The Economy Is The New Workload
One of the things drummed into us at NVIDIA (which I resigned from, to join Web3) was to focus on “what the workload is.” What is the justification which is driving the need for this software : hardware combination while talking to customers and developers?
For the last 5 or 10 years, AI has been “the new workload,” along with 5G, VR/AR/XR, robotics, autonomous vehicles, cryptocurrency mining and simulation. But there is a new workload in town, and that workload is “The Economy Between Machines.”
Validator Nodes, which often require enterprise-grade silicon to run, are only set to proliferate as more and more “Proof of Stake” networks are brought into being. One of the potential directions in which Web3 seems to want to head is towards an “App Chain” future or “Modular Blockchain” future — both of these outcomes mean a lot more chains carrying a lot more traffic.
In the future towards which we are heading, there will only be more blockchains, more Proof-of-Stake networks and these networks will require scores of new machines which do nothing but … run the economy…between these machines.
You want a metaverse? Well, metaverses need economies. To differentiate between the MMORPGs of old, Metaverses must offer users true feeling of ownership in order to attract, retain and engage the “workers of the future” who will be needed to develop the next generation of GameFi experiences, and more.
That means more Validator Nodes. To me it seems pretty clear, if I were in the silicon industry I would be spending a lot more time thinking about how to gain a lot more marketshare of Validator Node installs. That includes software and hardware and programs to attract these users.
It is a huge mistake I am seeing in the market. Intel, Arm, NVIDIA, AMD — Not only are they trying to ignore the blockchain, they don’t seem to be actively embracing the specific needs of Validator node operators (and to a lesser degree, gRPC : RPC node operators). Strangely, I actually feel Intel or AMD have a better chance to respond to this demand more proactively.
Eventually I think the theories around decentralized computing may or may not come true, but ignoring validators as a growth market seems very short sighted.
