The internet is awash with articles asking and trying to answer the question “what is Web3?” It’s a legitimate question because unlike Web2.0 it’s not that obvious what Web3 does for real world users. Web 2.0 made it easy to buy stuff, made it easy to connect with friends and work colleagues, made it easy to create and share content and drove us to engage with the internet and one another.
Web3 might be about NFTs, or Crypto, or User Owned or Digital ID or even sticking it to The Man, but most people, don’t know, even if they care.
But they should care. Web3 is where technology allows business to break from the 2 dimensional structures of the commercial world so it can tackle issues that traditional markets simply haven’t been able to. For us at Self, we’re using Web3 to tackle a biggie, Fraud.
Fraud impacts everyone. It cost the global economy US$5.2 Trillion in 2020. That’s 30% more than the budgets of all the worlds militaries put together. But it’s not just a financial crime, fraud is at the heart of everything from drug and human trafficking to online grooming and organised crime.
It makes our children less safe, our insurance cost more and our finances at risk. It’s one of the fastest growth sectors of the global economy, and why? Because online it’s really hard to know what’s true. For fraudsters, the internet is a goldmine.
Fraud is easily defeated with something simple. The truth. If you’re not sure whether what you’re being told is true, Self lets you check.
We couldn’t build a system like Self without Web3. It has let us distribute the technology so it is not at risk and it can be relied upon. It will let us operate as a decentralised organisation for the benefit of our users, not shareholders. And the crypto gives users a universal way of exchanging value.
The combination of communication, identity and data makes Self incredibly powerful, Web3 prevents that power being concentrated into the hands of one person, government or corporation, including Self.
