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Jack Dorsey plans to build 'Web5' based on Bitcoin

Jack Dorsey's Block Inc. is planning to build a new decentralised web platform, Web5, backed by the Bitcoin blockchain

Published: Jun 13, 2022 06:53:13 PM IST

Image: Marco Bello/ AFP

Jack Dorsey, the former Twitter CEO, announced his plans on Twitter to build a new platform, ‘Web5’, which will be a combination of Web3 and Web2, on the Bitcoin blockchain. The platform aims to fix the issue of securing personal data.

The company stated on its website, “We struggle to secure personal data with hundreds of accounts and passwords we can’t remember. On the web today, identity and personal data have become the property of third parties.”

Web5 is envisioned as an entirely Bitcoin-centric project solving identity-based issues, contrary to Web3, which combines blockchain technology and tokenisation to decentralise the internet. As stated by Block, the Web5 platform, “lets developers focus on creating delightful user experiences while returning ownership of data and identity to individuals.”

Web5 is developed by the Block Head (TBH), one of Dorsey’s Block’s business units. The Product Lead at TBD, Mike Brock, clarified that, “there are no tokens to invest in with Web5.” In Web5, individuals will have ownership of their data and control over their digital identity, supported by decentralised web nodes (DWNS), decentralised web apps (DWAS), and wallets.

The platform is essentially a DWP i.e., a decentralised web platform. TBD’s prototype documents show that Web5 will allow its users to create decentralised web apps and nodes via DID. DIDs, as described by the Web3 Foundation, are decentralised identifiers that enable ‘verifiable, decentralised digital identity.’ Dorsey believes that digital assets will one day become the internet’s native currency. Hence, the platform will also have a monetary network centred around Bitcoin.

Asking Dorsey about the difference between Web3 and Web5, a Twitter user said, “what makes Web3, from your perspective, not decentralised enough that you believed there needed to be this next stage via what you’re calling Web5?”

To the question, Dorsey responded by saying, “it’s the basis on a single point of failure systems (eth, Solano, *) and lies being told to people about who owns and controls it.”

Dorsey has publicly criticised Web3 and the venture capital community that supports it.

He tweeted in December 2021 that people don’t own Web3; the VCs and their limited partners do. “It will never escape their incentives,” said Dorsey, “It’s ultimately a centralised entity with a different label.”

The Block CEO’s motivation for pursuing the Web5 project might stem from this belief that Web3 will never be able to achieve true and complete decentralisation.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash