Concepts are starting to spread. When we talk about Web 3.0, many feel that it is a marketing term, carrying little weight.
Unfortunately for those with that view, history will not be kind to them. There is a paradigm shift taking place, something those with foresight can see. Most, sadly, do not see things until they happen.
After all, we have to be "realistic".
The challenge with that is most technological breakthroughs are unrealistic when they first get introduced. After all, Captain Kirk talking into a flip phone was Sci-Fi for decades, until it wasn't. Of course, 20 years after that because reality, the smart phone makes it look archaic.
It appears that cryptocurrency is going to be a part of this entire process. We are in the first iterations, something that will change with time. What is seen today with tokenization is going to appear rather primitive by the end of this decade.
Of course, there needs to be something to tie all this together. Here is where the wallet system enters the picture.
The initial online identification mechanism was email. When things really started to move into the Web 2.0 realm, the use case for email expanded greatly. Not only was it a way to digitally send messages, suddenly it was one's means of identification online. While it wasn't truly one's identity, it did allow access to different sites.
Of course, this evolved to the log in with Twitter and Facebook accounts. They followed a similar concept where the log in credentials could be verified.
One major challenge is these accounts are not truly owned. They can be taken away at any time.
For most people, this is not truly horrific. It is true that one's entire account can be zapped in an instant. There are also cases where some do have businesses tied to this. However, the majority of people (non-bots) will lose social connection and created content.
The situation changes completely with Web 3.0. Here we see assets such as coins and NFTs being housed in wallets. If we are going to rely upon Google or Facebook wallets, then losing an account could be very costly.
Basically, these entities will serve as custodians for people's assets, something that might not be in the best interest of the userbase.
The old adage, not your keys, not your crypto certainly is in play here.
So where does Hive fit into all this?
To start, it is an account management system that is immutable. It is run at the blockchain level, hence, cannot be removed.
Another feature that sets Hive apart from most wallets is the fact that it is a name instead of a string of letters and numbers. This helps greatly with the identification since that is what people understand. In this regard, we are incorporating the understanding people have from Web 2.0.
Finally, there is the social media aspect to Hive. This is something which is powerful. Most other chains, thus far, have applications tied to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and NFTs, but not much in the way of social platforms. Hive is expanding in this area.
Many feel the Internet is undergoing a transition from 2-D to 3-D. With technologies such as AR/VR, it is highly possible the way we access this medium changes in the future.
Whatever path we follow in that area, one thing we know is our physical and digital worlds will continue to merge. Tokenization is something that can radically alter this. Over time, real world assets such as real estate will find a token counterpart. We already seeing the concept of digital twins entering the manufacturing sector.
A user’s crypto wallet will function as a key, accessing all their domains, real estate, NFTs and other virtual properties. Should they lose that key, they’ll have to wait until its term expires to renew it. That said, the wallet will be so integral to everyone’s online identity that a total loss is unlikely to happen, and there are companies actively developing solutions to combat such losses.
Certainly we already see solutions such as Metamask that allow for people to store cryptocurrency. Most people involved in cryptocurrency have this already. However, what is your Metamask address? Now contrast that with someone asking what is your Hive account.
It is akin to having to provide your bank account as compared to email. Everyone knows their email account while few remember their bank account number. This is not a problem since the latter is not used for online identification.
Is someone going to memorize a string of 64 characters? At the same time, do they want to have to type it out each time they want to do something online? If the above quote does start to come into reality, the answer is no.
With Hive, this is not an issue. We have usernames that are set up by the individual and easy to remember. For this reason, it makes for the ideal foundation for asset management.
The fact it is run at the base layer as compared to a Layer 2 solution means that counterparty risk is removed. As long as someone in the world is running the software, the chain is accessible. Imagine for a second if Twitter suddenly disappeared. People would be prohibited from engaging in many of their favorite sites that are accessed using those log in credentials.
One of the primary characteristics of Web 3.0 is personal ownership. We often discuss the idea of immutable accounts. This is done, however, in the context of freedom of speech and not being silenced. While that is part of the equation, we can see how this is something much bigger.
Wallet systems are going to be our online identification. It is the next evolution of email and social media log ins. That said, on this level we are going to be dealing with, collectively, massive amounts of wealth. It is something that people will not want to entrust to the likes of Facebook or Google.
One of the attributes that Hive already provides is a robust, base-layer account management system. As we can see, this is going to be very important going forward.
As of now, few are thinking in this direction yet it is slowly unfolding. It will become more evident as Web 3.0 unfolds in the coming years.
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