TL;DR From Signal Stage — Token2049 2025

In this Token2049 panel, infrastructure founders discussed the biggest challenges slowing Web3 adoption and the real infrastructure shifts needed for institutions, builders, and next-generation apps. The conversation highlighted a recurring theme: Web3 is still far from Web2 performance, and infrastructure must evolve before mass adoption arrives.

Web3 Infra Must Ship Faster

A major friction point: high-performance infrastructure takes years to build, but market narratives shift every few months. Some founders argued that teams must ship iteratively, instead of spending years perfecting an MVP while the market moves on.

Web3 Adoption Is Still Tiny

Even Web3’s “successful apps” are small by Web2 standards ~170k DAU vs tens of millions on mainstream apps. This gap shows the need for better UX, reliability, and execution performance before blockchain can serve real, global users.

The Missing Layer: Infra as a Service

Fragmentation remains a major adoption blocker. Teams still rebuild backends, databases, and infra primitives from scratch. The panel agreed: Web3 needs cloud-style infrastructure-as-a-service, where developers don’t need to reinvent the entire stack to launch scalable, user-friendly apps.

AI Helps — But Won’t Save Weak Products

AI accelerates prototyping, but without strong UX + monetization + reliability, most AI-generated apps will fail. Web3 infra must be performance-ready, not just fast to prototype.

General-Purpose Infra Wins Long-Term

General-purpose infrastructure offers adaptability - supporting future assets, RWAs, token formats, and new use cases. Niche infra risks being quickly outdated once narratives rotate.

Performance Still Defines UX

Developers care about RPC reliability, uptime, latency, and throughput.

Users care about smooth UX and always-on availability - even the fastest chain is irrelevant if the network is unstable.

Incentives Matter, But Are Not Enough

Airdrops can spark early adoption, but sustainable ecosystems rely on real utility: better yields, fair rates, secure custody, and compliant rails. Token-only strategies burn out fast.

Institutions Need Guarantees

For real institutional participation, infra must deliver:

• auditability
• compliance
• secure custody
• reliable uptime
• protection against hacks and liquidity fragmentation

The panel agreed: institutions are willing to build on-chain, but only on institutional-grade infrastructure.

What’s Coming Next

Priorities for 2025/2026+ include:

• solving fragmented liquidity
• enabling compliant on-chain finance
• creating “ETF-like” programmable financial products
• building infra that supports both crypto-native builders and traditional institutions

Watch the full discussion on the Altius Labs YouTube channel, where we share weekly breakdowns of modular execution architecture, performance engineering, and cross-chain infrastructure.

To stay ahead of updates, integrations, and benchmarks - subscribe to the Altius newsletter on our homepage.

‍