The Internet’s New Rules Crown You the Winner

Welcome to Convergence from the people that brought you The Medici Network

Sep 03, 2025

Real Time with Bill Maher on X: "It's time for #NewRules! https://t.co/1EKCfNQ4ST" / X

It’s 3:21 AM here in Los Angeles, and we’re rewriting the rules of engagement on the internet.

Over the last decade, the internet has been shaped by a handful of platforms that captured our attention, our data, and much of the economic value we created. That story is beginning to change.

Blockchain infrastructure has in recent years quietly matured into the new cloud: a set of neutral, composable rails that anyone can build on. Just as cloud computing unlocked a generation of new digital experiences and companies, today’s decentralized infrastructure is enabling builders from across different industries to unlock applications and business models that challenge the status quo.

This shift is not about Web3 replacing Web2. It's about convergence — the best of today’s internet meeting the best of tomorrow’s so that users win with better services, better opportunities, and more ownership. That’s the future that blockchain makes possible, and we believe society will be better for it.

Each month, Convergence will surface the builders, trends, and signals shaping the internet’s next phase and serve as a force multiplier for the transformation already underway.

The rules are being rewritten. Let’s chart them together.

Cheers,

Nick and Kris

Convergence is brought to you by 321 Converge Inc. (“321”), a new 501c6 created by the founders of The Medici Network.

Integrations We Want To See 🔮

Now that we own our data, here are some things we’ll do with it

If Plaid and your password manager had a baby, you can get an Erewhon Hailey Bieber smoothie for free

Sparks ✨

Quick, curated Web2 and Web3 insights you need to know

Referenced in Spark #1 (below): The Agentic Web and Original Sin, by Stratechery

#1 The Agentic Web and Original Sin, by Stratechery

TLDR:

AI agents acting on our behalf are already disrupting the internet’s traditional economics
Ad-supported models may no longer work in the agentic web
Micropayments via stablecoin rails could create a new marketplace for digital content

Our Takeaway:

Ads shouldn’t influence AI decisions
Stablecoin micropayments could align incentives, ideally subsidized by big AI players
Startups like Henry Social are exploring alternative ways to compensate AI agents (hint: affiliate revenue for agentic commerce)

#2 Building for Crypto-Native vs. Building for Crypto-Adjacent, by Richard Chen (Varrock VC, formerly at 1Confirmation)

TLDR:

Build for crypto-native power users or for the mainstream?
Top power users (top 0.2% or less) on crypto-native apps drive the majority of activity, so this is great for experimentation
Crypto-adjacent apps simplify blockchain for everyday users and distribution is more of a moat here

Our Takeaway:

There’s space for both worlds: crypto-native apps will continue to pioneer new primitives, while crypto-adjacent apps will weave blockchain technology into larger, real world markets
If we’re placing bets, crypto-adjacent apps will be more transformative as they cross the chasm into the mainstream

#3 EV3’s AdTech Thesis

TLDR:

Traditional adtech, dominated by big tech, is ripe for disruption
Breakthroughs in generative AI and zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography are reshaping the adtech value chain
Invasive tracking and surveillance are being replaced by cryptographic trust via zkTLS1 (zero-knowledge Transport Layer Security), which integrates ZK cryptography with TLS, the internet’s widely adopted communications security protocol

Our Takeaway:

Advertising is a massive market but built on models that undermine user trust. Nobody likes ads popping up because our phones “listen in” on our conversations
Startups like Opacity use zkTLS to enable new attribution models that respect user privacy while also giving users greater control over their data
Web2 companies may adopt zkTLS for better ad targeting. This technology will enable ways of monetizing attention that we haven’t even imagined yet. Don’t sleep on it

The 3-2-1 🔍

Featured insight breaking down a major story or trend that matters

The Rebel Alliance, by USV

TLDR:

User ownership over their sovereign data matters now more than ever, especially in the age of AI. Grace Carney from USV lays out a compelling vision for how true data sovereignty can unlock vastly improved user experiences and why user privacy is becoming increasingly important. She highlights six verticals of opportunity: security, dev tooling, prosumer tools, consumer social, AI-native interfaces, and regulated industries.

While her article doesn’t explicitly reference blockchain or crypto, three to four of the mentioned example companies are blockchain-based, such as Basic, Memory, Farcaster, and Bluesky. This subtle overlap signals that blockchain-based approaches will play a key role in the future of data ownership.

The Rebel Alliance is a blueprint for a future where users don’t have to trade privacy for utility and a path to reshaping how we interact with the internet.

Our Takeaway:

We believe the next wave of breakout software and consumer companies will be built on the principles of user control, privacy, and interoperability over their data because of a far better user experience.

The real opportunity isn’t to convince users to care about sovereignty. Still, it’s to build applications so intuitive and useful that users benefit from owning their data without even realizing it. This is where technologies like zkTLS become foundational. By enabling websites and apps to verify identity and behavior without exposing the underlying user data, zkTLS removes the tradeoff between personalization and privacy. We’re already seeing this theme play out, where zkTLS is powering more personalized and useful applications.

Power Quote:

Users won’t adopt a new system just because it’s “the right thing.” They’ll adopt it because it works better. In the status quo marketplace of software, users usually must trade privacy for functionality. The opportunity now is to flip that equation — to create tools so useful that users don’t even realize they're benefiting from sovereign data.