The fallacy of "onboarding the next billion users"

The article recounts a debate at Devconflict, a side event of Devcon 2024 hosted by the Ethereum Foundation, over whether onchain products should be built to serve billions or for specific niche audiences. It notes that build-for-billions advocates pointed to WhatsApp's reach and its solving of a fundamental need, while the author weighs that approach against decentralization concerns and the risk of recreating web2 control. The author's own conclusion favors building composable, durable, and accessible products that can be remixed and combined, rather than measuring success by millions of users.