In a recent episode of the Citizen Web3 podcast, Brian Crain, an entrepreneur and co-founder of Chorus One, reflected on the progress and challenges within the Web3 industry over the past three years, sharing his insights on the evolving landscape of blockchain technology and the operational realities of running a leading validator. Crain opened by expressing optimism about the industry's advancements, particularly in scalability and interoperability. Regarding scalability, Crain observed "huge progress," noting a shift from previous bottlenecks where high transaction fees made applications unusable. He highlighted various solutions now available, including Cosmos chains, Solana, and roll-ups like Arbitrum and Optimism, as well as emerging Layer 1s such as Sui, Aptos, and Monad. While acknowledging that these solutions still need further "battle test" with widespread user adoption, Crain remained "super confident that like we can, we can sort this out and we're pretty close." He pointed to the high transaction throughput seen in roll-ups and the activity on chains like Solana and DYDX as evidence of this progress. Interoperability was another area Crain described as a "success story." He recounted how the industry had moved from isolated blockchains to a more connected ecosystem, citing IBC as a prime example of a protocol "working super well" and supporting significant value transfer. Other protocols like Wormhole and Axelar also contribute to cross-chain connectivity. Crain was particularly impressed by complex cross-chain applications, such as Stride in Cosmos, which allows a blockchain to control accounts on other chains for liquid staking, demonstrating that such innovative solutions are "very cool, right? And it's working." However, Crain's optimism was tempered when discussing safety and privacy. While confident that bridge hacks, a significant issue in interoperability, are a "very solvable issue" with ongoing progress and potential multi-sig bridge solutions, he painted a bleaker picture for privacy. He asserted that the privacy situation looks "way less good" and has "gotten worse," with interoperability solutions offering no aid. He even suggested, somewhat ironically, that using a centralized exchange to transfer assets cross-chain provides better privacy than many decentralized bridge solutions. Crain confirmed that blockchain surveillance has "definitely increased. No question. I'm sure it's gotten like much better, more invasive." He attributed the lack of progress in privacy to several factors: limited investment compared to the billions poured into scalability and interoperability, significant regulatory risks for developers (citing the arrests related to Tornado Cash and Samurai Wallet), and the tendency of centralized exchanges to delist privacy-focused coins, assuming "guilt" if protocols engage in privacy-preserving activities. Despite technological advancements like ZK proofs, Crain admitted he is "not honestly sure" how this trend can be countered, hoping for a future where people become more comfortable with self-custody and, perhaps, the emergence of "network state" type governments that actively "embrace privacy." As an entrepreneur, Crain detailed his motivations and Chorus One's operations. The core of Chorus One's work involves running validator and staking infrastructure for approximately 60 networks, a role Crain finds fulfilling as it represents "working on like the fundamental things that like don't change" at the heart of decentralized networks. With a team of almost 70 people, about half of whom are engineers, Chorus One serves a diverse client base from individual stakers to VC funds, custodians, and exchanges. The company also boasts an investment arm, having made around 70 investments, including 30 in Cosmos projects, seeking synergies and potential infrastructure clients. Crain explained that Chorus One's growth is often constrained by the demand for their services exceeding their capacity, leading them to carefully assess and sometimes decline new networks. Factors in this assessment include a project's economics, the complexity of integration, the quality of the code and vision, and potential existing stakeholder interest. Beyond the business aspect, Crain's personal drive for Chorus One is rooted in the belief that "blockchains and decentralized networks allow people to have more control over their own assets, their own lives, their own decision making." He envisions a future that is "more open, more fair, more innovative, more wealthy, more resilient." He also derives satisfaction from "growing an organization and building an organization," finding deep reward in bringing "great people together" to work towards a shared vision and achieve something collectively. A key strategic choice for Chorus One has been its transition to an "almost fully bare metal" infrastructure setup, a decision made years ago. This move was driven by several reasons: the enhanced security offered by Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) not easily supported in cloud environments, a philosophical opposition to "running all this in a big centralized cloud provider" which "seems to kind of a little bit defeat the whole purpose," and significant cost savings, with infrastructure expenses dropping by about 80% after migrating off the cloud. This strategy necessitates an engineering culture that values deep knowledge of "low level stuff," networking, and systems design, as the team directly controls the entire server stack. Chorus One leases servers in various data centers globally, opting for this flexibility over operating proprietary data centers, a choice that proved resilient even during a data center fire. Crain also noted that many blockchain projects are not "operator friendly," often lacking support for crucial validator tools or having inconvenient design choices for reward distribution, forcing validators to adapt or build workarounds. For anyone considering starting a staking company today, Crain offered two main pieces of advice. First, "you have to think about, you know, the distribution," emphasizing the need to clearly define who will stake with the company and why, given the competitive landscape. Second, "keep it simple" and "focus." He cautioned against "over engineer[ing] some really complicated thing," recounting Chorus One's early mistake of building an overly complex automated failover system when simpler solutions would have sufficed. Instead, he advised focusing on doing "the one thing" well and refining it as much as possible. Outside of his professional life, Crain shared that the book "Radical Honesty" has significantly influenced him, promoting the idea of transparent communication to reduce stress and disconnect. Technologically, beyond blockchain and AI, he expressed interest in personal knowledge management tools like Obsidian. Lastly, for personal positive influence, he mentioned Mingyur Rinpoche, a Tibetan teacher whose work in Buddhism has resonated with him in recent years.