Month: May 2022

It’s no secret that the web 2.0 architecture has uncovered the nasty data collection tricks that so many big tech giants have profited greatly from. This has led to a world of misinformation, distrust, and one of the most hateful societies of modern times. 

But, we are now moving toward a web 3.0 architecture, and with it, the trust may be restored among internet users. However, so many people are wondering, how exactly does web 3.0 protect our data? 

Although we are still in the infancy stages of web 3.0’s development, we can describe the general functionality of how it works, and by doing so, uncover the vast advantages it has for everyone across the globe. 

The end for intermediaries

Now, this statement doesn’t necessarily mean web 3.0 will completely replace what we are currently using, or the system on which big companies operate, but it will force big tech giants to restructure the way they gather and utilize our data. 

For us to figure out how these big tech companies need to restructure, we should first define the data aspects inside a web 3.0 architecture. 

As you must have heard, web 3.0 will be the era of ownership, what this means, is any content you create, or data you generate, will be solely owned by you and no one else. 

What this means, is that web 3.0 will no longer enable big tech companies to access and store our data without our approval. Users will be the key holders of our data, and there will be no intermediary where our data passes through. 

These companies will now need to ask for approval to utilize our data. By doing so, big tech companies may begin paying us for the rights to sell our data, meaning we will be compensated to be shown ads. 

Web 3.0 & the blockchain

Interestingly, many people disregard web 3.0 as a novelty, rather than a real innovative stepping stone in the history of our digital evolution. Perhaps this is due to the facts mentioned earlier, whereby big tech companies are unwilling to adapt to this new era. 

Regardless, the technology is moving ahead, and as it is a people’s first network, then the need for tech giants is somewhat redundant, so it’s understandable these companies want to impede its development, or at the very least attempt to control some aspect of it. 

However, the idea that we now have complete autonomy over our data, and any data generated about us, is quite revolutionary. If the industry matures enough, we may see a complete rollout of off-chain and on-chain integration, whereby our physical lives can be intertwined with our digital ones. 

This creates a surge in demand for companies, and governments, to offer an array of different services to us, as companies would no longer be bound by data-protection laws (as any data shared must be approved by the user first).

The technology that will have the greatest impact over the next few decades has finally arrived. 

The world of crypto has brought about a new bubble, that so many people have benefited from financially. There have been ups and downs across the industry, but numerous people have remained resilient when faced with catastrophic bear markets.

Especially in recent times, with the collapse of the LUNA token, the de-pegging of UST, the war in Ukraine, and the stock market sell-offs. It has been a turbulent year for the crypto markets.

In light of recent events, could this be the early signs of the crypto bubble popping, or is it the next stage of crypto-asset prices ready to soar to all-time highs? Regardless, there are many challenges that await investors, and here, we discuss what those challenges are.

Trust and transparency

Before investing in the crypto markets, or any markets for that matter, there must be a connection of trust between the project and the investor. When you look at founders publicly taunting investors online (as Do Kwon (founder of Terra Luna) did) then you begin to feel a sense of distrust within the project.

It is important for a crypto project to maintain a strong sense of integrity among investors, especially from the founder’s side. For too long, there has been a stigma attached to crypto projects that show founders creating pump and dump schemes.

This has been a worrying challenge among investors, as, it’s difficult to gauge the authenticity of a crypto founder’s intentions. By which, as an investor, you must dig much deeper into the project as a whole.

This leads to the second point, and that is transparency. Many projects in the industry have hidden behind a facade, and this raises red flags among the investing community, or at least it should.

Before investing in stocks and shares, a public company’s information is well documented with the SEC, allowing investors to get a better understanding of what they’re investing into.

In contrast, the crypto world is not as straightforward, forcing investors to run their own analysis of the project, and make a judgment based on what they uncover.

As a crypto project, they must be willing, and open, to share similar information, as you would find with a publicly-traded company so that investors can make a more informed decision. Without this information, then it is entirely down to the investor to take the risk.  

An insecure market

Today, the crypto market is not stable, and in many ways, it won’t stabilize, at least not for a few years. Due to the volatility of the crypto market, it has become a dis-trusted industry for investors to hold on to for the long run.

There is still money to be made in the crypto world, but the most minor issue that arises will set off a downturn in stocks, easily wiping billions of dollars off the market overnight.

This has been proven time and time again, as, corporations, hedge funds, VCs, etc… often have cryptocurrencies in their portfolio, among other assets. Still, when there’s turmoil in any aspect of the trading world, these crypto-assets become high risk and are often the first asset that is sold off.

This triggers a domino effect bearish market, as these institutes cannot hold on to the faith that crypto markets will see stability in times of crisis. This becomes a challenge among crypto-focused investors, as, their crypto portfolio will inevitably be hit during these times.

In many cases, the crypto market has been deemed a high-risk market, and this won’t change any time soon. Ultimately it is down to the investors themselves as to whether they can overcome these challenges, and be convinced to invest money into the market.

Numerous corporations are beginning to invest a lot of time and money in developing blockchain technologies for their companies. Although many in the industry usually have the misconception that blockchains need cryptocurrencies to survive, when in fact, they can act as a stand-alone technology.

It is becoming more clear that the use of blockchain technologies has numerous advantages compared to the current systems used for data tracking and authentication.

Many of these companies have come to realize they can get better results, and be more transparent with their business operations. Here’s how big corporates can join in the blockchain era.

How the blockchain can help with transparency?

We are all aware the world is plagued by disinformation, and at times, distrust looms over the corporate industry. Whether this is through their financials, or by their inability to provide the public complete transparency about their services.

This is how the blockchain can assist these companies. Considering their business operations, at least their publicly known business operations were to be put on the blockchain.

This would immediately instill trust among their customers and shareholders, as one of the key advantages of blockchain technology, is that it is immutable, meaning the information cannot be changed or tampered with.

Furthermore, this way of integrating the blockchain into their company could fulfill the obligations set forth by government agencies, in terms of tax, revenue, and assets controlled by the business, and this could alleviate some of the workload governments put toward auditing these large corporates.   

In addition, supply chain and logistics companies can benefit greatly from using a trustless system, one that clearly monitors and updates key tracking points for highly sensitive products, such as pharmaceutical products.

By integrating this type of solution, companies will no longer need to spend time and money on actively proving their innocence when there’s an unforeseeable problem that disrupts/damages precious cargo.

What’s in it for the customers?

Aside from being transparent on the internal, and government side, corporations can integrate front-facing blockchain technology that is used to track and update customers on their product’s life-cycle journey.

Consider the fact, that customers have been shielded, if not blinded, by a company’s supply chain operations, whereby customers have been unable to see how, and where, a product’s materials have come from.

This can change, and become a trusted integral part of a business’s offering, whereby customers can now be given the full view of what they’re purchasing. Imagine a corporate blockchain, that is constantly updated with information about the ethics, materials, and locations of the products/services a customer is purchasing.

The rating of that specific product would be much greater compared to others on the market (there’s no data to back this statement, but rather an assumption).

As you can see the idea of corporations integrating blockchain technology into their businesses can have deep meaningful effects, not only on themselves but on the customers they serve.

The step from what we use today to access information, engage in conversations, and store our data has been strictly monitored and taken advantage of, but this is changing with the rise of web 3.0.

We have constantly been made aware of how our personal data has been used to manipulate us into making decisions that we previously may not have taken.

But now, as the world is transitioning to an alternative, we can begin to uncover the key advantages of using this new type of internet architecture. This article will explain what web 3.0 offers, and what you can gain from using it.

Taking back ownership

Hasn’t it been frustrating when you dedicate a lot of your time to creating something, and after sharing it online, it becomes exploited? This is something that a web 3.0 architecture will solve, as ownership over any information, or data, uploaded across the web 3.0 will be accredited to the creator.

Furthermore, if that piece of content generates any revenue, then the subsequent compensation will be rewarded to the creator. Due to the blockchain, we can now keep a very detailed, trustless database of information about ownership. Something that isn’t entirely possible in the current online architecture.

What’s most important, to many users, is the exploitation of personal data. As accessibility will ultimately be peer-to-peer, the collection and use of our personal data won’t be apparent, as all online activities across a web 3.0 architecture will have limited association with our offline identities.

This is partially one of the major incentives that many users are still yet to learn, and once the technology within the industry matures, the accessibility of information, while remaining anonymous will become more seamless.  

Sustainability and access

Within the web 3.0, all the information and data will be distributed and stored on hundreds, if not millions, of distributed servers among numerous locations, meaning accessibility to information could, in theory, always be accessed.

The benefit of this is users won’t have to endure censorship from third parties but instead be given the freedom of open information accessible from anywhere across the globe, without limitations.

Of course, there are drawbacks to this, but, many companies are actively working on solutions that can create the right type of balance that assimilates similar safety protocols we see today. As mentioned before, the technology isn’t mature enough.

A popular understanding of a web 3.0’s decentralization is the possibility that users can access other users’ servers to increase their network speeds. For online functionality, this is a huge step toward an extremely fast network that isn’t restricted by centralized server bottlenecks when accessing the internet.

So, people will be able to utilize a web 3.0’s network to stream, download, upload, store & retrieve data, and participate in online gaming without encountering high latency issues.

Although we are still a few years away from web 3.0’s promises of becoming a reality, we are already beginning to see signs of its true potential, and with it, a new way in which the world can access digital information.

The future internet known as web 3.0 is coming, and although there’s a lot of hype surrounding its development, there are a few drawbacks that will impede its development. In this article, we will explore some of these issues.

Ultimately, web 3.0 architecture is something the majority of the world has been looking for. It is a means that can ensure complete privacy, and security, and address numerous issues such as scalability.

Web 3.0 is described as a decentralized, peer-to-peer network, that enables users complete autonomy over their data. Just by describing what web 3.0 is we can begin understanding why there are obstacles slowing down its development.

Let’s dive into what problems are associated with the future internet, and perhaps uncover why in which we can overcome these issues.

A lack of data & information

What we have today are these monopolies that have stored every piece of information we see on the internet in large data farms. When we want to access this information we must give away some type of information, click on ‘accept all cookies’, and basically sign over every anonymity freedoms we have to access them.

This is a centralized structure. Let’s take Google as our primary example. Google’s search algorithm basically acts as a stitching mechanism that bridges all these different websites, hosted across numerous locations, together.

When we search for something using Google search, we are asking Google to find the information we need in the fastest time possible, something Google does incredibly well. So, Google is accessing numerous servers to deliver these results.

In a web 3.0 infrastructure, all the information will be decentralized, meaning, a company like Google will have a hard time indexing and gathering the information we need. What’s happening is that in a decentralized internet network, the user experience will be dreadful for those trying to access information.

Currently, there is no indexing search engine that can tag and deliver information similar to Google’s method. This will become a problem, and currently, there aren’t any popular solutions for this in a web 3.0 architecture.

So, does this mean the future internet will be more like a hybrid between existing systems and these newly formed decentralized systems? This is a question that not many can answer, at least not right now.

The future internet, or web 3.0, is still in its infancy stages. It is promising all these grand changes, but is it missing the mark by offering a complex system that sways people away from using it?

In order for web 3.0 to see mass adoption, the complexity must be simplified, information must be abundant, and tools must be simple and easy to use. Without them, web 3.0 will struggle to rise in its development.

Governments & corporations

We see from the aspect of the technology side and its current limitations. Now, on the other spectrum, the future internet must overcome the socio-economic strains that are restricted by legislation and corporations.

From the perspective of a government body, a decentralized, “uncontrolled” internet can have catastrophic effects to every aspect of governance models. From democratically run nations to socialist/communist ones, a decentralized internet could get out of hand.

This is one fear that many governments are baffled by, and due to this fear, legislation is slowing down web 3.0’s momentum by targeting the incentive layers of these platforms, and the endpoints in de-fi.

This is a barrier that web 3.0 advocates, and developers, must address in order to satisfy these agencies. Although some governments are relatively susceptible to its development and are figuring out a solution to work alongside web 3.0’s development, then there are governments who have completely banned its use entirely.

Whatever the eventual outcome, we are in somewhat of a limbo, between whether or not a decentralized internet is a safe bet, from a government’s point of view, and can there be a good balance between some type of control to a free and open digital economy?

From a corporation’s point of view, a web 3.0 architecture isn’t much of a concern right now, as mentioned earlier, there is still a lot of development that needs to be done before it can even be considered a threat to the existing web 2.0 architecture.

That said, companies such as Facebook, and Google, have been preventing the use of their platforms to advertise web 3.0-based crypto projects, perhaps this is only due to the sheer amount of scam coins taking advantage of unwitting investors, or they already see the threat and want to act upon it the only way they can.

Whatever the reason, web 3.0’s development is already apparent, and will eventually become embedded into our daily online lives. Only time can tell what the future holds for us.