I LOVE it when people tell me something can’t be done. I take it as a personal challenge.

I also know with certitude that they are wrong.

Huge, earth-moving innovations have all started with very smart, important and powerful people saying “no you can’t because [nonsense words].” Moon landings, rebelling from the mighty British Empire, sailing to the new world and making fire were all predicated by the word “can’t”. It’s a harbinger of disruption. It’s my favorite word!

So, is it possible to decentralize the entire network infrastructure of the world down to internet service providers?

I’ve been looking at a lot of decentralized infrastructure projects, starting with Helium.

Helium network is a project to install another data network on top of 3G, 4G and even 5G. It’s a long range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) that transmits small packets of data over long distances. In comparison, 5G transmits insane amounts of data over short range. 4G and Wifi are middle-range and medium data rate, compared to 5G. So why, if we have really good 4G and 5G coverage in most areas, do we need another net? Well, your IoT devices are meant to transmit simple statements such as ON, OFF, over temperature or location data, so big data networks are not needed. The long range means many stations can witness the data, creating duplicate transmissions, yes, but the network sorts them out and the data points are verified by many, creating a consensus. Consensus, we know, is important for trustless architecture. So, there ya go- Helium is a decentralized network coverage creating consensus of IoT transmissions.

Another interesting project is Mysterium. If you are a savvy internet user, you are plugged into a Virtual Private Network which hides your true IP address and encrypts your data during transport. Good for you! But, these VPN companies might have ulterior motives, may share your data as it comes through their servers. Notable scandals include ProtonVPN, who logs IP addresses after promising not to. An overreaching investigative agency may demand ALL logged data from ALL users in order to catch some tax cheat or fugitive from the law. What is a humble VPN provider to do? I wouldn’t blame them if they turned everything over.

This is where Mysterium comes in. Instead of big VPN servers in a server farm, the VPNs are distributed machines, the size of a deck of cards. Yes, the Mysterium nodes run on Raspberry Pi hobby computers and act in concert with others to encypt user data and hide IPs. Yes, think of these nodes as firewall machine. If the authorities demand data from Mysterium VPNs they have to go to every node holder with a warrant to retrieve the data (if the node operator even logged it). Mysterium is ramping up production of their custom nodes and announced their compatibility with Helium.

Like Helium, Mysterium pays service providers for the data they process. With a Helium miner providing IoT coverage and passing that data through a Mysterium node, there is a symbiotic relationship and generative economic ecosystem.

Deeper Network is doing something very similar to Mysterium but it seems like they have the head start. The Deeper Network has the momentum. And a robust Medium. Their crowdfunding project for the Pico, which is a portable wifi hotspot plus decentralized network node, sold out in 8 days. In 2022, you’ll be able to pick up a Pico for 200 bucks. Mysterium, by comparison, can be run on a Raspi. What does this do to your bandwidth? Well, it slows uploads a bit. Deeper uses “smart routing” and multiple tunnels combined to keep download speeds comparable to your usual hotspot.

Following the theme, Qortal fills in the remaining gaps in the infrastructure like web mail and cloud services, all based on blockchain of course. Their Discord is rockin!

Qortal- yeah sounds like an 80s arcade game.

It’s “portal” spelled with a Q and it’s had a long road in development.

Still, it’s a long, hard road to replace the legacy (and evil) Web2 infrastructure like F/oogle.

We are at a crossroads between being able to transact and communicate freely and not.

I’ve had to put my foot down with certain project who insist upon still using GDocs (they read your stuff) Zoom (spyware) YouTube  and Amazon (they snoop on your browsing activity). I’ve compromised by using one laptop for these kinds of things, one laptop for my “real” work and yet another laptop for my awesome projects that shan’t be snooped upon. Windows will soon be uninstalled and my other devices are largely de-F/oogled. I’m stoked for a future of unstoppable, decentralized infrastructure.

Just realize there will be lots of bumps in the road.