What Is Web5?

If Web3 is a vision for a decentralized internet, Web5 is … also a vision for a decentralized internet. Just as we were getting used to the blockchain tech building the base of Web3, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is proposing an alternate vision for a decentralized internet. Are you ready for Web5?

What Is Web5?
Web5 is a decentralized vision of the web built entirely on the Bitcoin blockchain that aims to secure personal data by restoring the ownership of digital identity back to individual users. Practically speaking, it leverages Bitcoin’s Lightning Network — a protocol that operates off of the main blockchain to allow rapid network functionality independent of tokens, transaction “gas” fees, trusted validators, or additional consensus mechanisms — in order to create a peer-to-peer infrastructure of personal servers.

By positioning users as the sole managers of their data — encoded in a wallet stored on a node, or device — the choice to make personal data and information public, or revoke it, now lies with them.

“The fundamental purpose of Web5 is to give users control over their data,” said Michael Pierce, CEO of NotCommon, a multi-cross-chained Web3 platform that alerts non-fungible token collectors of security threats targeting their pieces. “Essentially, the concept attempts to democratize the web by eliminating gatekeepers that effectively centralize technology.”

A prominent mission of Web5 is to create a system impermeable to the agenda-setting power of Big Tech. To do this, Web5 combines the user-friendly convenience of Web 2.0 with the mission of decentralization pioneered by Web3 design.

Web5’s pillar features are user-owned identifiers, verifiable credentials and decentralized web nodes, which can be home computers or laptops with high-speed internet connections. They serve as the network’s operating hubs in charge of storing data, relaying messages, executing protocols and running decentralized applications, often shorthanded as dApps. Ultimately, dApps run the software protocols that allow nodes, and therefore Web5 users, to interface and share data.

“You don’t actually need cryptocurrency to make [decentralization] work,” according to a Code Report video. “You just need a bunch of people participating and benefitting from the system.”

In a way, the concept is a rudimentary return to Y2K-era tech. BitTorrent demonstrates a successful, open-source, peer-to-peer system with its file sharing services, as the original Napster did for music, albeit illegally.

A standout feature of Web5 is its novel portability of decentralized digital identities.

“Web5 manages identity, digital currencies and related data across web applications in a portable way,” explained Mikael Kopteff, chief technology officer at tech agency Reaktor, which builds digital products and services for global brands. “This way, individuals own their own identity and data, instead of these things belonging to large corporations.”

Like a globally unique username or digital passport, the protocol adapts easy sign-in authorization across applications, except the log-in information — often collecting last names, phone numbers, and addresses — stays with the user. This solution rejects current systems, like Google Accounts or Apple IDs, which indefinitely stores sensitive details in the data silos of Big Tech conglomerates.

Not only does this mean user can seamlessly stream music or movies from dApp services without having to create an endless number of profiles, but it also alleviates the apathy some users may experience every time they boot up. As Pierce points out, the typical internet user “tends to opt for convenience over privacy and security.”

After all, with Amazon owning 34 percent of the market share among cloud hosting providers and Google handling 83 percent of internet searches, it’s difficult to avoid these companies’ influence.

But whether a decentralized version of a familiar, user-friendly experience would be preferred by the average person is a wager the team behind Web5 is willing to take.
Disclaimer: The author’s thoughts and comments are solely for educational reasons and informative purposes only. They do not represent financial, investment, or other advice.