15 years ago, Satoshi invented the world’s first independently managed and self-operating financial system through cryptography. He aspired to catapult us all into a financial renaissance, replacing our aging financial system with one that would be unfriendly to no one. It is a completely transparent financial system that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allowing anyone to track the flow of funds on the blockchain.
While this value proposition alone is enough to migrate from traditional financial systems, the biggest innovation from Satoshi, the inventor of blockchain and cryptocurrency, is how users access this network. Non-custodial wallet.
Anyone with a mobile device and an internet connection can view, send, and receive value safely. This is the closest thing to a world of financial inclusion.
In other words, the blockchain industry, better known as web3, has reached an inflection point where the next wave of adoption is likely to come through completely different channels than the previous generation. That said, there are too many new entrants with the inertia to deal with the operational challenges of using web3 technologies, given that the relative returns or usefulness of the technology are virtually non-existent for the next generation of users. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong I mentioned this on stage at this year’s All-In Summit.
Frankly speaking, if we want to see more adoption among our discovery audience, the market standards for an acceptable web3 user journey need to improve. Wallets connected to these user journeys need to do more than just store internet money if those people are expected to use it.
Why it matters
The term ‘web3’ refers to the third version of the internet built on the concept of verifiable digital ownership. Unlike the web2 paradigm, web3 users maintain and own all of their information, financial assets, digital collectibles, etc., while ‘big tech’ holds these valuable information in the web2 world.
This ownership is achieved through non-custodial wallets where only the owner of that wallet has access to this information. The wallet owner can grant ‘read-only’ access to any Internet protocol that wishes to access the wallet’s contents, but this is purely at the owner’s discretion.
In the words of the one and only Gordon Gekko, “The most valuable commodity I know is information.,” and depending on where you live, your willingness to share that information may vary. In developed countries, ordinary people have the luxury of access to robust banking and money transfer services. Moreover, a certain level of implicit trust allows us to feel secure without having to ‘own’ anything.
Sure, they can see and access the bank account balance shown on their account, but technically they ‘own’ something that they continually lend out in exchange for crumbs. Moreover, users are completely dependent on the goodwill of their bank to do whatever they want. This model is seriously flawed and barely works here. Nonetheless, as we venture into less developed parts of the world, many leave behind an overwhelming distrust of traditional banking systems. unbanked population.
It all starts with your wallet
We have made significant progress in the development, use, and adoption of distributed technologies over the past 15 years. Additionally, regulatory clarity and legal approvals from regulators around the world have accelerated recently, most recently in Shanghai. Bitcoin With digital currency. That said, accessing and moving value on-chain remains painfully difficult, given that the interfaces that connect us to the technology are surprisingly underdeveloped compared to the sheer size of the industry.
Currently, cryptocurrency wallets can’t do anything that traditional banking products can’t. Conveying value within this framework is difficult, frustrating Bitcoin’s fight to establish itself as a reasonable means of payment. Instead, cryptocurrency wallets are a somewhat easier way to individually secure your (much more volatile) funds.
Moreover, capturing the attention of the average consumer has never been more difficult. Popular media, short-form content, and a bit of ADD have made it extremely difficult for businesses to reach their target consumers. Because of this, the most successful technologies provide utility that brings extreme convenience or integration into an individual’s life. Consider TikTok, for example. Beyond being a means of creative expression, they also serve as social networks and, increasingly, as search engines.
By serving multiple purposes, users have the luxury of not having to move from platform to platform, strengthening the value proposition for installing and spending time on the platform. By 2023, the average person There are about 80 applications installed on your phone. almost twice as many More than 10 years ago.
Because of this, we are now entering a new technological era where new products and applications must not only solve problems but also introduce convenience. Wallets are no different. This isn’t all that different from a few years ago when Apple put cell phones in the iPod.
future
To unlock the full potential of cryptocurrencies, we need to innovate from the start and ensure that unnecessarily outdated user experiences do not hinder the value proposition of cryptocurrencies. Instead of struggling to teach our friends and loved ones about public and private keys, we should be pushing paradigms and challenging existing conventions so that we can spend most of the next 15 years building a new, free world.
