I recently came across an interview with Gavin Wood, and this guy's position in the blockchain world is truly unmatched. From co-founder of Ethereum to founder of Polkadot, and the one who proposed the Web3 concept, his career trajectory is basically a history of blockchain development.

Last year, Gavin Wood toured Asia with JAM (Join-Accumulate Machine). Basically, this is about upgrading Polkadot from a multi-chain network to a "world computer." It’s not just technical optimization but a complete change in what blockchains can do. According to his modeling, JAM’s computing power will be increased by 10,000 to 1,000,000 times over Ethereum’s current level—of course, blockchain projects tend to hype, but Polkadot has conducted rigorous measurements using a "Toast mini supercomputer," and the data should be fairly reliable.

Interestingly, Gavin Wood himself is not just a tech geek but also a part-time DJ who likes to find inspiration in music. Although he currently dedicates almost all his energy to JAM and Proof-of-Personhood projects, he admits he hopes to revisit his DJ identity in the future. This dual love for technology and art makes him stand out in the community.

Regarding Polkadot’s technical progress, there have been quite a few breakthroughs last year. Asynchronous rollback optimization, new SDK release cycles, increased decentralization of validation nodes—these seemingly boring technical iterations are actually paving the way for the big goal of JAM. The Web3 Foundation invested $10 million $DOT to support the JAM ecosystem, aiming to cultivate development teams worldwide rather than support specific industries. This approach is quite interesting because complex blockchain protocols require knowledgeable talent; just having money isn’t enough.

Gavin Wood’s view on the crypto industry is quite straightforward. He believes that if “crypto industry” refers to the “token industry,” then it’s on a downward slope. Too many projects haven’t solved real technical problems and instead support scams and over-centralization. But he believes that those truly committed to innovation will eventually stand out, and speculators will be eliminated.

His advice to newcomers and entrepreneurs is to stay curious and deeply understand the design intent of blockchain rather than blindly follow trends. He cited physicist Feynman’s example—a casual observation of a spinning plate in a restaurant that ultimately led to important discoveries in quantum physics. That’s the power of interdisciplinary thinking. Be bold in experimentation; even if you fail nine times, it’s okay because that one success might be the breakthrough.

Regarding how Polkadot will attract developers in the future, Gavin Wood mentioned the strategy for Polkadot 2.0—native support for EVM-compatible smart contracts that run directly in $DOT environment. It’s not as thorough as JAM, but the strategic significance is huge. Additionally, with trustless cross-chain solutions like Hyper Bridge and Snow Bridge, Polkadot can seamlessly interact with EVM-compatible networks. The high versatility of PVM (Polkadot Virtual Machine) means almost any virtual machine can run on it, as long as it meets the criteria of determinism and self-containment.

As for the prospects of $DOT spot ETF, Gavin Wood’s attitude is more cautious. The Web3 Foundation has done a lot of regulatory work before, but now faces new uncertainties—government regulators have changed, and financial markets are inherently extremely complex. He straightforwardly said: “Financial markets are like ‘black magic,’” very hard to predict, and it’s difficult to accurately estimate the impact of a single action.

Overall, this blockchain pioneer’s industry judgment is neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic, but pragmatic. 2025 might not look particularly bright, but for those truly seeking innovation, opportunities still exist. The key is to identify real problems rather than chase after trends.