Key Takeaways
Jack Dorsey’s TBD has announced that it will build a decentralized web platform on top of Bitcoin called Web5.
Whereas Ethereum and Web3 have focused on tokenization, Web5 will largely focus on identity management.
Dorsey said he believes that Web5 will be his team’s most significant contribution to the Internet.
Share this article
Jack Dorsey’s TBD plans to eschew existing Web3 concepts by building its decentralized web standard known as “Web5” on top of Bitcoin.
Taking the Decentralized Web to Bitcoin
TBD has announced plans to create a decentralized web platform called “Web5” on the Bitcoin network.
Web2, Web3 → Web5 pic.twitter.com/klzqJ4yvBm
— TBD (@TBD54566975) June 10, 2022
By contrast, most competing projects have chosen to work with the Web3 concept, which provides an approach to building blockchain-based web applications. Web3 largely relies on Ethereum and other chains that support smart contracts, which are well suited for programmability and tokenized payments.
As such, Dorsey’s Web5 project is notable in that it seeks to build its components on top of the Bitcoin network—a strategy that is not typically seen as ideal for blockchain-based applications.
More technically, Web5 will focus on identity rather than tokenized payments. To do so, TBD plans to build a Decentralized Web Platform (DWP) that will allow developers to create Decentralized Web Apps (DWAs) with Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Decentralized Web Nodes (DWNs), according to a web presentation from TBD.
The platform will notably use ION, a Bitcoin identity layer developed by Microsoft and the Decentralized Identity Foundation.
In a practical sense, Web5 aims to solve the problem of securing personal data online without selling that data to third parties. The project aims to “bring decentralized identity and data storage” to web applications while returning data ownership to users.
Web5 Will Be Developed by TBD
TBD is a business recently created by Dorsey’s Block, Inc. in order to focus on developing Bitcoin infrastructure.
Block itself—best known for its Square payments app—has additionally expressed plans to launch a Bitcoin hardware wallet and a decentralized exchange in the future.
However, Dorsey now stresses that Web5 could be a larger effort than those other plans. He said in a tweet that Web5 “will likely be [my team’s] most important contribution to the Internet.”
Dorsey, who has long been critical of Web3, then took a jab at Web3 investors by writing “RIP web3 VCs.” Dorsey himself has been subject to blowback for his Bitcoin maximalism and criticism of Ethereum.
Dorsey was also instrumental in helping Twitter adopt crypto before he stepped down as CEO of the social media company last year.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
Share this article
The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
See full terms and conditions.
