TL;DR:
- Kyle Samani said “Web3 is no more,” arguing that DeFi and DePIN now offer more viable paths for blockchain adoption.
- The older Web3 vision struggled to reach mainstream scale, with decentralized social apps remaining niche and play-to-earn games losing users after rewards faded.
- Investors are increasingly prioritizing measurable utility, revenue and usage across DeFi, DePIN, tokenized real-world assets, Hyperliquid and prediction markets rather than broad future promises.
Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital and chairman of Solana Treasury, has reopened one of crypto’s most uncomfortable debates by arguing that “Web3 is no more.” His point was not that blockchain activity has vanished, but that the old consumer-internet vision has lost market power. The industry is being pushed from promise toward proof, with DeFi and DePIN now framed as more viable paths because they show measurable use, capital flows and practical demand rather than relying on broad narratives about a decentralized internet.
Web3 is dead
All we have is DeFi and depin
— Kyle Samani (@KyleSamani) June 1, 2026
Utility sectors challenge the old Web3 promise
The original Web3 story was expansive. Decentralized social networks, gaming ecosystems, creator economies, digital ownership platforms and new internet applications were supposed to challenge Big Tech after years of venture funding and product launches. Yet adoption has been uneven. Blockchain social apps remain niche, many play-to-earn games lost users once rewards faded, and daily decentralized-app usage has not reached the scale once imagined. The technology may work, but the audience has not arrived, leaving investors less willing to reward ideas whose mainstream moment remains distant.
DeFi has held up better because its value is easier to observe. Lending protocols, decentralized exchanges, derivatives markets and yield platforms already handle billions of dollars in activity every day, offering financial services that run around the clock without traditional intermediaries. Users do not need to imagine a future use case when capital is already moving through live products. Measurable demand is giving DeFi an advantage, especially as investors compare real activity and revenue models with consumer-facing experiments that still depend heavily on adoption assumptions.
DePIN is gaining attention for a similar reason. These networks link blockchain incentives to physical infrastructure such as wireless networks, storage, computing power, sensors and connectivity services, giving participants economic reasons to provide resources outside purely digital environments. Tokenized real-world assets, crypto-native platforms like Hyperliquid and renewed interest in prediction markets reinforce the same theme. The market is asking for utility over storytelling, even if Samani’s claim does not prove Web3 is permanently dead. Instead, it shows capital becoming more selective, favoring sectors that generate usage, attract funds and solve concrete problems. The result is a quieter but sharper market filter for builders, founders and traders tracking where blockchain adoption is actually concentrating now in this cycle right now.
