This is the ecosystem mapping of the Australian Web3 Ecosystem. In 2018, I made an ecosystem mapping, however, a lot has changed since then.

The emergence of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have expanded the ecosystem. It is no longer about ICO token raises but one of building meaningful communities. Notable projects/communities in the space such as Immutable, Synthetix, Sigma Prime, Maple Finance, bitfwd Ventures, and DAOUnder have helped garner interest in the ecosystem.

The branding of ‘web3’ has also made it a more inviting space compared to the nuanced word ‘crypto’ a few years ago. Diversity and various perspectives were lacking in the space and this is starting to change as opposed to pure technical people.

Having spent time with other global founders/teams, there has always been a special DNA to Aussie projects. It will be interesting to see this ecosystem grow in the coming years.

Smoll Timeline of the Aussie/General Blockchain Scene

This is my general understanding of how the scene has evolved over the past few years:

• Pre Bitcoin 1970 - 2000s: Cypherpunk movement.
• 2009 - 2013: Bitcoin Birth + underground knowledge of the space
• 2014 - 2016: Ethereum launches and underground knowledge and early adopters.
• 2017 - 2018: ICO Boom + Influx of capital and interest
• 2018 - 2020: DeFi Summer where projects started to build the foundations for Decentralized Finance.
• 2021: NFT + DeFi + DAO Boom interest.
• Present: Still early???

Note about the Graphic + Google Sheet:

An open-source Google spreadsheet exists for people to add their projects/communities. Please be kind and respectful to other projects and just insert and edit what is necessary. The graphic will be updated.

Due to the nature of Web3 ecosystem being global, some of these projects are not exclusive to Australia and may now be operating globally.

Categories

The following categories summarise the various activities within the Aus web3 ecosystem. Will not list all projects under each category due to the length of the list

Communities / DAOs

Communities are the backbone to bringing people together. With recent world events, a lot of the communities have migrated online to Discord (i.e. DAOUnder, EarlyWork, and Emergent DAO). The curious join these Discord chats and end up staying for the 'vibes' and comradery.

In-person events such as Blockchain Week and BlockathonDAO also show that people are willing to come out and meet IRL again. By bringing people together, people feel a sense of community and the ecosystem grows.

Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) / Gaming

An emerging category that took 2021 by storm. A lot of people have been buying expensive JPEGs however a lot of great Aussie projects such as Immutable which was recently valued at $3.5 Billion and Illuvium have been making waves all over the web3 ecosystem.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

This has been lump summed as Decentralized Finance (Defi) for ease. DeFi is a whole new beast and funnels into so many more categories.

I also added DogeCoin because the founder is Aussie. Despite its limited utility but high meme-tic upside, it still has a place in DeFi :)

• Layer 1 Blockchains: Fantom, Algorand, ThorChain, and more.
• Finance Layer: Synthetix, Ren Protocol, Maple Finance, Zeta Markets, Drift, and more.
• Infrastructure: RocketPool, Chainflip, Sigma Prime/Lighthouse, and more.
• Identity: ArcX & BronID

Venture Captial

Over the past two years, the traditional ‘web2’ funds have been spinning off extra allocation into the space. Airtree launched a $50 milion web3 fund which is a very health sign for the ecosystem for local support and growth.

Social / Design / Services / Other

This is a lump-sum category in areas such as social impact, services, Agritech (Geora & Agridigital), and financial inclusion (Sempo.ai).

Media

The right kind of media is essential in this growing space. Click-bait “You will be rich if you buy these coins” content are zero-sum so these are projects/influencers who are voicing valuable opinions in the space.

Legal / Regulatory / Advisory / Government

Bodies such as Blockchain Australia are helping form relationships and policies within in the ecosystem which is great. Collaboration between these associations and regulatory bodies will help accelerate the adoption process.

Exchanges / Retail Investors

Retail investors use these exchange platforms to enter the Crypto/Web3 markets. BTCMarkets, Independent Reserve, Coinjar, and Coinstop are some of the first Australian native exchanges.

Will be interesting to see the ecosystem grow.

Thanks for your attention and stay web3 curious!