Nobody Knows : Steel & Blockchains
Asking “What problems do blockchains solve?” is like asking “What problems does steel solve over, say, wood?” Blockchain networks are a new construction material for building a better internet.
This section in Read Write Own, Chris Dixon’s book, has been bouncing in my brain for the last few weeks.
Very few people know whether today’s apps are built with, just as they don’t consider the construction materials of their office building.
Which database did PayPal use to enable internet payments? Nobody knows.1
Venmo surged with social & mobile payments in the 2010s. Which database did they use? Nobody knows.2
Tomorrow, apps & software will have web3 components to them. Nobody will know.3
The challenge today isn’t finding the applications for web3’s steel. If it works, developers will build with them.
Already stablecoins, which enable rapid money movement, process as much as Visa transaction volume. Some games’ marketplaces use web3 technology. Reddit’s profile pics do too. Web3 social networks have flared up. Billions are traded on exchanges.
Instead, the challenge with the analogy & reality web3’s steel isn’t as refined as it needs to be to replace the timber of most applications.
Unlike steel, Web3 systems have many novel attributes like guaranteeing data is secure.
领英推荐
But they remain 1000x more expensive than their web2 counterparts. They are slower (handle fewer transactions per second). They store less data. They are less well understood.
At the point that the benefits become clear, the pine trusses underpinning Instagram & Salesforce will be steel web3 infrastructure.
And no one will know.
1 They built it in house.
2Venmo started with MongoDB & then moved to Amazon Document DB.
4’s a quote from Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, quoted in the header of Chapter 12, which I wonder may be the genesis of the assertion :
Technology happens. It’s not good. It’s not bad. Is steel good or bad?
Cloud-Native Digital International Banking
1 年i didn't read the book but I'd guess "own" means that it wont be IG or Salesforce swapping out their db trusses for web3 but, rather, challengers deploying networks owned by the users...not by the brands themselves. Sure, IG/FB might say that creators will for sure get paid 35% or even 80% but, if they own the money flow and the T&Cs, can you really trust them? vs opensource software running autonomously on millions of creator/user machines that automatically pays creators 98% of proceeds? ie where you dont trust anyone but simply verify it in the codebase? And, when this happens..then EVERYBODY KNOWS because it is the material that enables it. Just like we know internal combustion engines are not made of wood.
Veeva Labs | New Market Strategy | Veeva Systems
1 年When Amazon started, when PayPal started, there were lots of people talking on television and to their parents and to each other about whether you could give your credit card number safely to a website. There was education about what to look for in the browser. Did everyone learn "SSL"? No, but they cared. It was important. What was important? The user experience that signaled what was trustworthy. Mainstream players cared about -- and succeeded in -- establishing credibility for internet commerce. Many "Web3" offerings don't engineer that user experience well. Experienced users have lost real money because they didn't understand what they were authorizing in the user interface. (See W3IGJG, of course). But worse, "Web3" advocacy became allergic to talking about trustworthiness. Calling something a Ponzi scheme was derided as reactionary. And so actual Ponzi schemes and rug pulls hurt undeserving people. Tumblers, instead of being seen as the menace (and regulatory bull's eye) they are, were lauded as fulfilling the promise of decentralization. Steel is no better than what you decide to build with it. But it's not clear that the Web3 community has prioritized building trust. You don't get to be "just steel" until you do.
Building AI Factories, Open Source & Cloud Native
1 年Nice refresher for newcomers to web3 Tomasz! Ironically, Decentralized ID/Reputation management is a use-case to be applied here, filtering out spam comments ;)
Unemployed at Unemployed at this time
1 年I will create flyer, magazine, poster, brouchur, for you. If you need then feel free to contact with me #IcardiyeCezaVerTFF #Montaj #????????_??????? #Lady #Borderlands #25thParallelwithWin #WIN25THBIRTHDAY https://www.fiverr.com/s/3xaybA