It’s easy to think that, watching the world burn around you (metaphorically, but sometimes literally), the past can be seen as the “good ‘ol days”. However, with certain aspects of the modern world, this is actually true. A few key stats paint a troubling picture that illustrates just how much people don’t trust the government or companies. In the US public trust in the government has fallen from nearly 80% in 1960 to a depressing 20% in 2023. Companies aren’t much better. A PwC study published in 2022 showed that company executives believed that their customers had an 87% level of trust in the company; customers, however, expressed a 30% level of trust. This could have something to do with rising prices, rising profits, but without giving employees a living wage. When people say that the wealth gap is growing, the surprise is that it’s growing much more than you’d expect. Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460%, spreading the wealth gap so much that the average worker in a company is paid 399 times less.
The nail in the coffin, in terms of trust and dissolution, is what many companies do with their customers’ data. With more than 80% of companies admitting they have been hacked, why would anyone trust their personal data with a company? Further, many different companies, including giants like Facebook and Google, are well known for selling personal data they collect from users.
All of these sentiments are reaching a boiling point, and with the rise of Web3, there may actually be something that people can do about it. Let’s dive into why Web3’s infrastructure is uniquely designed to solve these problems. We’ll look at what communities may form from these elements, and how early communities such as Spacemesh have made P2P, decentralization, and even care of others over money a driving force.
Web3: The right tool at the right time
As mentioned above, Web3 has come about at just the time these issues are reaching an unsustainable point. Why is Web3 ideal to handle issues like lack of trust, a central organization taking massive profits at the expense of the community, and a lack of data security? Let’s take them one at a time. First, trust. While customers have a severe lack of trust due to being lied to, manipulated, and even robbed, Web3 is operated through smart contracts that can be seen by everyone and that can be audited, monitored, but cannot be altered. This is the ultimate level of trust, even though it is technically “trustless.” Next, a central organization taking all profits. This is actually not prevented by Web3 itself, as recent history has shown examples of central exchanges with ill intent. However, Web3 creates the opportunity for networks to be fully decentralized: managed through a DAO where anyone can take part by making suggestions and voting. To solve the hoarding of profits, the solution is as simple as it is completely unorthodox: allow anyone to participate, break down barriers to entry, and reward people for what they put into the network. Not necessarily the money they put into it, as consensus methods can reward time, storage, and more. And finally, the protection of data: If no one can benefit from the data, and what limited data is available is secured, then the entire network becomes a much smaller target for data breaches, and zero threat for losing your data to brokers. The Web3 network structure is ideal for a decentralized community. It transcends borders, tech proficiency levels, wealth levels, and destroys the model of centralized power, instead giving equal measure and invitation to anyone who wants to join and contribute their effort to a harmonious community.
Decentralized communities in action
There are a number of Web3 communities that practice one or more elements of this decentralized community ideal. Web3 means that networks have the option, but not the responsibility, to do so. However, for communities driven to create an equitable and decentralized structure, they can maximize Web3 to their advantage. Spacemesh is somewhat unique in this respect, as they had made it clear during early development that this was the end goal. Their Proof-of-Space-Time consensus method is available for anyone to join and use, needing only the most rudimentary skills to set up. It gives credit not for staked tokens or for mining via high powered computers. Rather, it gives proportional rewards for those willing to stake some portion of their storage over time. The highly efficient mining uses this to operate the chain, and those participating are rewarded, even if they can only participate a small amount. The decentralized nature allows those involved to voice opinions, give suggestions, and vote on the future direction of the platform. And the chain offers full transparency for how it operates, allowing even the most skeptical critic to examine the underlying contracts to judge for themselves on the fairness of the network.
One final element that shows the full power of Web3. Spacemesh’s testnet, which was already a decentralized, permissionless, public blockchain with fair mining, also developed a number of social causes, and gained the support of the over 15,000 users who joined the testnet. These efforts included raising funds to help marginalized communities in Peru; planting trees to offset carbon emissions, and fighting online censorship. The network has plans to add more social causes as the network grows, further illustrating what it means to be a community that is rewarded for its efforts, but focused primarily on contributing to the global community where it’s needed most.
On the horizon
Web3 is a beacon of hope in the sea of turmoil we’ve experienced, especially in the last 3-5 years. P2P, decentralization, and communities with a common cause will continue to evolve, continue to grow, and will work to outpace the central greed demonstrated by many organizations today. Early adopters like Spacemech will continue to demonstrate valid, value-added user cases, and more communities will find their own novel approach to a community owned by everyone, and dedicated to issues that matter.
Featured image credit: Mario Purisic / unsplash
