This is a topic we discussed a great deal over the last 6 months or so. Now, we are starting to see the idea showing up in mainstream publications.
Here is a headline from a recent Forbes article:
Actually, the focus on crypto is actually misplaced, which is not surprising. While that certainly has a huge component, the underlying is blockchain.
Alas, crypto is what garners the eyeball so I cannot fault Forbes for using it the draw.
We are witnessing a technological revolution. This is something that many are missing. A lot is being made of AI, and rightly so. However, blockchain gets overlooked, especially in favor of crypto.
Success in the future is not going to come from the most hyped networks. It is those that are able to merge AI and blockchain in ways that provide meaningful services to users.
This is what is going to supercharge AI.
For much of the last decade, cryptocurrency and blockchain appeared to be operating in a vacuum. This was something on the fringes, disconnected from most of what took place.
Payments are naturally still overwhelmingly completed using fiat. Social media is dominated by Web 2.0 platforms. The client-server architecture still reigns supreme. AI development is mostly centralized, being rolled out by Big Tech who, naturally, first add it to their operations.
In spite of this, the Web3 world forged ahead. Things are still slow but progress is being made. Infrastructure is in place, whereby services could be developed. We are aware of the interest of Wall Street in crypto and how it is looking to benefit.
The AI explosion also seems disconnected from Web3. This is not the case.
When it comes to Web 3.0, we are dealing with the next generation internet, most likely agentic. It will be driven using AI, built on different network structures, along with alternative ownership models.
Ultimately, this will lead to a convergence.
The convergence of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) is igniting a technological revolution, reshaping industries from finance to creative media. Blockchain and decentralized technologies are tackling critical AI challenges, enabling autonomous agents to earn revenue, ensuring the authenticity of AI-generated content, verifying human identities in a bot-driven digital world, and transforming how users trade and manage crypto assets.
Many will read that paragraph and conclude that blockchain is what is necessary for most of that. Human identification, for example, is not a function of tokenization.
Of course, crypto cannot really operate without blockchain, at least from the purist perspective. Some might claim tokenization, regardless of where it is housed, is part of the advancement. On this, I would disagree.
The evolution of the internet is before us. It is not a difficult extrapolation to move from where we are today to the next phase of this process.
If we view this as an entirely new development, we can see how the entire structure is due for a revamping.
Here are some areas where blockchain and crypto are going to be part of the foundation:
One of the fears about AI, at the present moment, is the centralized control Big Tech is able to exert. They have the large GPU clusters, enormous amounts of data, and the user base to grow things on an exponential scale.
Here is where the totality of Web 3.0 has to take over. By building collaborative tools, we can see how each area is enhanced.
Sovereignty is a term long discussed in the crypto world. Naturally, this pertains to money, with people being freed from government or bank control. However, we are seeing this expand.
What we are really referring to is one's digital life. For now, this is a fractured system. People have different identities for each platform. X does not recognize ones Meta information and vice versa.
The problem is any Big Tech company can wipe one out. Is this the digital version of murder? One's entire online existence can vanish in an instant, at least on the individual platform.
Web 3.0 has to prevent this. Here is where digital sovereignty is crucial. Building a system that ensures this is something many are working upon.
There are a lot of questions pertaining to society and how we handle some of the issues created by our technological advancements.
One areas is what happens with the economy. The entire scope of the job situation could be shifting. Many discuss the idea of AGI, citing the potential to wipe out a great deal of knowledge work.
There is a problem, in my estimation, brewing before that. It is intelligence saturation. We are already seeing areas where these models cannot improve anymore. This is not at a job level but, rather, the task layer.
As this spread, the ability of the model to handle the individual task cannot be surpassed. Multiply this across millions of tasks and you see how this would lead to job disruption.
How do we handle this?
It is a question thousands have opined about. My solution is blockchain and cryptocurrency. In an agentic world, who owns the means of production is vital. Tokenization offers the opportunity to enhance one's holdings through either purchase or activity (or both). This is crucial.
The majority are locked out of the economic productivity of Big Tech. Even those involved only get a small portion. Web 3.0, which is AI driven, will alter things completely.
Of course, to do this, we have to build things in such a way that includes the masses.
At the same time, they have to decide to opt for a different future, something that we have failed to see thus far.
Blockchain and crypto can solve many of the projected problems going forward. It is one reason why the convergence with AI is natural.
We have to remember, it was all created in the digital realm.
