I’m confused about Web3’s building blocks. I’ve thought about them, created them, sold them, bought them and written about them. I still don’t really get it. So I’m asking people who know better.
1. What’s wrong with centralization? Isn’t centralization a spectrum anyway? I’m sure many of the arguments promoting crypto would be better heard if people on Twitter were not so binary about the topic.
2. Who wants to build and own a platform? I’d like to understand how we aim to convince the majority to use anything more complex than a browser. If you’ve ever spoken to anyone over the age of 50, you know what I’m talking about.
3. Is Web3 really decentralized? 9% of accounts hold 80% of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. 2% of accounts own 72% of Bitcoins. 0.1% of Bitcoin miners are responsible for half of all mining output. None of this seems tenable.
4. Is it really the “early days”? When the web was the same age as BTC, it had 500M users. VR headsets came out 2 decades ago. Blockchains is 30 years old. If it was ever going to be anything but a speculative asset, we’d know about it. Wouldn’t we?
5. What’s up with the scams and thefts? I’m sorry, it appears there are use cases for Web3’s building blocks. Money laundering, tax evasion, scams and outright theft. Also, drugs. Is there anything else? I’m actually asking.
6. Is it inevitable or are you working for someone else to make it true? Large investors have got a lot of cash riding on Web3. They will do everything in their power to facilitate a widespread adoption of these technologies. And they’ve got a lot of power.
7. Do you think it’s the next big thing or do you need it to be? Web3 is fascinating. But people aren’t fanatical because it’s exciting. They need the premise of a new paradigm to be true. They need it to be true because the world absolutely sucks.