PBW 2023 explores the current state of the blockchain space

A panel filled with professionals working in prominent tech companies discussed the current state of the blockchain space at the ongoing Paris Blockchain Week 2023 conference. 

Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr moderated the panel discussion titled “State of the Chain 2023” with panelists Ryan Nitz, the head of solutions architecture at Coinbase; Matthew Savarese, the head of strategy at Nasdaq Digital Assets; Rich Widmann, the head of strategy for Web3 at Google; Dante Disparte, the chief strategy officer and head of global policy at Circle; and Denelle Dixon, the CEO of Stellar Development Foundation.

The panelists discussed various topics and gave their insights on the current state of the Web3 space, from sharing their company’s current focus to giving their predictions on how 2023 would continue.

One of the topics explored in the discussion is the challenges that the industry faced in 2022 up to today. Commenting on the topic, Disparte expressed his belief that the current state of the chain is “not strong.” Despite this, the Circle executive is hopeful that people continue building and developing amid these challenges, which is evident in the thousands of attendees at the PBW conference. 

Live from the State of the Chain 2023 panel at @ParisBlockWeek : @RichJWidmann, Global Head of Web3 Strategy at @googlecloud, emphasizes the importance of building value for users in the next evolution of the internet. #PBW2023 pic.twitter.com/8x1hAgJTZG

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 22, 2023

In addition, Disparte also believes that the current situation in the space is a necessary phase similar to past tech and financial industry failures. He explained that:

“You needed the dotcom bubble to burst to hand over the development of the internet toward normal people, business models and investors. You needed the 2008 financial crisis to get comprehensive reforms of Wall Street even if those reforms might have failed.”

The executive also reminded the audience that many things that are being “taken for granted” in the space are born in response to the failures of the traditional financial systems.

Meanwhile, other panelists gave the audience a preview of what their firms are currently putting their focus on. According to Nitz, crypto exchange Coinbase is currently trying its best to…