Jack Dorsey is a visionary. He has led his company to success as an innovator time and time again, and we are thrilled to see him continue to innovate in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Dorsey has been vocal about his views on web3, suggesting that web3 is owned by venture capitalist firms regardless of the technology’s decentralized nature. His solution- Web5.
But what's this? Web5? We already have it!
Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. recently announced that it is working on Web5, bypassing Web3 in its entirety. According to the announcement, Web5 will be based on a Bitcoin-centric model for identity management.
According to TBD, a subsidiary of Block Inc., while Web3 uses the blockchain and tokenization to decentralize the internet, Web5 will go a step further. It will run on an identity-based system where the Bitcoin blockchain will be at the center of everything.
How Web5 Works
Web5 will comprise of software components that let developers focus on creating user experiences while enabling decentralized identity management and data storage. At the core of Web5 will be a decentralized identifier (DIDs) network running on top of the Bitcoin network. It will also feature something called Decentralized Web Nodes to manage data storage.
The Internet Computer is already doing that.
Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc is planning to build a future internet with Bitcoin integration and identity management. However, everything that they are planning to start working on is already being built and scaled by the Internet Computer developers.
When it comes to decentralized identities, the Internet Computer developers have created the Internet Identity system. It is designed as an advanced blockchain authentication system, which guarantees data is not visible, and cannot be tracked or mined by hackers. The system enables users of IC to authenticate their online identity securely and anonymously when they access dApps with the authentication system built into them.
Internet Identity is being refined all the time to make it compatible with as many devices as possible. Currently, it supports Windows Hello as its main authentication method. Four months after launch, it has been incorporated into 1.17 million accounts. While Dorsey’s Web5 system is only theoretical, the Internet Computer developer team has already created a real-world system that works.
Dorsey stated that Bitcoin integration will be at the heart of Web5. However, the Internet Computer developer team is near completion of BTC integration. To enable this direct integration, the team will add smart contracts. To achieve direct integration the team use Chain Key cryptography, which will directly integrate the Bitcoin network. Once complete, smart contracts on Internet Computer will be able to hold, send, and receive BTC without having to hold the private keys.
Another issue that Dorsey proposes to tackle is decentralized storage. The Internet Computer has already created such a solution via Canisters. These Canisters use “Orthogonal Persistence” to eliminate the need to maintain and manage external databases.
Canisters can have a capacity of up to 300GB. While very few applications need more capacity, creators are able to build their services from as many contracts as they need.
The irony in Jack Dorsey calling out Web3 as not being truly decentralized can not be understated. Twitter is notorious for arbitrarily implementing rules and guidelines in terms of code of conduct and censorship. His Web5 still open to platform risk and built on an application-centric framework.
Internet Computer has addressed the issue of platform risk. Since every aspect of the internet will be decentralized, as envisioned by the developers of Internet Computer, there is no platform risk. Every user owns every aspect of anything they create within the Internet Computer. There is zero risk of de-platforming as is often the case with the current model of the internet where users can essentially be censored off the internet.
