Ask HN: Will Web3 ever become mainstream?

No. People don’t see the value in ‘decentralization’, their motto is something like ‘give me convenience or give me death’. This commercial, for the first personal computer that didn’t come with any programming tools, reveals the true attitude of the masses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R706isyDrqI

(Note the guy talking in the screen is a blockhead as I see it.)

I don't think so. There have been billions of dollars flowing to this industry and till now nothing came out that is close to being useful for the mainstream

I doubt it. The average person doesn’t understand why web3 technologies would be helpful, and the average person would have to be made to care in order to adopt web3. The other side of that is that web3 could be successful if someone made the killer app for it and if that app were likewise simple enough for the average person to use without being told how.

The bad drives away the good. Also known as the bad neighborhood effect.

This is the problem with the whole crypto ecosystem. There are so many scams and dubious get rich quick schemes that the entire ecosystem develops a reputation for being a scam. Crypto is a bad neighborhood, and nobody wants to live in a bad neighborhood.

This drives away all the people who would otherwise make it a better neighborhood. It’s a death spiral.

At this point everything web3 is associated in most peoples minds with stupid things like bored apes, scams, and fools who lost their life’s savings on such things.

Depends what you mean by mainstream, I guess. The sheer volume of scams, ponzis and bad actors sets it back every time it gains popularity.

As per the current circumstances, no! If the circumstances change in the future, maybe.

To answer that you'll first have to define "Web3".