#105 Web5: Because Higher Number Better

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope those in Australia enjoyed a long weekend despite some wild market price action and volatility. Another “crypto” scam called Celsius blew up in recent days limiting all trading, withdrawals and transactions.

Binance also had a 3h block on bitcoin withdrawals! Binance CEO CZ came out and responded with the following tweet:

I would be very wary if you use Binance’s shitcoin carousel. Bitcoin has been working flawlessly this entire time. It could be an internal issue at Binance, but it’s also very possible (even likely) that it was an attempt to limit a flight of capital during a period of major market volatility as a result of issuing too many IOUs and Binance operating fractional reserves. Very very shady!

In times like these, i keep things very simply. Is bitcoin still producing blocks? Yes. Am I able to send and receive as normal? Yes. Has anything with the underlying network changed? No. Bitcoin remains the most secure and resilient computing system, and continues to maintain a ledger of pristine informational clarity. As long as your are using the network as intended, your sats are safe. Keep it simple. Bitcoin only. Custody your keys. Stay safe out there team.

With that said, lets take a breath, center ourselves and discuss some more low time-preference happenings, mainly, how the internet is changing with the introduction of Web5.

Over the weekend Jack Dorsey’s TBD came out with a big announcement at the Consensus conference, announcing their intention to build out what they’ve called web5 - a decentralized web platform.

Jack said in a tweet:

TBD has added web5 alongside their already existing plan to build out a decentralized exchange - tbDEX. The decision to call the project web5 is genius in my opinion. My initial reaction was that it was a little cringey given what a scam so-called web3 is; but after giving it a little thought it occurred to me that as a meme it’s actually insanely powerful. Before i get into that, lets quickly cover off what the plan is for Web5.

First off they have outlined the primary issue being that of centralization. Specifically centralization over user identity and the individuals data.

The image above is taken from the outline TBD released as part of the announcement. You can view the full web5 outline here. It explains the problem as follows:

“In the current Web model, people are users who do not own their data or identity. They are given accounts by companies and their data is held captive in app silos. To create a new class of decentralized apps and protocols (eg: tbDEX) that put individuals at the center, we must empower them with self-owned identity and restore control over their data.”

The document goes onto explain:

“The Decentralized Web Platform (DWP) enables developers to write Decentralized Web Apps (DWAs) using Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Decentralized Web Nodes (DWNs), returning ownership and control over identity and data to individuals <-- We are calling this Web5”

2 + 3 = 5.. and we all know the highest number wins, right. 🤣

The document goes into much more detail, and as always i encourage you to have a read for yourself. The meme in the final slide cuts to the chase.

Q: “We’re building an app platform?”

A: “Always have been"

An internet where everyone runs their own node, storing their own data and protecting their identity in a self sovereign way. A vision for the internet to fundamentally disrupt the current power structures, and reinstall the power of the individual. All built on top of the most secure, decentralized computing network on the planet - and one that no single entity owns or controls: Bitcoin.

As for the decision to call it web5 - I think it’s honestly a stroke of absolute genius, and an absolutely classic troll on all the web3 shitcoin scams. My initial reaction was that it was a little cringey and perhaps even giving legitimacy to the whole “web3” nonsense. After giving it a little more thought, the genius of it became more apparent.

It can act as a mechanism to release the grip of the web3 meme, and offer an opportunity to refocus the attention of many that have been overcome by greed and short term gains. This is extremely positive. The web3 scam has hurt many more people than it will ever help. Web3 doesn’t even really exist. It’s nothing more than a clever marketing meme someone came up with to entice people into VC funded, centralized scam tokens, run by centralized teams in centralized companies, with centralized points of failure who tell any number of stories to the contrary.

So the use of web5 really is the ultimate troll on that entire cohort of grifters. But that’s not even the most important part. As a result of the web3 meme confusing so many people, many discounted bitcoin and failed to do the work to actually understand it. It created a sense of bitcoin being “old” technology that doesn’t compare to that of the new shiny web3 apps.

The real genius of web5, is that it can provide a new opportunity to reintroduce people to bitcoin. To regain and refocus their attention on the signal instead of the noise. To go a little deeper in gasping the core properties of bitcoin that make it so special and unique and to actually dig into the truth instead of simply believing the stories that are designed to separate them from their money, as opposed to the mission of bitcoin which is to separate money from the state. Powerful.

While markets experience chaos, bitcoin is predictably facilitating transactions. It is the point of stability in an unstable world. Over time, it will seem obvious.

Hope you all have a great start to your week. I’ll talk everyone tomorrow.

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