Jack Dorsey announced “web5” — what does that even mean?
Jack Dorsey -former CEO of Twitter has announced an intent to create “web5”. This was a fairly recent announcement so the information on it is pretty limited. But here’s a compilation of everything we know!
Why is it web5 and not web4?
Other than this being just for marketing, it is an assumption and recent confirmation that it is because web2 + web3 =web5.
What’s the idea behind it?
- The main idea behind it is the creation of a platform to help facilitate the creation of apps that would allow users to store and control their data by themselves
- it gives ownership of personal data back to users
- Ensures security of data
These are all BIG promises on Dorsey’s behalf. To make this work, web5 will be relying on 3 pillars.
- Decentralized identifiers: they will act like a public key that only YOU have access to. This network is built on bitcoin’s layer 2 and has been trusted by validators without needing any tokens to work.
- Verifiable credentials: this can be your electronic signature or your address. After you have an identity, this is your next step, a story that sets you apart from everyone else.
- Decentralized Web Nodes: this is a private data vault. There is a lot of talk about DWN at the moment since it was hinted at by Jack when he first announced web5. This would be a huge breakthrough for storing information online
From these 3 pillars, it can be decoded that it is something between NFTs and blockchain. Of course, nothing certain can be said about it yet!
So, what now?
Dorsey has had a history of publicly criticizing web3 and of its shortcomings, so it wasn’t a total surprise when he took a stab at decentralization himself. It is safe to say that web5 will be under a microscopic eye of web3 fans, waiting for slip-ups because of how much Jack has criticized it over the years!
Problems with web3
Dorsey wasn’t 100% wrong when it came to web3 criticism. There were a lot more people stating that the concept of web3 was ‘chaotic’. There was no single authority that takes responsibility for the data in web3, which was a cause of concern for a lot of users. There was also no benefit for mainstream businesses. The whole concept of decentralization was far too new for businesses to take in any kind of benefit from it. A lot of businesses claimed it was like giving assets away for no reason.
Web3 showed a completely new perspective to a lot of people. The reviews were mixed since this was never seen before! However, as time has went on, web3 did eventually become more mainstream. According to a lot of fans, web5 will receive a lot of hype from the beginning now since a lot more people are well aware of what exactly decentralization is, and it’s more secure!
Was it ever needed?
Anyone who has ever valued their privacy will always say yes. The ultimate goal for web5 is for users to control their identity and take control of their information. It’s crazy how many organizations have shared personal information with third-party apps!
Web5 was a product out of users’ concerns with Web3, claiming Web3 was not as decentralized as it claimed and upon further research, that was well proven.
Block’s Web5 promises no utility tokens or consensus models and instead relies on blockchain text.
It has been claimed that the ID and app layer will be separate from the monetary layer and you don’t really need bitcoin to use the former two. Of course with all of this, the question remains the same, will this make any real impact or is it a way to drive people away from Web3?
To conclude
Web5 is a fairly new concept, there isn’t much information out there about it yet! Eventually, there will be conspiracies, controversies and finally, acceptance, the same 3 stages Web3 went through. Stay tuned for more updates from our blog! Cheers!
