Can you even handle more 'control'?
Web3 gives us more control on our stuff, but do people even want to bother with that? The assumption that benefits of control > hassle of control might be a multi-billion dollar mistake.
Do you trust Facebook, Google, Netflix, or [insert software here]? If you signed up for it, then you probably do. Your name, email, birthday, usage data, preferences are the property of web2 billionaires.
“But noooo. Must respect privacy. We should own our data, not these tech people. Web3 is the way. Take back control,” says web3 cultists.
To this promised land of total control over our own data I say, “Do I even want to bother with that?”
It’s like cash under the mattress
I consider myself one of those web3 cultists, and a core tenet of ours is ‘Not your keys, not your crypto’. This basically means your responsible for your (money) data. If you lose control over it, no one, not even the creator of Ethereum himself, can help you.
This is important enough to repeat to death. In a normal web2 situation:
“I forgot my password!” That’s okay, you can reset it. Here you go
“I lost my data!” Nigel on the line. No worries, sir. I can restore it. Ping!
“I paid the wrong amount!” No problemo. Refund!
In a web3 setting:
“I forgo—” Can’t help you
“I lost my—” Nope, sorry too bad
“I paid the wro—” Yeah, nah. Shit happens
Put in another way, if you don’t trust the bank will take care of your money then sure, it’s reasonable to think keeping it yourself under the mattress is ‘safer’. They can’t run away with your money!
But the crucial assumption you’re making is that your mattress has a much more sophisticated security system compared to a financial institution who’s business is to take care of cash.
The argument of web3 bringing forth the golden age of personal privacy and control is the same. We believe that our data is safer under our digital pillow!
There’s a word for this in web3—non-custodial.
The journey to mainstream adoption of a truly non-custodial web3 world will be a long one
Laws, regulations, property rights, taxes, storage systems, data integrity, and a plethora of things you probably have never directly worked on in your life are all handled by apps you use today. You don’t bother with them. All you need to do to post in Instagram is to login.
Enter web3.
It’s an anonymous world. You own your data! Weee! 🎉 Oh by the way since the app doesn’t have access to your data, it doesn’t know who you are so:
Manage your own information
Protect your own funds
Pay your own taxes
Make sure you consider legal and regulatory changes
Be wary of hacks or security threats
If something goes wrong, there’s no one who can help you
Oh and this will be the same for all 20+ web3 apps you’ll be using day-to-day. But yay, you have freedom of control. Weee! 🥳
Making web3 work will take work.
It will take a lot of education, new product designs, and patience to find the right fit. Until people get their heads around this new set of responsibilities, a true web3 experience won’t scale out to mass adoption.
But maybe that’s ok? Maybe there will be two types of web3 customers: the hardcore “I keep my money under my bed” kind, and the kinda-there-but-still-want-a-bank-to-take-care-of-my-stuff kind.
You won’t know until you try.
So take a dive into web3 and figure out if you’re one or the other.
Or just subscribe to observe for now 😉
Post inspired by a Twitter Spaces with @BathalaX and @Yassuo.
Disagree with something in this article? Hit me up! I love to learn through discussion and debate.
I also post web3 stuff in Twitter: @nigelwtlee