Newconomics 2023 - Meet our Speakers: Tim Haldorsson

It’s nearly time for the Newconomics event in Lisbon and we’re really excited to present an incredible lineup of speakers and panellists and of course our amazing startup competition entrants who will be showing us the future of web3. One of our guest speakers is Tim Haldorsson, who is currently launching ICP.Hub Portugal which provides a framework for building decentralised systems. Ahead of the event, Tim kindly shared his thoughts on Web3 opportunities. 

The Holistic Approach to Web3 Development and Education

“Portugal is one of the top European crypto destinations. Some of the biggest companies in the industry have their events and offices here. The market is really friendly, there’s a lot of meetups and a strong community here. 

To me, web3 is a way of working where you don’t need a middleman for transactions. I can send money or gaming characters to another person without relying on a third party and this can open up opportunities in a lot of different sectors. There are examples in gaming, finance, work and of course with ICP - decentralised computing - which makes systems and data storage more secure in that they are harder to hack. 

Gaming is one of the opportunities that I admire. It means you can own your game character that you play with, which can enhance the gaming experience. In finance too, there are ways that unbanked people can start saving their money with interest and banking sectors can be improved. This is important in economies that are not so great and people can use stablecoins to better try to protect their money. 

It would be great to see more people using web3 tech, but there are still issues with user experience and education that are putting some people off. This hinders adoption in some areas and there’s room for improvement. There’s also an issue with interoperability between competing systems which are trying to be leaders but could do so much more working together. At ICP we are working on a blockchain singularity where blockchains can work together natively and their ecosystems can provide a better experience. 

When it comes to working with web3 tools, at ICP we are also working to help people improve their knowledge and skills. We host information, workshops and events to support the community and bring more people in. We need to have a holistic view of development and education. We are trying to bridge the knowledge gaps between developers, entrepreneurs and marketers - you need all three to make web3 products that provide new and better solutions that are useful in the real world. 

If I were to introduce people to web3 tools, I would want them to look at Ethereum. It is pioneering in the space and pushing the ecosystem forward with a wide range of applications and inspired people building on top of the system. I am also impressed with what Bitcoin has been doing via its upgrades so that people can be more creative with what they can build there too. Smaller currencies are more competitive. As I have been following this sector for seven years, I have seen many products claim to be the new Bitcoin or have a new blockchain, but one by one they have all disappeared. Bitcoin and Ethereum, combined with ICP’s work towards the blockchain singularity are going to bring even more ways of working to many more people.”

Find out more about the new economics of Web3 and how it can change the way we work together at the Newconomics event in Lisbon. Full details and registration can be found on the website.