What is Web5?

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced a new platform on Twitter called ‘Web5’, which is a hybrid of Web3 and Web 2.0, built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. The platform promises to fix personal data security issues. “We struggle to keep personal data secure with hundreds of accounts and passwords that we can’t remember. On today’s web, identities and personal data have become the property of third parties,” the company announced on its official website.

On June 10, 2022, the TBD business unit of Jack Dorsey a subsidiary of Block Inc., and – the CEO of Twitter announced they have embarked on a journey to build “Web5”. After Dorsey’s very public criticism of Web3 and its ‘shortcomings, it makes sense for the Bitcoin-centric entrepreneur to start building a truly decentralized web again.

Web5 aims to leverage Bitcoin’s blockchain and give users full control over their data and identity.

What is Web5?

Web5 is developed by The Block Head (TBH), one of the Bitcoin businesses at Dorsey’s Block (formerly Square). The platform brings decentralized identity and data storage to applications. “It allows developers to focus on creating enjoyable user experiences while returning ownership of data and identity to individuals,” according to the company.

TBH explains how Web5 wants individuals to have the ability to “own their data”. For example, suppose Natuts holds a “digital wallet” that securely manages its identity, data, and permissions to external applications and connections. Natuts uses its wallet to log into a new decentralized social networking application. However, since Natuts is already connected to the app using her decentralized identity, she doesn’t need to create a profile and all the connections, relationships and posts Natuts creates through the app are saved. hosted with me, in a decentralized web node. Using Web5, Natuts can switch apps whenever she wants, bringing along her social personality.

In another case, Bob, a music lover and hates having his data restricted to a single provider. It forced him to repeat his playlists and songs on different music apps. Thankfully, there is a workaround for this: Bob can keep this data in his decentralized web node. This way, Bob can give any music app access to his settings and preferences, allowing him to have his personalized music experience wherever he is. choose. Thus, Web5 will give users ownership of their data.

Featured in Google Docs published by Dorsey, Web5 is the calculation of the word Web 2 + Web 3 = Web 5. Web3 gained huge momentum in 2021 with the goal of “crypto everything” and connecting assets to blockchains. Web5 takes a different approach, relying on only one blockchain, Bitcoin, and only for a single use case: identity.

How does Web5 work?

TBD’s Web5 vision includes a number of software components that, when combined, allow developers to focus on creating rich user experiences while enabling non-identifiable data and identity storage. focus on applications.

They are all based on the Sidetree protocol, and ION requires no tokens, trusted validators, or additional consensus mechanisms to work.

The first component is the decentralized Web Node – Decentralized Web Node (DWN) .

DWN is described as a grid-like data warehouse construction that allows an entity to operate multiple nodes synchronously with the same state on top of each other.

The Web5 DWN will be used to locate data associated with a Hierarchical Identifier – DID (Decentralized Identifier)

A DID is a globally unique permanent identifier that is typically cryptographically produced and registered and does not require a centralized registry.

The next important component is the Self-Sovereign Identity Service (SSIS).

The Autonomous Identity Service (SSIS) is a decentralized identity management service that allows individuals and organizations to control their own digital identities. SSIS is built on the blockchain and uses smart contracts to provide a secure, decentralized, and tamper-proof way to manage digital identities.

The third main ingredient is Self-Sovereign Identity SDK – Sovereign Identity.

Self-Sovereign Identity The SDK is a set of tools that allows developers to easily build applications that use self-sovereign identity principles.

It is designed to work with any identity management system and provides a set of tools and APIs to help developers create applications that allow users to control their own data.

From PWA to DWA

PWAs are Progressive Web Apps and you use them every day (Pinterest, Uber, Spotify). They are web applications that use modern web technology to provide a user experience similar to that of the native application. PWA is designed to meet 3 factors: fast, reliable and attractive.

Using the aforementioned Web5 components, Jack Dorsey is creating the infrastructure to create a DWA (Decentralized Web Application).

This structure will allow developers to create applications with decentralized identities and data storage capabilities, all of which give users full control over their personal information.

Shortly after releasing the Web5 document on Twitter, Jack boldly stated that this “will likely be our most important contribution to the internet.”

Of course only time will tell whether Web5 will catch up, but this will certainly shake up the billions of people willing to invest in Web3 apps by apps like a16z and other VCs.