WEB5 DEFINED

Web5 is a decentralized web platform that seeks to introduce a new and much needed layer to the current web which will give users of the web complete ownership over their identity and data.

This appears to be the logical next step in the evolution of the web which initially began as just a platform for sending emails (web1), then for connecting and sharing diverse information (web2) and then moved to become a platform that prioritized user privacy through decentralization of user data (web3).

The term web5 was popularized by Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter/X and current CEO of Square. One of Square’s subsidiaries TBD is responsible for developing the web5 platform which according to them would enable decentralized applications (dApps) and protocols.

But why decentralization when we already have that with web3? Well, Jack’s position and consequently that of TBD is that while web3 introduced the concept of decentralization to the web, it fails to give users ownership over their data since this data has to remain on blockchain platforms which in most cases is still semi-centrally owned through the various governance mechanisms though slightly a better model of ownership that those of web2.

Web5 as a decentralized version of the web is built on top of a second layer network ION that runs on the Bitcoin Blockchain allowing users to personally store and access their data via truly decentralized nodes. The main proponent of web5 is to give users control of their identity and complete ownership of the footprints they leave while traversing the web- their data.

FEATURES OF WEB5

Web5 is built on 3 main pillars namely; decentralized identifier (did), decentralized web nodes (dwn) and verifiable credentials (vc). Let’s briefly examine each of these pillars with a persona we will call Alex using the she/her pronoun. Alex enjoys using the web for virtually anything digitally possible and from her interaction with apps we will find some of the challenges she faces and how web5 with its unique features will try to solve these problems for her.

Decentralized Identifier: It’s the first weekend since Alex entered college and since there were no class for the day she decides to join her class community on Twitter/X. As usual, she logs into her Twitter/X account using her @alex username. Three weeks later, the class was divided into 4 groups for project and Alex’s new group decides they should share ideas together on a closed group on Facebook. Alex decides to open a new account but finds out the @alex username was taken. She was a little unhappy because she wanted to maintain a single user identifier across all of her social media platforms since she has had luck with other social apps

This is one of the areas where web5 can possibly come to Alex’s rescue. Alex can generate a unique identifier that can be used across all of web5 social apps with the aid of decentralized identifier (DID).

But much more than just generating a unique user ID, a decentralized identifier can give individuals and groups control over their identities and also allow them to share information securely with whosoever they choose for the reason that this identity is created and managed independently of any centralized authority. So, in Alex’s case, Facebook wouldn’t have the right to issue her an identity instead she would choose whatever identity she prefers to maintain across all her decentralized web apps.

Decentralized Web Node: Alex is a food and travel lover. During her free time, she loves to try out different foods associated to specific places and has a food app where she stores how they are made. Each time she travels, she always has to turn on her food app to see her favorite food list and then used the list to search out restaurants and places from her travel app where she can eat such food. She always wished her favorite food list can be accessed from the travel app so that restaurant locations having such meals can be automatically generated.

Decentralized web nodes (DWN) can help solve Alex data interoperability problem. According to TBD, DWNs are personal data storage that entities can use to locate public or private data related to specific decentralized identifiers (DID). With a DWN, Alex can control her data as well as decide to give permission for access to it. In this case, Alex can give permission for her decentralized travel app to access her favorite food list on her decentralized food app. With this, she has absolute control over her data.

Verifiable Credentials: Alex wishes to apply for a 3-month internship at a non-profit medical laboratory in community. The laboratory primarily required that she presented a student identity that shows she is a student of the school. Unfortunately, Alex’s student digital identity issued by her school in addition to the information required by the laboratory also contained information she wishes to keep private but had no choice than to divulge all of the information.

Verifiable Credentials (VCs) can help solve Alex privacy issues. According to TBD, VCs are digital credentials stating specific facts. They can be securely stored and managed via identity wallets without relying on centralized authorities. In Alex case, with her identity wallet containing her unique DID for claims issued by her school as a legit student, all she needed to do was present the DID associated with that claim to the laboratory which can then be verified ensuring that her other personal data remained private as she had wanted.

It is important to note that apart from DWNs, both DIDs and VCs are standards already defined by the world wide web consortium (w3C) for interacting with decentralized applications and not specifically an innovation of web5. However, the ingenuity of the TBD team in creating web5 was in using these standards to define new protocols for accessing decentralized web application.

PRESENT STATE OF WEB5

Web5 is still in the early phase with lots of work is happening under the hood. While there is currently no publicly available model for how the pioneers intend to make money, the TBD team envisions a four-stage journey that will characterize web5 adoption. A summary of this adoption journey is that, as fresh applications are built on web5 standards, the obvious benefits including data ownership, control and interoperability will inspire a community of consumers and developer to converge around these applications to a point where the giants in the current centralized web ecosystem will find web5 applications hard to ignore.