With all of the back and forth regarding the efficacy of cryptocurrencies, I find myself more and more looking for use cases outside traditional “currency” definitions, i.e. that which is used primarily for transactions, where a unit of account is traded for a product or service.

Doing so often brings me to arenas that while well known to many in the crypto community, are still relatively green space for me. As a markets-based professional, I attempt to be transparent in my crypto journey. While there are many topics that I have a significant degree of comfort with, Web3 is an area where I see opportunities to increase my base of knowledge.

Conceptually, the value proposition for Web3 makes perfect sense to me. Web 1.0 covered the earliest days of the text-based internet, an era of read-only websites that users “surfed” to consume content written by others.

Roughly two decades ago, Web 2.0 emerged, representing an expansion of the “read” era, characterized by users’ ability to contribute their own content, interact with others in real time via social media and garner attention for themselves (both good and bad) via their actions. This is commonly referred to as the “read-write” era, and incorporates a lot of what we do in our day to day lives.

Web3 is meant to add the concept of “ownership” to the first two, where users have control over their data, payments within the network are done on a peer-to-peer basis and data itself is decentralized, rather than being warehoused by a few centralized entities.

But why is this important? Well, speaking for myself, I’ll say this. We’re all the sum of our own experiences, to one extent or the next. And those experiences can often be distilled down into individual data points that can tell what we’ve done in the past, and heavily infer what we may likely do in the future.

Simply by interacting with this very content, you’ve likely revealed something about yourself – to an entity that you’re unaware of and that you may or may not be comfortable with.

Those pieces of information about yourself are extremely valuable to third-party businesses, some of which have built billion-dollar operations with all of our personal data at its foundation. And like an undisciplined fan revealing the ending of a movie, we’re all essentially just giving it away.

In many ways, we’ve exchanged our data as the price of admission to centralized protocols with robust networks. One mental model would be the idea that everything that you use in the physical space is rented, from your house, down to your shoes.

As far as content creation is concerned, that which you create is within your control only to the extent that the centralized entity allows. In these instances you are surrendering personal data and what amounts to intellectual property.

Web3 would conceivably turn that concept on its head, resulting in users having complete ownership and control over their data and content, with digital assets or tokens – see, there’s an angle here for a crypto publication – providing each user with property rights.

Instead of businesses being given unfettered access to your personal habits and preferences, they would conceivably have to compensate you for it.

As an individual, you would personally warehouse your own inventory of data and tokens, which you would bring with you from protocol to protocol, supplying and removing them as you see fit.

In an ideal world, the attractiveness of robust networks that we find in centralized networks would be married with greater ownership of personal data, with the blockchain acting as a trustless and permissionless vehicle to govern peer-to-peer interaction.

And if we can own something that truthfully belongs to us, and decide how and to what extent we want it distributed, I expect that people will find value in that.

So why doesn’t this already have widespread adoption? For starters, I expect that scalability is a real issue. Widespread adoption is needed for Web3 to work effectively.

Moreover, users need to not only believe in the concept of Web3 itself, but also must see value in the tokens that are used as incentive mechanisms.

It stands to reason that inertia will be a huge factor in users transitioning from the current way that they interact on the internet to a Web3 framework. People are comfortable with Web 2.0, even if that comfort level is displayed by seemingly grinning and bearing the loss of privacy and transfer of personal information.

Moral issues, for lack of a better term, will likely present a hurdle as well. It goes without saying that not all content creation is good content creation. The reduction of one’s digital footprint will likely incentivize some to produce content that is illegal and/or deemed harmful. This is not to cast aspersions or make judgements, as much as it is to highlight what I believe would be a reality.

For all of the ills regarding scalability and legality, I believe that time and innovation will be the antidote.

In my opinion, the ability to maintain ownership of one’s personal information, while maintaining the right to monetize it themselves, is something that will grow in favor.

The professional investing community appears to agree as well, with companies like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Disney and Apple exploring the benefits of Web3 or investing capital into the space.

From a market perspective, assets like Chainlink (LINK), Filecoin(FIL) and Audius (AUDIO) represent ways to gain exposure to Web3 development. The same holds true for protocols such as Ledgermail, Presearch (PRE) and DTube (DTUBE), whose Web 2.0 analogs would be email, Google and YouTube.

All told, I believe that Web3 has a long way to go, but remains well on its way to getting there. I have yet to reach the individual who speaks favorably about the extent to which they lack control over the dispersion of their data.

It only makes sense to me that the alternative would be viewed in good terms. But it will take time, patience and innovation before many see it.

source: coindesk

image source: ai

#Web3 #web3isthefuture #web3community #newsbrief #web2

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading crypto assets comes with a risk of financial loss.

- A recent study by Immunefi, a security auditing company, revealed that in 2022, 46% of crypto losses were attributed to Web2 vulnerabilities.
- Within Web3 vulnerabilities, the report identified three main categories: design flaws, implementation flaws, and infrastructure weaknesses.
- The study highlighted the shift towards a more community-driven approach to Web3 security, with increased collaboration among projects, users, and security experts to address vulnerabilities.
- To brace for the 2024 bull cycle, the report suggests that Web3 projects invest in security measures, conduct thorough testing and audits of their smart contracts, and actively engage with the security community.
- By adopting these measures, Web3 projects can fortify themselves against the expected rise in hacks and exploits as cryptocurrency prices surge once more.

Amidst the prevailing concern over the hazards within Web3 technology, discussions abound regarding its inherent risks, from the peril of losing investments to rug-pulls, scams, and hacking incidents.
The discourse unveils a compelling narrative, attributing the vulnerabilities and losses not solely to Web3 but also highlighting the culpability of Web2 technology. This narrative, particularly prominent during the 2022 bear market, spotlighted major exploits like the BNB Chain, Ronin, and Qbit hacks, tarnishing Web3's reputation. Instances like the Terra Ecosystem crash, wiping out billions in a day, serve as stark reminders of the sector's susceptibility.
However, a fresh perspective emerges: Could Web2 be equally responsible for these crypto losses? Recent findings from security audit firm Immunefi suggest so. Contrary to popular belief, it's not solely bad smart contracts driving the hacks; nearly half, approximately 46%, stemmed from flaws within Web2 infrastructure.
Immunefi's in-depth analysis also reveals common vulnerabilities across both Web2 and Web3, such as leaked private keys, weak encryption, and DNS hijacking. The report categorizes security loopholes into three groups: design flaws, implementation glitches, and infrastructure weaknesses. Each category poses unique threats, as seen in exploits like the BNB Chain bridge hack, QBit hack, and Ronin bridge attack.
Looking ahead to the 2024 bull cycle, Immunefi's report forecasts a pivotal shift. Emphasizing the indispensable role of Web2 security alongside Web3, it underscores the vital role of user interface and a community-driven approach in fortifying security. As crypto projects gear up for the anticipated surge, the report advocates investment in security measures, meticulous testing and auditing of smart contracts, and active engagement with the security community.
While this insight serves as a guiding beacon, it's crucial to acknowledge the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies. The Voice of Crypto aims to provide accurate information; however, readers are encouraged to conduct their research and exercise prudence in financial decisions within this unpredictable landscape.

#web2 #Web3Wallet #Web3 #loss

We have now entered a stage where the vast majority of people have heard what blockchain is. However, not everyone understands how the #blockchain will impact their lives. In order for us to answer this question, we must first define what the blockchain is exactly. 

“A blockchain is a distributed database or ledger that is shared among the nodes of a computer network” - Adam Hayes, seen in Investopedia

As many of you know, the current #web2 internet architecture is comprised of multiple server centers storing and collecting, the world’s internet data and information. Well, the blockchain can be used to ‘distribute’ this data across multiple locations.

By distributing this data and information a few things begin happening, one is, no one controls all the data and information and secondly, each individual has ownership over their specific set of data, meaning privacy is at the discretion of the holder. Any information stored on a blockchain is either encrypted or anonymized, and the retrievable data is only accessible by the owner. 

Digital twins stored on a blockchain

Now that we have defined what the blockchain is, we can begin defining what are the use cases for this technology. Considering that blockchain technology in itself is nothing new, nor revolutionary, instead, the technology built above a blockchain architecture can be considered ‘game-changing’. 

A key characteristic of blockchain technology is twofold, one is the limitless storage potential a blockchain could grow to (in the future of course), and the second is the personalization of an individual’s blockchain.

An individual, in theory, can create their own blockchain/sub-net that is only accessible to them. Afterward, any data or information that an individual generates will automatically be sent to and stored on their blockchain. 

This individual could then give streaming rights to companies in return for products and services. Incidentally, this individual would be creating a digital copy of themselves that can be used for all types of applications which can become a way, in the future, for humans to customize every aspect of their lives. 

Predictive technology

Currently, in the real world, we are unable to create perfectly formed simulations of two occurrences with a 100% accuracy of data variables being played out in the exact same order.

For example, if we were to create a “what if” scenario about a car driving at 50km/h down a straight road, with the same driver under the same wind speeds, car speeds, car mechanics, driver’s emotional stability, etc… and we simulated a new type of tire turning a corner, or a new road sign with oncoming traffic, or even a different ring tone on a phone. We could pinpoint with 100% accuracy the cause of the outcome under these conditions due to our digital twin simulation tests. 

Where does this data come from? Well, this could be one of the services an individual may sign-up for, whereby they grant access to these predictive companies to run simulations about that individual’s upcoming day and cross-reference them with other users’ days. When we begin creating complex simulations using thousands of people’s variations it becomes a headache, however, the technology is applicable due to blockchain technology. 

 

One key characteristic of blockchain technology is immutability, this means anything stored on a blockchain cannot be altered once being submitted. This is incredibly helpful in the finance sector.

Metaverse

Ok, there will be many people who’ll inevitably disagree, regardless, the metaverse is not as simple as people make it out to be. For example, there are centralized metaverses such as Zuckerburg’s #Meta company, and then there are decentralized metaverses, perhaps the closest example would be #Decentraland.

For this example, we’ll focus on decentralized metaversal worlds, as the core concept of a web 3.0 environment is one that removes the need for intermediaries. 

In the future, the world may begin transitioning toward working, playing, and communicating within a metaversal environment. A decentralized metaverse will inevitably use a blockchain to host and store applications and data. However, the decentralization/distributed aspect of a metaversal world will utilize blockchain technology.

The blockchain’s functionality for a decentralized metaverse is the distributed storing of its data combined with the authenticity of metaversal activity by each user.  

Finance

Perhaps this should have been the first major point for how blockchain will impact everyone's lives in the future, but, blockchain in finance is somewhat of a dying feature, it’s no longer exciting. The idea that #cryptocurrencies are here has already been proven to a point that people no longer discuss the core concepts of what drives it anymore. 

 

Of course, people are still raving, and complaining, about the fluctuations across the crypto markets, but these are often people who have missed the entire point of what blockchain technology truly offers. 

Regardless, finance will be an important aspect that will govern our online lives in the future, the only difference is, the currency used will be in the form of a cryptocoin/token/asset, which will more than likely make paper money redundant in the future. 

Conclusion

Blockchain technology is only the foundation that has for a long time needed to be built upon and integrated within the current systems we have used today. A big part of our future will use some aspect of blockchain technology.