GG24 Sense Making Report: Breaking into Enterprise
Problem & Impact
Problem
Ethereum has grown in leaps and bounds since its inception however one challenge has remained illusive, the challenge of adoption in Enterprise. Recent developments in crypto regulation globally have reduced the levels of uncertainty around Ethereum blockchain adoption in the Enterprise space however, Enterprise adoption specifically as part of operational systems is still a big issue. Simply put the massive opportunity that Ethereum brings to the Enterprise space is that for realtime transaction billing and settlement. Billions are lost in transactional inefficiencies that arise as organisations get larger, more diverse and more competitive. The introduction of Ethereum into the space combining crypto money, blockchain transactions and smart contracts begins a systemization process that not only cuts waste but also opens up new avenues of commerce well beyond the Web 2 revolution.
Urgency
The urgency of this problem comes from the rise in Artificial Intelligence as a competing emerging integrative technology. In short AI is making phenomenal inroads into the Enterprise space at a pace that has never been seen before. The real danger for Ethereum is that AI allows Enterprise to remain siloed leveraging legacy commercial mechanics. This further creates a space for legacy services to evolve in a direction away from Ethereum forcing it to remain a niche. This can be seen in the current evolution of Agentic AI e.g. N8n, Make.com which integrates with common task based platforms such as Slack, Zapier, Telegram etc. To understand this problem in perspective organizations from operators such as British Telecom to retail giants Best Buy have been aggressively embracing AI to optimize their operations. In short Ethereum is facing the clouds of a black swan moment that in the best case deals a lot of damage and in the worst case renders meaningless.
Impact
The impact of solving this challenge at this point in time will be small but seismic. In short it will reposition Ethereum as the go to integrative platform for digital operations. It will further refocus the Ethereum discussion on transaction throughput (not speed) supporting the scaling discourse and providing a clear evidence based directive on the direction onward evolution should take.
Sense Making
To understand the problem at it’s fundament we looked at who is hiring for blockchain development. The predominant employers were Ethereum ecosystem participants themselves, this being across a number of portals such as web3.career, cryptojoblist.com and cryptocurrencyjobs.com. Juxtapose this against recruitment of Java Developers derived from Google, the variety of industries hiring is very wide. When we look at the dispersion across AI recruitment (using only Google) it’s pattern follows that of Java Developers signifying a much greater and faster technology uptake. More importantly AI is getting something right that Ethereum has not quite figured out yet.
Gitcoin’s Unique Role & Fundraising
Gitcoin’s Unique Role
Addressing this challenge is where Gitcoin can really shine, as the solution to the Enterprise challenge has to be community driven. Community is what works in big corporate, big pharma and so on. Community knows the pain points and access points to Enterprise intimately, but more than that it is community that can source the solutions to the Enterprise conundrum which is quite complex but extremely solvable. In short the Gitcoin network is a more dynamic and responsive mechanism for solving the Enterprise challenge for Ethereum as it avoids the group think that is associated with tasking a single organization or group of them to come up with solutions.
Fundraising
The funding model for this would consist of engaging partners such as Spork DAO, Arbitrum DAO, Optimism Foundation, NEAR Foundation, and other major networks, to create a community fund for Enterprise Innovation $50k+ that allows for community based sourcing and solution of enterprise issues followed by real world deployment.
Success Measurement & Reflection
The success metrics for this initiative for the first 6 months have been kept simple:
- Number of common industry issues successfully identified and scoped (the market)
- Number of successful community solutions developed (the providers)
- Number of successful service deployments delivered or planned (the new economy)
To measure the genuine impact, of this initiative we would measure the organic conversation and news coverage of downstream enterprise initiatives that were spawned but potentially did not complete prior to the 6 month measuring window.
For the community the “legacy” would be from the developed case studies from the initiative which would enable Enterprise members to leverage the learnings and begin their own organization internal initiatives. Simply without this data the task of attempting to convince an Exec 25 years in the making to gamble their career on Ethereum is neigh on impossible.
Domain information
This grant would propose a new Domain for GG24 . This would be an enduring domain as the Enterprise challenge affects all aspects of daily life.
Domain experts would be sourced from from participating enterprises and sponsoring organizations.
Depending on the success of the initial round, industry focused sub rounds are a likely outcome of this initiative.
Submission Compliance Check
framed as “Ethereum’s enterprise gap vs. AI adoption”
limited — relies on job board comparisons, not systematic research
Scorecard Evaluation
Feedback for Improvement