigm for solving impact problems?
Many of you will have noted the appearance of a new tech term lately: “Web3”. Denoting the third age of the internet, Web3 (Web 3.0 abbreviated) refers to the arrival of blockchain-powered internet and denotes the third age of the internet. An internet that has the power to disrupt how we own, invest, participate, live, work, exchange, and be both virtually and in real life.
Heard of “crypto”, “blockchains”, “NFTs”, or “metaverse”? All are associated technologies that claim some part of the Web3 ecosystem. But there’s a lot of confusion, jargon, and hype - along with the healthy and well-deserved skepticism - around these concepts.
The industry has seen a fair share of scandal in this mostly unregulated space. However, we believe Web3 also offers new tools that have the potential to improve our societies, especially in domains where sport for development and peace (SDP) has historically flourished. Moreover, we believe that ultimately, the underlying technology of blockchains is likely here to stay, and the Web3 we get, will be the next phase of the internet we fight for now.
So, we wrote this article to help SDP practitioners get started in Web3, and figure out why it may be important.
Web3 sentiment
Many in Web3 unite around a shared dissatisfaction with the “status quo” in society, and Web3 communities tend to find common cause in an inherent mistrust of centralized institutions that issue permission or control engagement in the global economy (such as banks, governments, or big tech companies). Anything with an intermediary function is frowned upon.
This combines with a belief that structural power imbalances embedded in current systems are largely resistant to change, preserve the status quo and render all but impossible any form of genuinely regenerative social, economic, cultural, ecological futures for life on the planet.
What has this got to do SDP?
Intermediaries, stubborn institutions, and asymmetrical power relations are familiar to the SDP movement, the sport industry, and the world of wider non-sport impact. As things are, much of the imagination of blockchain engineers (“smart contract” developers) has been focused on areas such as finance, art and mass media (including sport). But there is a growing realization that the world of aid is also quite static, and it's beginning to change.
Sport is often governed and controlled by centralized, minority powers. Today, it is virtually normalized that the billions of fans - i.e., the largest stakeholder group - are locked out of key decisions. There are power imbalances and inequalities at every level, everywhere, and this seems to get worse, the ‘bigger’ the sport.
The idea that sport is a public good - which seems self-evident - is something of a lost history. Instead, value in sport is all too often synonymous with either sporting success or “profit” (rather than wins in social, cultural, or ecological terms).
And yet in the world’s most popular sport - the ‘state of play’ is at odds with the modern expectation of fans, who expect values-driven sport with community and purpose at its heart. The aid and development sector continues to exhibit systemic issues; misuse of funds, misplaced accountability, top-down decision-making, and perpetuation of neocolonial attitudes.
In response, the development sector has soul-searched, analyzed its failings, and implemented changes that have facilitated localized funding solutions, greater participation from the Global South, and the installation of rigorous evaluation frameworks.
But critiques persist, and for some, the changes made in the not-for-profit sector don’t go far enough. Why? Though complex, there’s a generalization we probably can make to answer: that all of these old - and new - problems derive from power imbalances that have remained fundamentally unchanged in the aid industry; asymmetries which are inherent and in-built within the current system.
What new answers are available for SDP?
Currently, the uses for blockchains we’ve seen in sport have been a bit ‘meh’. From NFT sales to recapitalize clubs, to speculative fantasy football options, and ambitious yet risky club ownership. We’ve seen the opportunistic, possibly extractive, but nothing that explores the regenerative potential.
The good news for SDP is that Web3 presents tools and possibilities that attack the limitations we experience now. A recent explosion of use-cases for blockchain technology has transformed the imagination of what might be possible in places like Silicon Valley and beyond. There are a vast range of potential applications, including decentralized and democratic stakeholder experiences; improved and transparent coordination and problem solving; the funding of public goods and revolutionized charitable giving; tokenized climate movements; decentralized carbon markets; new ways of governing and organizing capital, people and projects; and even the creation of new digital nations.
The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) - described by some as the future of work - for example, embodies a new type of digital organization where users deploy their tokens to become contributors, proposing projects, and playing key roles in the governance of funds, treasuries and workflows.
There is plenty of cause for optimism as more of these technical solutions become applicable for sport, the development sector, and in SDP. Think:
- Sidestepping Global North gatekeepers that give “permission”; organizations and their communities will be empowered to decide
- Collectives of community organizations re-organizing in ways where they get rewarded for contributing to their futures on their own terms
- Non-hierarchical donations that are administered instantaneously and transparently
- Education and knowledge sharing platforms that co-learn, rather than assess you against professor-led learning programs
- Incentive-based value generation programs that reward communities and the planet
But there’s more. Now we see mainstream crypto - what we call ‘degen’ - which you’ve probably heard about in decentralized finance (Defi), NFTs, and Ponzi scheme cryptoeconomics, in one or another scandal - being sidelined in favor of technologies designed to improve coordination for social ends, funding public goods in the process. These projects use the conceptual North Star of regenerative cryptoeconomics (that this transformational tech-stack for ownership, governance and finance should be put to the task of restoring the planet), with solid and dependable backers and teams.
They’ve moved from the periphery of crypto, in what we called the ReFi Summer of 2022, and can persist despite market conditions. Most recently, UNICEF’s partnership with Gitcoin, which disrupted historically top-down giving, has been hailed as a potentially watershed moment.
Web 3.0 isn’t a magic bullet
While Web 3 offers much promise of progress for humanity, we do want to offer a couple of words of caution. You’ll no doubt already be aware - even if obliquely - of the pitfalls of crypto.
First, the regen tendencies in crypto projects we described above are relatively new, and their goals becoming the dominant ones in the space is not a foregone conclusion. They may get subsumed, and marginalized, and we may get a version of Web3 that looks more like the Web2 we have now – dominated by a few huge entities and their ability to ensnare attention.
This relates to a second warning: technology is generally not inherently plural and diverse, even if its function allows it. Diversity requires a multitude of perspectives in the design process to fulfill its potential, and Web3 is no exception. The number of women in crypto is growing, but the plurality in the space requires genuine commitment on the part of founding communities to be inclusive.
Genuine and grassroots democracy is something that the sport has historically struggled with. SDP professionals and organizations – which are fundamentally about inclusion and empowerment of people in and through sport, often in marginalized communities – understand this paradox better than most.
So, if you want the next age of the internet to be more inclusive and representative of the planet we inhabit, than the first and second eras were, why not join the struggle and help create the Web3 that fulfills its transformative potential for SDP?
How to get ready for Web 3?
Understanding the cultural and economic shift in the emerging Web3 era is a great way to start. Take your time and encourage your teammates and colleagues to join the learning journey with you. At READY, we can help you start!
Web3 can be a confusing and complex topic, which is why SDP practitioners, Lucy Mills and Aisha Nazia, decided to launch an introductory level online course on Web3 and Sport.
Learning from industry experts, the free 3-hour course covers the origins and definitions of Web3 and important concepts like cryptocurrencies, blockchains, NFTs, DAOs, and metaverses. It also goes into detail about the main ways that we’re seeing Web3 in sport today, and includes a special focus on the potential of the tech for women’s sport. Although a lot of ground is covered, don't worry – you don't need any prior specialist knowledge to take part.
The course is free to increase access to Web3 to give it a chance of being as diverse as possible, and to demonstrate our commitment to challenging structural imbalances, like gatekeeping. If you like it, try sharing your learning experience with teammates, colleagues, friends, and others in your ecosystem, especially those who might not otherwise find or access it. Web3 can be for all of us.
We hope this article - and indeed the course - ignites your curiosity about the possibilities of Web3 for sport, for the development sector, and for SDP. For more content on all things Web3 and sport, visit: www.readysport.xyz and www.evolvefootball.xyz
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