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Web3 is cheap to build and slow to close — the most over-tagged sector on the site.
Scope: On-chain infrastructure, stablecoin rails, wallets, DeFi tooling, restaking, MEV, RWAs, tokenisation platforms.
Cost-to-build
42/100
Open infrastructure means build cost is low; what's expensive is regulatory positioning and the legal opinion stack.
Deal-velocity
32/100
Outside stablecoin-rails and tokenisation, engineering-acceleration windows commonly run 20+ weeks before any revenue evidence.
Live signal: 11 web3 startups currently tracked for Q2 2026. See the roster →
Where Web3 lands
Build
Build it yourself
Fund
Write the cheque
Avoid
Reroute the energy
Wait
Wait or partner
Low cost-to-build, low deal-velocity. Cheap to ship, slow to close — most founders should re-route into adjacent sectors with cleaner deal mechanics.
The honest version
The 2021 mania conditioned founders and funds to expect deal velocity that the sector has not delivered for two years. Engineering acceleration still happens, but the signal-to-revenue path is the longest on the site outside hardware. Most indie attempts here are time taxes; the institutional sub-niches (stablecoin rails, custody, RWAs) reward capital but require regulated-finance fluency.
If you are building
Fits when: You are shipping developer-tooling-for-web3-engineers, not an end-user product.
If you are funding
Fits when: You have a dedicated web3 thesis with comfort around regulatory and counterparty risk.
No, but most of it is not investable on conventional venture timelines. The honest framing is: stablecoin rails and tokenisation are fintech-shaped and fundable; the rest is a long-fuse research bet.
RWAs follow the stablecoin / tokenisation rails curve. Restaking and MEV are infrastructure plays where revenue is concentrated in a handful of incumbents; new entrants face a brutal slope.
Every sector we track lives somewhere on the 2×2 — the index page groups all 20 verdicts in one place.