Keith Grossman: Nobody Cares How Their Toilet Works

Keith A. Grossman, President, Enterprise at MoonPay will be speaking at the upcoming Benzinga Future Of Digital Assets. Mark Nov. 14 on your calendar for the must-attend gathering in the industry!

Rarely do I make predictions but am confident about two things surrounding Web3’s evolution: 

1. In the coming years, nobody will use the term “Web3.” 

2. Experiences will define mass adoption, not consumer preferences surrounding the technology itself.

Considering the first point, we have seen this story before with the dot-com boom and bust. And, much like Web3, some amazing companies were born in this era: Amazon.com, Salesforce.com, eBay.com, and the likes. 

Today, these companies are not known as “dot-com” companies. They are just companies. Their unique, technological advantage when they were born became widely adopted and normalized by everyone.  

So why will “Web3” follow the same path? 

Simple. Blockchain is a more efficient way for companies to remove unnecessary intermediaries and replace “human trust” with “technological truth.” 

To be clear, this is not about “trust” vs. “trustless” ecosystems—nobody wants to exist in a “trustless” world. Rather, it is about how trust is verified. Blockchain technologies enable “trust” to be verified from the bottom up, whereas we currently exist in a world where everything is verified from the top down. This requires human oversight every step of the way, which is not only inefficient but also costly.

So what about the second point?

Remember when you got your first HD TV? Nobody had to explain to you the technology behind the improved picture quality. Nobody taught classes on 720p, 1080i or 1080p. It was just a better experience. That type of simplicity and value exchange is what is required for mass adoption of these Web3 technologies.

“Intel Inside” was once the most popular slogan and ad campaign on the planet but that all disappeared when Steve Jobs held up the first iPod and said “1,000 songs in your pocket.” At that point, no consumer cared about what chips were powering their devices. The technology, while important, moved to the background, and the consumer experience is what drove mass adoption. 

If you don’t believe me, ask yourself this: How many Intel chips are in the devices you use in your everyday life? I am willing to bet the answer is: “I do not know, I do not care, I just want it to do what I want it to do!”

This was MoonPay’s goal with its Scavenger Hunt at New York City’s iconic South Street Seaport. How can we provide an enhanced experience without having to educate consumers on the technologies enabling that engagement? And there are a lot of other great companies doing the same - look at Nike or Starbucks and their initiatives!    

So why did I title this piece “Nobody cares about how their toilet works”? 
For the same reasons above. Your toilet is actually quite complex. In fact, the Wikipedia entry for “toilet” is nearly 10,000 words and has 82 references. But, at the end of the day, nobody really cares. It just needs to work—and that is how Web3 adoption will take place as well! 

Keith A. Grossman, President, Enterprise at MoonPay​​​​​​​ will be speaking at the upcoming Benzinga Future Of Digital Assets. Mark Nov. 14 on your calendar for the must-attend gathering in the industry!

Keith Grossman is a global leader in Web3 and was previously, President of TIME, where he pioneered TIME Pieces, the brands innovative NFT collectibles. TIME’s Web3 strategy helped modernize the brand, and produce millions in new revenue for the company. Prior to TIME, Keith served as the Global Chief Revenue Officer for Bloomberg

Media and the Associate Publisher of both WIRED and Ars Technica.