22 Top Pieces from 2022

The year is coming to close, and we’ve rounded up 22 (+1 for 2023!) of our most popular posts, podcasts, videos, and other resources — from tech guides and open source tools to expert write-ups.

For those seeking to understand and go deeper on all things crypto and web3, we aim to cut through the noise and share the signals that matter – whether data or resources for builders and other creators. Here are some of the most popular resources we released this year:

• Introducing the 2021 State of Crypto Report
• Introducing Can’t Be Evil Licenses
• The Zero-knowledge Canon 1 & 2
• Treasury Management: A Guide to Navigating Downturns

We launched a new podcast this year – ‘web3 with a16z’, a show about building the next generation of the internet – which quickly climbed the charts in tech. Topics so far have covered mental models for cycles of innovation to key tech topics in blockchains; to decentralized creativity and collaboration and supporting the broader creator economy as a whole (be sure to subscribe in your podcast app for more). Some of our top episodes so far: 

…plus one more of the topmost episodes that you can enjoy over holidays or future travel:

These are some of our most popular open source tools and code releases of 2022 (a holiday code-u-copia, if you will;). We hope that exploring new primitives will help bring even more on-chain use cases to life.

• zkDocs: Zero-knowledge Information Sharing
• Building Helios: Fully Trustless Access to Ethereum
• Two Solidity implementations of sealed-bid auctions (1 and 2)
• On-Chain Trusted Setup Ceremony

Here are just some of the top expert opinions, arguments, and commentary of the year: 

• Why NFT Creators Are Going CC0
• Wallet Security: The Non-custodial Fallacy
• Status Traps: Learning From Web 2 Social Networks
• Virtual Society, Blockchains, and the Metaverse

These are some of the most popular builder-facing research pieces of the year:

• Measuring SNARK performance: Frontends, backends, and the future
• Why blockchain performance is hard to measure

Also this year, with the goal of highlighting work that advances the science & technology of the next generation of the internet/ web3, a16z crypto hosted a multidisciplinary seminar series organized by head of research Tim Roughgarden. We recorded many of the presentations – from both a16z crypto research partners and visiting scientists – so we could share them publicly (be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t already). The top videos were of course the ones where our experts are introducing concepts:

• An Evolution of Models for Zero Knowledge Proofs with Sarah Meiklejohn
• SNARK Design, Part I, with Justin Thaler
• A Survey of Proof of Stake Blockchain Designs with Valeria Nikolaenko

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the current or enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

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