Course Overview

The "Web3" paradigm represents a new way of doing business on the Internet, leveraging decentralized platforms running on blockchain infrastructure. And just like the first and second waves of the Internet, Web3 has the potential to fundamentally reshape our lives.

Web3 adds a new "ownership" layer overlaying the Internet, giving users more direct control of their data, identity, and other digital assets – and thus potentially rebalancing their relationship with online platforms. This new Internet architecture holds the potential for building disintermediated financial and payment rails that could improve financial inclusion and revolutionize how value is transferred around the globe. And it is already shaping how digital assets are created and traded, affecting value capture by giving creators a way to interact with consumers directly – and giving consumers new ways to affect platform design and governance.

Yet at the same time, at least among some, Web3 has been beset with deep skepticism. Many early Web3 business models proved to be unsustainable. Regulators and policymakers increasingly expressed concerns about investor and consumer protections, fraudulent activities, and overall about financial stability.

This course will teach students what Web3 is, and how to think critically about it. We’ll explore the ways in which Web3 can create value (or fail to do so); and how that value is captured and shared by entrepreneurs, developers, consumers, and investors. Along the way, we’ll examine numerous use cases that rely on the nascent blockchain technology, and evaluate their merits and costs. Students will also learn the technical and practical underpinnings of the blockchain landscape through a series of live exercises.

Career Focus

This course has been specifically designed for students who are considering founding, joining, or investing in blockchain-based ventures upon, or soon after, graduation – or for any students who are likely to interact with such ventures through their broader engagement in business fields such as technology, finance, or media. While the course is focused on advanced technology, students need not have a technical background, merely a curiosity about these ventures and a passion for making an impact on the Web.

The primary objective of the course is to enable students to understand and evaluate Web3 business models and strategies at various stages of their development. The industry is early, and major use cases are still being developed and tested.

Both instructors believe this industry will play a major role in our lives in the future. But you don’t have to share this view(!). The course will help students shape their own assessments of Web3 technology and its future.

Key Learning Objectives

At a high level, the course asks:

• What is Web3, and how might it impact business, competition, and consumer welfare?
• How does Web3 create value? How is that value shared – and how is it captured?
• What are potential pitfalls and risks?

Specific objectives include:

• equipping students with a comprehensive understanding of blockchain technology, its technological advances and limitations;
• exploring which frictions such technology can alleviate, and in which use cases it can create most value;
• recognizing the unique features of Web3 projects: most are open-source, with no clear firm-boundaries, and highly interoperable – relying heavily on network effects and community engagement via the use of tokens;
• discussing how business models should be structured in Web3 in a manner that enables not only value creation but also sustainable value capture;
• understanding how to translate classic business frameworks used in traditional businesses to Web3;
• exploring the nuances and complexities of regulating the Web3 space, and how it affects business creation;
• understanding how investors deploy capital in Web3, and how the associated deals are structured.

We will consider a range of use cases, including new models for payments, finance, digital brand-building, media, gaming, identity, and more!

Course Content & Organization

The course will mostly be framed around case discussions on a range of Web3 ventures, with numerous in-class guests including Web3 entrepreneurs, investors, and other domain experts. Grading will be based on a combination of class participation, periodic written reflections, and a final written case done in small teams. Students will create crypto wallets and engage directly with a range of blockchain-based platforms and transaction formats.

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