Mobile Advantages for Web3 Games

The mobile advantage for Web3 games lies in their widespread accessibility, constant internet connectivity, enhanced by the rollout of 5G networks. Mobile devices' built-in security features, location services, and integration with mobile crypto wallets simplify secure logins, transactions, and unique gameplay elements.

Wallets and Payments

Beyond the large untapped user audience, mobile also offers multifaceted advantages for blockchain use. Accessibility and availability of mobile is unmatched. Consumer finance apps like wallets (Paypal, Venmo, CashApp) and payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, WePay, AliPay) have almost entirely shifted towards mobile out of sheer convenience. Pulling your phone out of your pocket and double-tapping a button is orders of magnitude more convenient than alternatives. If crypto is ever to achieve mass adoption as a transaction network, mobile is the obvious device of choice.

Moreover, poor payments infrastructure in developing countries is a fantastic opportunity for crypto. While transaction fees are negligible in developed countries, the same is not true for our southern neighbors. Mobile payments may charge 0.1% fees in China or 3% fees in the USA, but in Brazil usurious rates of 40% are not uncommon. Blockchain gas fees can seem quite negligible in comparison. Their margin is our opportunity.

Security and Identity

Security is paramount for financial transactions. Perhaps unexpectedly, security is far better on mobile. Built-in biometric systems like Face ID and fingerprint scans are much better than simple passwords, no matter how many non-alphanumeric characters they may require. Liveness checks can add an additional layer of security that an image of a government ID never could. Moreover, since all devices are equipped with cameras and touchscreens, these additional security requirements are universally accessible and do not require additional hardware. Mobile passkeys are also increasingly commonplace to add additional security. Geolocation also assists with fraud detection. While it is trivially easy to spoof IP addresses with a desktop VPN, mobile VPNs are far less common and device IDs help detect unusual activity.

Identity, social verification, and Sybil resistance are all enhanced with these security perks. Identity issues have plagued the pseudonymous world of crypto, especially as protocols attempt to implement democratic and decentralizing policies like one-person-one-vote or airdrops that are simply spoofed by one person holding multiple wallets to execute a Sybil attack. Soulbound tokens are an attempt to deal with some of these issues but come with their own downsides. Mobile devices offer solutions to this so-called “proof-of-humanity” problem. Social verification in apps like WeChat are increasingly common, but still spoofable. Geolocated social verification would add an additional layer of security. Biometrics as described above could also assist in account recovery or soulbound transferability, as they can verify that you are, in fact, the same human being in meatspace.

Accessibility and Decentralization

Decentralization is a key tenant that differentiates web3 from traditional tech. But to decentralize a system, we need a wide distributed web to decentralize towards. Accessibility is key. Just as lower barriers to voting promotes mass democracy, lower barriers to blockchain access promotes mass decentralization. Mobile device adoption is over 3x as widespread as personal computers, which immediately casts a wider net.

Moreover, mobile devices are far more immediately available, especially for quick light-touch interactions. While it may be fine to rely on PC users for slow and weighty processes, like a million-dollar DAO vote that is live for 2 weeks, the immediacy of mobile will create new niches. Any application that requires a time-sensitive and broad feedback will prefer mobile. Live prediction markets, sentry nodes, and social oracles come to mind. While these applications are not currently fleshed out in our desktop-first web3 landscape, they will certainly follow mass web3 adoption on mobile.