Week 12: Decentralised apps

Decentralisation of the web

Blockchain technology allows us to be the owners of our freedom especially when it comes to our data & our wealth. This is why it is such a groundbreaking technology & is causing so much disruption as the powers that be are struggling to deal with how to manage it because of its key facets; decentralisation, transparency & immutability. Of course with good also comes bad & just like the advent of the internet, there will be both positive & negative uses but that hasn't stopped technological innovation in the past & it won't stop this iteration.

Web 3.0 domains

Web3 domains live on a public blockchain & give users complete ownership of their stored data. The main benefits to owning one are simplifying crypto transactions by replacing complex wallet addresses with the domain name & easily creating & hosting websites on Web 3.0.

Typically, you interact with a traditional domain when you type the address (like Twitter.com) into your browser. But did you know traditional domains were originally built to do so much more on the internet? Think of functionalities like email & sending / receiving payments. NFTs have changed that forever though...

Non-Fungible tokens (NFTs) are a digital representation of a physical or digital item or service that is unique & forever linked to the creator (owner). So, with that in mind, if you are a business owner or a person who has a website then that can be set up in the form of an NFT too. OK, I know you're now scratching your head - I was until I thought it through but it makes sense.

An NFT is a digital asset like a cryptocurrency so the access to your website (private key) can be stored in your digital wallet just the same - if you control the wallet, you control the asset, in this case not cryptocurrency but your website!

There are various companies who sell these domains such as https://unstoppabledomains.com/ where for a fee of 20 or 30 euros at the time of writing, people can buy a blockchain domain which can have a variety of endings such as .blockchain. The payment is one-off & once complete you will own the domain until you decide to sell or transfer it to someone else. It's a novel idea & makes a lot of sense but there are some challenges to overcome before it can go mainstream.

Benefits

1. One-off payment to buy, therefore no yearly renewal fees to pay.
2. Complete ownership & control of your website (through your digital wallet).
3. Ability to connect many different cryptocurrencies directly to your website name so people sending payments will find the experience much easier & less stressful.
4. Ability to add an email address too in some cases again controlled by you, the owner.
5. Built in website templates & editor on some platforms.

Challenges

1. Because decentralised domains use the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) which is essentially a peer-to-peer version of the web as we know it, unless people browsing the web with Google Chrome, Mozilla, Brave etc. activate an add-on, they won't be able to access your website. Google essentially dominate the mainstream web & it is unlikely that they are going to threaten their business by making one-off payment blockchain domains easy to find.
2. The experience of learning, buying & setting up these domains is still too complex for many people so it needs to be intuitive for all for mass adoption to happen. As always, education is the way & some of these providers are making progress in this regard.
3. Not everyone wants to take 100% control of their personal info, finances, email, website, passwords etc. so for those who often forget passwords (we all know these folks don't we...?), having complete control where if the password is lost then access is permanently blocked, isn't necessarilly the best thing.

Wrap-up

Our 12 week journey is at an end & we've only scratched the surface! I hope that I've inspired you to dig deeper & explore how this amazing technology can make the world a better place. The opportunities this opens up are numerous whether for entrepreneurs, small businesses, larger companies or you & me! Here are a few key takeaways.

• Blockchain technology is here to stay & it can facilitate a lot of good...if embraced in the right way.
• Blockchain will fuse with AI & IOT to lead us into the 4th Industrial Revolution.
• Blockchain isn’t just about cryptocurrency (even though it’s the fuel)
• DeFi is likely to replace Traditional finance in time but it will be a rocky road.
• NFTs will likely become a key component of our lives when it comes to proving ownership, creative licence, identification etc.
• I believe it will change our world for the better in many ways but for this to happen more people need to be educated..?

Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer

This series of newsletters complements the weekly blocklunch45 sessions and is for educational purposes only as my mission is to educate as many business leaders, entrepreneurs and consultants as possible about the miriad of amazing use-cases of blockchain. It is not financial advice in any shape or form and the examples given are to illustrate the content only.

If as a result, participants and / or readers decide to invest on any of the companies or brand names mentioned, then that is entirely at their own risk. Please do your own research (DYOR).

If you are interested in joining the blocklunch sessions then please email me at [email protected].

Jeremy Williams.