There has been a lot of talk in recent months about the arrival of Web3, the new theoretically decentralized internet that gets rid of middlemen and is closely linked to cryptocurrencies. Twitter creator Jack Dorsey has criticized it in the past, but also was preparing its own alternative: Web5.

This iteration wants to go further and add a layer that is very important to them: the identity layer. “In today’s web, identity and personal data have become the property of third parties,” explain those responsible for the project. Here, this identity and this data will also not be centralized and according to them “will give back the ownership of this data and identity to the people”.

“This will be our most important contribution to the Internet”

Dorsey’s concept draws on some of the principles on which Web3 is based, but goes a little further. There is also talk of a “Decentralized Web Platform” (DWP). With developers using “Decentralized Web Applications” (DWAs) “Decentralized Identifiers” (DIDs) and “Decentralized Web Nodes” (DWNs).

Source: TBD

The gist isn’t much different from the one suggested on Web3, but here these decentralized identifiers they would become the pillar of a Web5 where identity is paramount and data ownership management becomes an essential part.

In the official presentation of Web5, several slides explained how to create a protocol that will allow us to no longer type “https://” in the browser.[URL]”, another “made:// [URL]”. These identifiers are self-generated and are not provided by a trusted entity.

We would also make calls”Verifiable Credentials(VCs) will allow you to prove who you are in this new iteration of the internet and prevent possible identity theft and security in any transaction.

There are other related components as well. these decentralized web nodes He said that, among other things, they will offer a semantic discovery option (search for any type of data based on its semantic type) and allow the creation of decentralized applications and protocols for all kinds of information and its exchange with these nodes. as a base.

this will probably be our most important contribution to the internet. I am proud of the team. #web5

(RIP web3 VCs 🤫)https://t.co/vYlVqDyGE3 https://t.co/eP2cAoaRTH

– jack (@jack) 10 June 2022

The project was created by TBD, a subsidiary of Block (formerly Square), founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. At a recent event called the Consensus Festival, Dorsey Indian He “this will probably be our most important contribution to the internet“An absolutely stunning statement came from Dorsey.

Goodbye, venture capital firms

One of Web5’s goals is to avoid this chokehold of big venture capital firms He was involved in investing large sums of money in Web3 projects.

Dorsey himself had criticized these moves. stating in December He “You do not own Web3. Venture capital companies and their limited partners,This weekend, he reaffirmed his critical stance against Web3 by calling it “RIP web3 VCs,” leaving those who made these currently unachievable investments in that platform to die.

Curiously at that presentation no direct mention of cryptocurrencies and something obvious about the underlying economics on this platform, for example the fundamentals of Web3.

Here, the monetary layer is completely based on bitcoin.It makes sense given that Dorsey is a very vocal cryptocurrency “maximalist”, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut approach to the idea that users and creators can make money (cryptocurrencies) using such cryptocurrencies as Web3 has. technology.

Therefore, the main idea looks like this: Offer Web5 users a decentralized identity. One that lets them switch from app to app without signing in. User data will no longer be stored by third-party services, but will be controlled only by users who may or may not allow their disclosure and use.