TL;DR
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We feel most of us will eventually use/interact with blockchain technology on a daily basis – without it Real be aware of it.
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This is because blockchain will act as infrastructure in Web3, meaning it doesn’t have to be central to our daily lives – in fact, it has to disappear.
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In the same way that billions of us use the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) every day and are thankfully none the wiser.
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(IMAP is the protocol for sending/receiving messages on Gmail).
Full story
So, Jesse Pollak (the head of Coinbase protocols) thinks that 8 billion people will use blockchain technology in the next decade.
Big call! That number feels a little optimistic to us, but for the most part we agree.
We just don’t think (if/when this happens) anyone will realize it’s the blockchain technology they’re using.
Wait a minute… how would that work?
How can billions of people use a product, service or technology without realizing it? Is that even possible?
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It is
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We are the proof
Look, we just realized that we are heavy users of cloud technology – but are not really aware of it.
If we had a transcript of our internal monologue, it would read something like this:
“Cloud technology? No. Despite all the hype at the start of the last decade, it (personally) never really found a place in our lives.
Oh wait, I think we’re using iCloud – but that’s a standard feature on the iPhone.
Oh and we use G-drive… and DropBox… and – oh sh*t! We also use Amazon Web Services. Damn, okay…”
We have a feeling that eventually there will be a parallel with this story and blockchain technology.
Where most of us use/interact with blockchain technology on a daily basis – without Real be aware of it.
How did we come up with this theory? Good…
Lately, we’ve been forcing ourselves to take off our blockchain-die-hard hats and become a objectively see what technologies will define the third generation of the web.
Here’s our guess at what will define this “new generation of the Internet” we all call “Web3”:
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Blockchain (as infrastructure)
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AI (driving software and platforms)
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Augmented/Virtual Reality (as computer medium)
AI and AR/VR will become very clear to all of us.
AI will be at the center of much of the software we use every day, and so will AR/VR technology literal right before our eyes.
But as an infrastructure, blockchain doesn’t need to be so obvious – in fact, it needs to go.
For example:
We don’t need to know that the “collected items” listed in our gaming profiles are actually NFTs stored in a crypto wallet, or that the universal usernames we use on social platforms are actually registered and verified on the blockchain.
All of that can exist and function in the background, without us knowing.
In the same way that billions of us use the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) every day, and are none the wiser.
(IMAP is the protocol for sending/receiving messages on Gmail).
This means everything:
Billions of users on-chain, in the next decade? Yes we can see it.
(But no one else should).