Been looking at the web3 stocks space lately and honestly, there's something interesting happening beneath all the noise. Yeah, the hype cycle cooled off dramatically, but that's actually when the real opportunities show up. The decentralized web isn't going anywhere – it's just taking longer to build than people expected. Some analysts are calling the sector worth $13 trillion by 2030, which tells you something about long-term potential.

I've been tracking three web3 stocks that actually have legs, and I think they're worth paying attention to if you're building a digital assets portfolio.

First up is MANA through the Grayscale trust. Look, it's a bit of a roundabout way to get exposure – you're buying a trust that holds the MANA token instead of dealing with wallets and exchanges directly. Decentraland was one of the earliest metaverse plays, and yeah, the real estate boom cooled down significantly. But the token's still trading, and the trust structure gives you a cleaner way to hold it in a regular brokerage account. Token's sitting around $0.10 right now with solid 24-hour volume. The interesting part is that MANA stock itself has been up massively this year, so there's definitely conviction from some investors on the web3 stocks thesis.

Then there's Veritone. Most people know it got picked up by Amazon for their AI initiative, which is cool, but the real story for web3 stocks investors is their Veriverse platform. It's basically a way for creators to manage and monetize their IP across different digital communities. As AI litigation and IP concerns blow up, this kind of infrastructure becomes essential in a decentralized economy. Yeah, the financials are rough – they posted a $20 million quarterly loss – but the thesis is solid.

Unity Software is probably the most obvious web3 stocks play here. Cathie Wood threw $6.2 million at it, which says something. The company sits right at the intersection of gaming, metaverse, and web3 infrastructure. What makes it different from other web3 stocks is that it actually generates positive cash flow through its ad network, so it's not just speculative. Their digital twin technology is pretty compelling for replicating real-world objects in web3 spaces.

The thing about web3 stocks right now is patience. We're probably years away from institutional money really flowing in, but that's exactly why the risk-reward makes sense. If you're comfortable waiting it out, these three give you exposure to different angles of the decentralized web thesis.