Ahead of the upcoming Blockchain Futurist Conference Florida, CCN’s Senior Editor Dr. Guneet Kaur spoke with Audrey Nesbitt, founder and CEO of SPINNOVATE Tech and author of ‘Why You Shouldn’t Be the CEO: And Other Ways to Save Your Startup,’ to discuss how Web3 is evolving beyond the hype.
With a background spanning fintech, tokenization, and real-world assets, Nesbitt has become a sharp, grounded voice in an industry often clouded by speculation. In this conversation, she opens up about what sustainable Web3 adoption really looks like, why audiences demand participation over promotion, and how brands can stay relevant in a decentralized world.
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How Digitally Savvy Audiences Are Forcing Brands to Rethink Web3 Engagement
The rise of digital literacy has transformed how audiences interact with brands. For Nesbitt, this evolution marks a fundamental power shift.
“Digitally savvy audiences now expect transparency about how their data is used, want rewards for their participation, and seek genuine input in brand decisions, not just empty engagement,” she explains.
She emphasized that brands need to shift from talking at people to involving them directly: sharing revenue through loyalty tokens, letting communities vote on new features, and being open about business practices.
“The key shift is that audiences no longer accept being passive viewers; they want to be active participants who receive real value in exchange for their attention and data,” Nesbitt noted.
Her take underscores a broader trend: participation is the new engagement. In the decentralized era, audiences aren’t just content consumers, they’re stakeholders in the story.
Beyond the Hype: What Sustainable Web3 Adoption Really Looks Like
The initial wave of Web3 enthusiasm has cooled, but Nesbitt sees that not as decline, but as progress.
“Web3 adoption hasn’t slowed, it’s evolved,” she says. “The retail hype is gone, and now it’s about infrastructure and real-world utility.
True adoption looks like enterprises using blockchain for practical things, such as supply chain management, payments, settlements, while consumer apps focus on utility instead of speculation.
You can already see it happening: banks launching tokenization platforms, brands using NFTs for loyalty, payment processors adding crypto rails quietly behind the scenes.”
For Nesbitt, mass adoption won’t hinge on ideology, but on simplicity.
“It should feel as easy as using PayPal or tapping your card,” she adds. “When people can use a Web3 app without realizing it’s on the blockchain and that’s when it wins.”
Web3 Reality Check: Why Not Every Brand Belongs on the Blockchain
Nesbitt’s take on Web3 strategy is refreshingly pragmatic and brutally honest.
“Honestly, a lot of startups shouldn’t even be in Web3,” she says. “Some use it as a way to raise capital.
If you’re selling a simple service, why make life harder by token-gating it?
The projects that thrive are the ones solving real problems. Product-market fit still matters. If you want to succeed in Web3, build something people actually need.”
It’s a rare sentiment in a space that often prioritizes hype over need. For Nesbitt, blockchain is a tool, not a business model.
Trust on the Chain: Transparency Isn’t Always Enough
With blockchain promising verifiable transparency, one might expect trust issues to vanish. But Nesbitt says it’s not that simple.
“It’s ironic, everything’s transparent on-chain, but scams still happen,” she notes. “There are so many rug pulls and pump-and-dumps even though transactions are public.
“And privacy protocols add more complexity to the transparency narrative. Products like SilentSwap that offer compliant privacy options will allow projects the option of public or private. Public transactions will become a company choice.
But for honest folks, transparency can become a marketing asset. When your integrity is verifiable, it’s no longer a claim, it’s proof.”
In other words, authenticity in Web3 won’t come from code alone, it will still depend on human integrity.
Creator Ownership 2.0: Why Web3 Works Best in the Niche
Few areas embody Web3’s promise like the creator economy. Still, Nesbitt warns, success stories are the exception, not the rule.
“Creator monetization does work in certain niches,” she says. “Music NFTs where artists keep 90% of sales. Writers who own their subscriber lists. Game developers selling assets directly.
The best models bypass gatekeepers entirely, like photographers selling to collectors, or writers crowdfunding projects through their community.
The friction, she says, lies in the details.
“Gas fees can eat up small transactions, making micropayments unviable. Most creators can’t handle the complexity of smart contracts, token launches, or wallet management; they need plug-and-play tools.” Nesbitt emphasized.
The biggest challenge?
Its bridging audiences: creators have fans on traditional platforms but need to convince them to set up wallets and buy crypto just to support them. Until we solve the onboarding friction and create seamless fiat-to-creator payment rails, we’re limiting this promise to crypto-native creators only.
Why Web3 Adoption Depends on Usability — Not Hype or Tokens
Usability, Nesbitt argues, will be the deciding factor in whether blockchain ever truly goes mainstream.
“It needs to get easier,” she insists.
According to Nesbitt, it needs to be where users have no clue they are using blockchain or smart contracts, etc.To make her point, she uses a simple analogy.
“Think about the Apple Watch,” she says. “Do you know what technology is running inside of it? Me neither, and I don’t care. I just need to know it works.”
Her point is simple: adoption happens when the technology fades into the background and experience takes the lead.
Next Digital Economy: AI, Blockchain and Institutional Power
Looking ahead, Nesbitt explained that the next wave of digital transformation will be led not by crypto-native startups, but by the very institutions Web3 once aimed to disrupt.
“Institutional adoption will drive the next digital economy far before retail catches up, with traditional industries leading the way. In my opinion, this will happen for three key reasons: they have the capital to invest in infrastructure, the inefficiencies that justify transformation costs, and the B2B relationships where standardization creates network effects. When banks tokenize deposits, supply chains track goods on-chain, or commodity traders digitize assets, they’re solving trillion-dollar friction problems that retail simply doesn’t have,” she explained.
According to Nesbitt, the defining features will be programmable value flows where AI agents transact autonomously within secure blockchain networks, enabling instant settlement and automated compliance.
Traditional enterprises are best positioned to lead because they control the real-world assets and processes that need digitizing. Think financial institutions tokenizing securities, logistics companies automating trade finance, or energy firms creating digital twins of physical commodities.
“The winners will make these technologies invisible to end users: all the benefits of verified ownership and reduced settlement times without anyone needing to understand the underlying complexity. The next economy starts with institutions solving their own operational headaches, creating infrastructure that eventually becomes the rails everyone else uses without even knowing it,” Nesbitt concluded.
The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Giuseppe Ciccomascolo began his career as an investigative journalist in Italy, where he contributed to both local and national newspapers, focusing on various financial sectors.
Upon relocating to London, he worked as an analyst for Fitch's CapitalStructure and later as a Senior Reporter for Alliance News. In 2017, Giuseppe transitioned to covering cryptocurrency-related news, producing documentaries and articles on Bitcoin and other emerging digital currencies. He also played a pivotal role in establishing the academy for a cryptocurrency exchange website. Crypto remained his primary area of interest throughout his tenure as a writer for ThirdFloor.
Dr. Guneet Kaur is a senior editor at CCN.com and a Science Fellow at Exponential Science. She is a fintech and blockchain expert with extensive experience in digital finance education, blockchain ecosystems, and cryptocurrency markets. She has worked with global media such as Cointelegraph, as well as education and blockchain platforms, to design and lead strategic content and learning initiatives. As an educator and assessor for top-tier executive programs, she bridges real-world fintech trends with academic insight.
Dr. Kaur is also a published researcher and peer reviewer across fintech and data science journals, including Financial Innovation Journal and International Journal of Big Data Intelligence and Applications. Her work spans data-driven analysis, Web3 innovation, and technical content development. With a strong foundation in both industry and academia, she translates complex financial technologies into practical applications, empowering learners, professionals, and institutions across the rapidly evolving digital finance landscape.
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