Taking On Web2's Dark Side: This Time, It's Personal

Digital security is the talking point in Web3 right now. One that’s moved fast since the Facebook whistleblower revelations, when Frances Haugen told a Senate committee how her former employer systematically and repeatedly prioritized profits over the safety of its users. Or when a hacker breached defenses at Twitch and leaked a spreadsheet listing six-figure payouts to the platform’s top gamers.

Come to think of it, looking back at these examples, let’s start again. Digital security and greed are the two big talking points around – and within – Web3 right now.

Eight months on from these two seminal incidents, though, blockchain-based businesses are focusing hard on finding solutions to these legacy hangovers. But how can Web3 succeed where Web2 has so spectacularly failed? How will we protect users’ privacy while finding an antidote to the “profit above people” mania?

The answer is simple but also challenging. For Web3 to be truly successful and gain mass adoption, the traditional identity paradigm must be replaced. Instead of trusting FAANG giants with our personal information we have to embrace the concept of a decentralized future where users own and control their own internet identities.

How will this work? The answer is NFTs – or non-fungible tokens. Although, don’t worry, not the ones bearing illustrations of Bored Apes or Cryptopunks. I’m focusing here on the “non-fungible” part, that’s to say something that’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. All human beings are, of course, non-fungible.

Vitalik Buterin, famed as the inventor of the Ethereum blockchain, got us all talking recently when he published a white paper tackling the dual demons of greed and digital security, presenting a particular type of NFT as the solution. In “Decentralized Society: Finding Web3’s Soul” Vitalik, with co-authors E. Glen Weyl and Puja Ohlhaver, set out a vision for a future decentralized society where citizens would own a digital wallet containing an NFT called a “Soulbound Token.” These tokens would differ from other NFTs in that they could not be transferred or traded. As opposed to an NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, say.

In the paper, Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) operate as non-transferable records of the holder’s achievements. And I’d like to reference here the part that really resonated with me. It was these lines: “There’s a lot of unexplored opportunity in trying to go beyond financialization. Making more items in the crypto space ‘soulbound’ can be one path towards an alternative, where NFTs can represent much more of who you are and not just what you can afford.”

Like Vitalik and his co-authors, I’m excited about the chance to offer an alternative to the over-financialization of Web3 that many are seeing. The same trap that Web2 fell right into. In my work with PhalaWorld, a gamification layer on the Phala Network blockchain , I regularly attend conferences with the team, meeting many of our players at them. We love hearing about what they’re able to do with the platform and the tools that we’ve built. We recognize the skills and personal qualities they demonstrate (for example loyalty, courage, stamina, problem-solving) within the game’s metaverse are important to them. And so they’re important to us too. What we each love to do, whether that’s our work, hobbies, shopping or contributing to our communities, makes us who we are. It has value. And that counts equally whether the activity is IRL, online or on-chain. Here’s the great news: Web3 technologies now exist that will allow us to connect and keep safe memorable moments and achievements from all parts of our lives - both the digital and reality realms.

I’ve already mentioned the concept of non-transferable NFTs. Using these as evidence of our unique identities, and coupled with other Web3 innovations such as Decentralized Identity protocols (DID), Verifiable Credentials (VCs), and smart contracts, it’s now possible to keep our personal information secure while having autonomy to share it with trusted others when we wish. We can even get kudos in reality for our online achievements. Watch this space!

We’re entering this exciting, mind-blowing phase of Web3 and that’s awesome. But let’s not be complacent. The pitfalls that trapped Web2 are still there. The temptations to get too big, too controlling, too greedy. There may be the risk of starting to view people’s personal most precious possessions – who they are and what they do – as saleable commodities rather than precious cargo.

To improve on the past, all of us in Web3 will need to play our part. For two reasons: So that blockchain technologies and the metaverse continue to scale and succeed; and so that we all gain maximum benefit from that. This whole web3 thing should be collaborative and fun, not a cut-throat marketplace. And while we’re building, developing, creating or gaming we’re adding value to our shared worlds, whichever platform we’ve chosen. We should expect to feel validated by the organizations, businesses and media with whom we interact. We should expect to be rewarded for our contributions, whether that’s content creation or loyal custom. We should be treated like part of the community, not part of the food chain.

Let’s pick this moment to reconfirm that who we are and what we do has value. We’re building for a new era in Web3, one where there will be many ways to reward collaborative behaviors. And many opportunities to let our communities know they are seen and valued as Web3 pioneers and heroes.

(Marvin Tong is the co-founder of Phala Network, a privacy-preserving cloud computing service based on blockchains.)