2023 State of Crypto Report: Introducing the State of Crypto Index - a16z crypto

a16z's most recent crypto report. a16z has a lot of investments in crypto and web3 so one should caveat this heavily, but it is still good data and perspective. Key points that the report focuses on:

• Blockchains have more active users, and more ways to engage.
• DeFi and NFT activity appear to be rising again as promising new uses and applications emerge.
• The number of active developers in the crypto industry has held steady.
• Blockchains are scaling through promising new paths.
• New technologies, once practically impossible, are becoming very real.
• The U.S. is losing its lead in web3.
• Zooming out shows progress across key indicators.

My takes:

1. The sustained higher level of active addresses is good. It hasn't dropped even with scandals and a sustained crypto winter. However 15M addresses is still far too small for the technology being built. Adoption is still in the infancy.
2. The active developer count is meaningful, and fun that you can track this stuff so accurately in blockchain. 30K is still small though.
3. The scaling solutions around Ethereum are showing growth, which is a good sign for them, but even more importantly a good sign for Ethereum.
4. I don't see a ton of new Layer 1's as necessarily a good thing. It is more fragmentation of the market. I'd rather see folks focus on building on the Ethereum ecosystem unless there is a specific reason that will not meet the solution.
5. Love the 99.9% energy reduction of Ethereum highlight as a result of "The Merge" to proof-of-stake. Ethereum uses 0.001% of the energy YouTube uses now.
6. The market cap graphs are misleading due to an overly long timeline.