The Stackies 2022 & Web3 Poetry
December 2022
It comes only once a year, the Stackies. A time of celebration and recognizing those within the Stacks ecosystem for their many contributions. I was welcomed back this year as host for the awards, a cherished honor to wrap up 2022.
Following last year’s tradition of adding a smidge of holiday cheer, I opened this year’s award with a poetry treat for all to hear…
’Twas the night before The Stackies, and all through the land, the Stacks ecosystem and Web3 were buzzing with activity and demand.
The Stacks Foundation, Stacks Ventures, and Startup Lab were busy with plans, and Hiro Systems and Trust Machines were working away to make the stacks blockchain and web3 better each day.
The miners were working, the nodes were a-stacking as the blockchain hummed with each transaction in turn. The Clarity smart contracts were written, the dApps were deployed as developers worked hard to be part of this void.
Web3 was alive, and the future was clear as the world began to embrace this technology dear. And as the Stackies Awards twinkled and glowed, the Stacks ecosystem continued to grow, bringing freedom and power to all who were willing, to embrace this new world and the future it’s building.
So here’s to the Stacks ecosystem and Web3 as we enter a new year of possibilities and opportunity. May the ecosystem and Web3 continue to thrive and be free for all. And to all, a good night.
Industry Highlights
To sum up quickly, 2022 has been a year of tides changing as the industry moves into its next phase of growth. Prior, 2021 showed us an insight into what could be possible in a fast-paced future where technology sees no bounds and limitless potential. However, during this phase change, the industries have had to harness that growth to provide the required structures and security for the next decade of growth ahead.
As an industry, Web3 has seen several transformations, but this year was a year of upgrades kicked off with Ethereum's Merge event, Stacks 2.1 & the debut of sBTC upgrades, as well as Solana opening retail stores and debuting a Web3 phone.
Venture capital in 2021 saw record-breaking numbers taking in more than $30.5Bn of investment, representing almost 5% of total venture capital deployed. While the year would go on to be the largest funded year for the Web3 industry to date, currently, 2022 is pushing that record higher, sitting at $37.24Bn according to the latest funding data from Messari.
While decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL) scaled back ($260B in ’21 to $41.2B at the time of writing, DeFiLlama) the industry welcomed more traditional financial (TradeFi) institutions (BNY Mellon, UBS, Franklin Tempelton, etc.). The journey also began to take shape for a new category of DeFi built on Bitcoin Layers. Additionally, the number of registered Web3 user wallets expanded during 2022 from 21M+ at the year of 2021 to more than 30M in 2022.
Following TradeFi, many corporations continued to expand their efforts in the industry, from Starbucks, Warner Brothers, FIFA, Google, Walmart, Disney, Nike, and more.
Stackies Awards
It takes more than a village to ensure an ecosystem continues to grow and thrive in any environment. Blockchain protocols are no exception. Many put tiredness efforts in from documentation to core development, managing the communities, educating, and more. Without all those that contribute, any ecosystem, network, or protocol could not survive.
This year the ecosystem presented awards for the Best Technical & Community builders; Inspiring Thought Leadership; Meme Master; Favorite Project of 2022, and the Project to Watch for 2023.
In closing, it’s been a phase-changing year for Web3 and many other industries. Looking ahead toward 2023, builders will continue to build.
