Web 3.0: Taking the Power Back
Last month I was interviewed by a prominent journalist from the Boston Globe about my affinity for Unstoppable Domains’ products and vision of the entire decentralised, blockchain Metaverse. The man is a legend in the realm of big tech reporting, but is somewhat sceptical, unable to get his head around the long-term viability or usefulness of decentralised domains and, in particular, the evolution of digital art into a thriving NFT movement. Or so he said. For I, too, am a sceptic and suspect that he was playing devil’s advocate, as he peppered me with a barrage of questions most laymen might ask. It was an exhilarating experience to speak with someone who knows so much, but feigns ignorance to get to the heart of the story.
I shall now paraphrase some of these important questions, which must be put to bed before Web 3.0 can truly awaken.
What are blockchain domains and why are they needed?
Domains imprinted on the blockchain are like regular domains, in that their primary function is to deliver information to end-users or clients through the Internet, by hosting a wide gamut of website applications and utilities, from private blogs to corporate websites and social media hubs, to currency exchanges to savings platforms, et al. In addition to this base functionality layer, however, blockchain domains are super-charged with incredible, unprecedented potential and solve a number of hitherto insurmountable problems, including security issues (inherent with big data centralisation and storage) and censorship. The domains also empower businesses to receive cryptocurrency payments directly into their wallets, without involving middlemen, such as traditional banks. What’s more, and this is the revolutionary part, the domain name can be used as an alias for complicated wallet keys, thereby streamlining communication and transactions. Human-readable, or perhaps more accurately—memorable—wallet names make it possible to just spell a wallet address over the phone or print it on a business card, without fear of miscommunication. Perhaps email was the so-called ‘killer app’ that launched the Internet into the mainstream, but human-memorable website domains was the innovation that made flying possible.
Furthermore, in contrast with the ENS domains, Unstoppable Domains does not impose a renewal fee and, crucially, there are no exorbitant gas charges at the point of sale. However, gas fees are deferred to the owner before the domain may be claimed, a process which must be undertaken before the domain may be populated with content, deployed and used. Despite the fact that hosting payments are not applicable to blockchain domains, currently, the cost of setting up a domain is quite high due to the congestion on the Ethereum network. Nonetheless, these fees will become a non-issue within the year, once Ethereum migrates to proof-of-stake, as detailed below. In any event, the rudimentary templates available at the moment are not fit for purpose, as users cannot create a website with functionality on par with what is possible on the contemporary Internet. The watershed moment for Web 3.0 will come once the pain points of gas fees and UI/UX are resolved.
Think back a couple of decades, when Web 2.0 was also questioned and ridiculed by the powers-that-were. Yet, today, social media giants are among the largest corporations on the planet. They were the solution and truly united humanity, but following that glorious, albeit, brief moment of clarity, unity and innocent discovery, they turned to the dark side of intrusive user surveillance and data auctioning. Users learned the hard way that if they are not paying for the product, they ARE the product. It is very easy to dismiss technology we don’t understand, as an unnecessary fad, but much wiser to consider the underlying need, which is rapidly driving demand to fever pitch. Just as it has come to pass with Bitcoin, it is people with vision and gumption to put skin in the game and become early adopters that benefit the most from the project’s success.
Why invest in Unstoppable Domains?
The Cryptoverse offers early adopters a chance to break out of the vicious cycle of zero percent interest ‘savings’ accounts, generate life-changing wealth and, ultimately, achieve financial freedom.
Unstoppable Domains is an intrepid pioneer in the realm of developing Web 3.0 TLDs (top-level domains), yes, there are competitors, but that is a reality in any business—the NFT market is no different. Microstrategy’s Michael Saylor likened his strategy of purchasing 1% of Bitcoin’s supply to buying bedrock in Manhattan before construction began. Buildings and corporations will come and go, but the granite bedrock will remain. I perceive investing in Unstoppable Domains’ products like buying the bedrock of Web 3.0. Those of us who missed out on the advent of the Internet and later the birth of Bitcoin, have a renewed opportunity to become early adopters of tomorrow’s technology today.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
—Henry Ford
NFTs… Why do these jpegs have any value at all?
Because of the value imbued into the piece by the artist who conceived the vision and wrought it into reality. Art is a subjective topic and typically fickle store of value. Generally, a piece is worth whatever the buyer and seller agree on, there are virtually no standards for judging value, short of age, authenticity and creator’s status in the art world. A common misconception is that NFTs are worthless jpegs, which can be downloaded and viewed by anyone without any loss of quality. In reality, NFTs are so much more than mere pictures and there are so many other flavours on offer: music, film, poetry and, yes, blockchain domains are all manifestations of NFTs. Value? In March this year Jack Dorsey sold a single tweet for 2.9 million dollars and to his credit, donated the entire proceeds to charity. Blockchain domains could be imbued with unlimited value by building decentralised applications or websites on this virtual land.
The journalist pushed back, reiterating that anyone can download and view or listen to the NFT for free. I said that this is like the difference between owning da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and having a snapshot of it, but the gentleman parried my thought saying that a marked distinction exists between a photo and a physical painting. I conceded that this is a fair point, however, ownership of a desirable, scarce item provides an endorphin kick in its own right. THIS is value. In the physical world, those who can afford it often own museum-worthy paintings, paying tens of millions of dollars for the privilege of storing something they could go view in a museum for next to nothing. This desire is not limited to art. Why do people long to own a second home, a yacht or a supercar? Why do they go out of their way to purchase an asset they do not need for over 95% of the year? Why incur the high taxes, depreciation, security and maintenance costs, when one could simply rent the asset and enjoy the full experience of using it and be done with it as soon as they don’t need it? It often boils down to status and self-assertion in society. Ownership of a scarce item IS value.
Money can’t buy true happiness, but it can buy the next best things: peace of mind, abundance, status and security. These are the best tools to take on the quest for happiness and fulfilment, as they empower us to shed the tedium of mundane concerns and focus on what is truly important.
Art is also a proven inflation hedge, similar to precious metals, albeit, less stable and less liquid, as there are fewer buyers.
Challenges
The main challenges are competition, dependency on Ethereum and a paucity of UI/UX understanding. There is a reason why most programmers are poor designers and vice-versa.
Competition and identity: Unstoppable Domains is playing in a rather crowded arena and not the first to offer the human-meaningful, uncensorable, decentralised DNS alternatives. In fact, arriving in 2019, UD is quite late to the party. Indeed, already back in 2011, NameCoin (with the loud claim: Bitcoin frees money – Namecoin frees DNS, identities, and other technologies), began building and was the first in 2014, to offer the .bit TLD through PeerName (which has been, incidentally, offering the .coin TLD for years). “Namecoin was the FIRST fork of Bitcoin and still is one of the most innovative altcoins. It was first to implement merged mining and a decentralised DNS. Namecoin was also the first solution to Zooko’s Triangle, the long-standing problem of producing a naming system that is simultaneously secure, decentralised, and human-meaningful”. The Triangle is a trilemma postulated by Zooko (Bryce) Wilcox-O'Hearn, the CEO of the Electric Coin Company (overseeing the development of Zcash), as far back as 2001.
The ENS registrar on Ethereum is extremely robust and versatile, allowing users to import domain names non-native to the blockchain to the ENS ecosystem. “The native name suffix for ENS is .ETH, which has the full security benefits of being blockchain-native. You can also use ENS with DNS names you already own. ENS supports most DNS names, including: .com, .org, .app, .xyz, .io, .art.” The only drawbacks ENS suffers from are annual renewal fees and the currently high gas fees required to execute transactions on the Ethereum network. Once Eth 2.0 launches successfully, obliterating gas fees… competitors beware!
There are rumours of the DNS .com domain provider being on the cusp of allowing all owners of .com domains to accept cryptocurrencies (beginning with BTC and ETH). i.e., the domains will be used as aliases for blockchain wallets, just like the UD products.
And who knows what the likes of Polkadot and ICP will get up to in the years to come. Handshake is yet another decentralised peer-to-peer domain root naming system. Yes, the space is very crowded, indeed, and the window of opportunity for UD to launch a truly revolutionary product is fairly narrow and closing, in particular since they do not have the first-mover advantage. Besides just minting new TLDs, Unstoppable Domains needs to create a truly unique proposition and innovate before others do.
In conclusion
Numerous challenges lie ahead, for Unstoppable Domains and for the Cryptoverse, as a whole. With every partnership and integration Unstoppable Domains bring us closer to a viable Web 3.0. In the past year alone Unstoppable Domains has brandished a jaw-dropping slew of victories including browser integration with Brave and Opera (the latter a collaborator on the premium .x domains), cooperation with exchanges such as Gemini and Crypto.com, integration of Chainlink’s verification protocol via Twitter and, of course, the integration of USDC payments through Circle. Behind the scenes, development is steaming ahead, as brilliant minds challenge and push back the horizons of possibility, as they reinvent the Internet for the benefit of all.
Thus, despite the odds, I remain confident that the Unstoppable Team is up to the challenge. Nothing worth doing is easy, but no obstacle is immovable, when you are Unstoppable!