While we are still trying to figure out how Web3 works, someone somewhere is working on developing something far beyond what we could decipher. The concept of web3 and the new paradigm accompanying its emergence is kinda overwhelming to grasp in one word talk more of an emerging web5 technology.
Bird’s Eye View Of Web5
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Twitter announced a new platform called Web5. In his words, Web5 is about the integration of web2.0 and Web3.0 built on the Bitcoin blockchain. The Web5 platform promises to fix the issue of protecting personal data.
“We struggle to secure personal data with hundreds of accounts and passwords we can’t remember. On the web today, identity and personal data have become the property of third parties,” the company said on its website.
Jack’s Web5 Idea
Web5 is developed by The Block Head (TBH), one of the Bitcoin business units at Dorsey’s Block (formerly Square). The platform brings decentralized identity and data storage to applications. “It lets developers focus on creating delightful user experiences while returning ownership of data and identity to individuals,”
TBH explains how Web5 desires individuals to have the ability to “own their data”. For instance, let’s say Maryam has a digital wallet that securely manages her identity, data, and authorizations for external apps and connections. If Maryam chooses to use her wallet to sign in to a new decentralized social media app because Maryam has already connected to the app with her decentralized identity, she does not need to create a profile, and all the connections, relationships, and posts she creates through the app are stored with her, in her decentralized web node. In using Web5 Maryam can decide to switch between apps whenever she wants, taking her social persona with her.
When Jack Dorsey was asked by a Twitter user about what makes Web3, is it not decentralized enough that you believed there is a need for this next stage you’re calling Web5?”
Dorsey responded by stating: “it’s the basis on a single point of failure systems (eth, Solano,) and lies being told to people about who owns and controls it.” To the Twitter co-founder, Web3 is not truly “decentralized” or owned by its users, but instead by various venture capitalists and limited partners.
A race to deliver a truly decentralized version of the internet to supersede Web3 would be enthralling for Bitcoin and Dogecoin supporters.
Web5 Skepticisms
While Web5 may seem appealing to many who believe it could bring better control over data and identify the user in an ever-increasing over-saturated internet, others have been more sceptical of the news.
Jonny Clark, a co-founder of GDPR compliance startup GDPR Defender, points out that Web5 is just a combination of Web2 and Web3.
“A benefit of centralised internet, Web2, is the ability to employ verification and identity assurance. The benefit of the decentralised internet, Web3, is bypassing central ownership and enabling true anonymity,” According to Clark.
“You are still relying on an expensive document that is connected, in some form, to a central database”.
“We have seen loads of identity apps and cards spring up over the years, but none of them has ever really hit mass adoption in the markets – largely because they are centralised, operating on a proprietary architecture, and suffer from all of the usual challenges of scaling an app”.
“I think Web5 as a title is just Jack Dorsey cashing in on the current discourse. It feels to me like it is more of a landmark feature of Web3 than a whole new paradigm,” Clark added.
“People are now very pessimistic about Web3 technologies because we are in the part of the economic cycle where the wheat gets separated from the chaff.
We wait to see what will become of web3 as web5 is out is cash in on its prominence to launch its campaign.