1 Problem Which Web3 Is Trying To Solve That Has Come Back To Haunt It
Do we know the premise on which web3 is built?
I got intrigued when I was reading through Blockchain and its practical applications. Technology in itself is in its infancy when we think about it from its mainstream potential.
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The Internet was designed for sharing information and connecting with the world which in itself has become a problem statement.
The inherent cause of the issue with tracking, privacy, and security lies with the intermediaries that control the web traffic.
So, here's the 1 problem I think Web3 is trying to solve, the whole premise on which it operates -
Decentralization of the Information
Few big corporations control the entire traffic of information that flows through the Internet in the current world of the web.
What happens when there is an outage with any one of these nodes?
We already noticed the implications it has on businesses and subsequently on private lives when Google, Amazon, etc. services are down.
Web3 tries to solve it with Blockchain Technology. It tries to turn the internet into a peer-to-peer connected network of computers, each sharing information that identifies its state and validity to its peers in the network or chain.
We have already seen the advent of cryptocurrencies and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) to provide a good validation of blockchain tech and its practical use.
The peer-to-peer nature of the connectivity takes the intermediaries out of the way altogether.
Main Problem with the Blockchain
There are many problems with the practical use of blockchain on a large scale -
Environmental Concern, Scalability, Security, Flexibility, Legal Aspects, etc.
The main issue I see is the underlying centralization.
Blockchain requires large computational power to solve hash puzzles and provide proof-of-work to the nodes in the chain. Only a handful of users can truly manage to do this and keep the chain functioning at a speed that is acceptable for mainstream users.
The pool of users that possess such computational power required to maintain the integrity of the chain/network ends up becoming a centralized authority of the network.
The whole premise that Web3 is built on has turned into a paradoxical problem statement.
The solution might well be out there, but until then we are still stuck in the whole wide world on a centralized web.
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