Web 3.0 Blockchain Technology Paves the Way for the Trust Economy

The New Internet of Money Will Change How We Use Live, Work, and Buy Things

I want to make sure you understand some of the technological innovations that are occurring in the field of fintech financial technology. The most impactful, of course, is blockchain technology, revolutionary, arguably the most important technological innovation in commerce since the invention of the Internet itself. Many people consider blockchain, “Internet 3.0”.

Internet 1.0 was the original Internet. We used it to communicate. We sent emails to each other. Facebook was Internet 1.0, the Internet of people. Internet 2.0 was the Internet of Things. You know, your car talking to your phone, your doorbell talking to your phone, your coffee pot talking to your refrigerator and so on. The Internet of Things was the Web 2.0. Internet 3.0 is the Internet of money. Moving money from one person to another, one company to another, one country to another. And blockchain technology is all about the Internet of Money, Web 3.0.

One of the key features of blockchain technology is that it is not part of the trust economy. Instead, it creates the authentication economy. What on earth am I talking about? Well, we operate in a trust economy right now. Think about it. When you buy a house, you are trusting the seller to sell you the house. You're trusting that they actually are the legal owner, that they have the deed to the house.

But do you really trust them? This is a very big transaction, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars. Do you really want to engage in this transaction without knowing for sure that the deal is going to go through? So what do you do? You hire a title settlement attorney who does a title search to verify that the deed is as the seller claims. And you still don't believe so what do you do? You buy title insurance to further make sure that the transaction is okay and if it isn't your economically protected. Title settlement? Title search? Title insurance? All of this is because we work in a trust economy and trust only goes so far.

Listen to the Gipper: “Trust but Verify”

As Ronald Reagan said, trust but verify. And so what we do is we spend thousands of dollars, incur massive effort and more time to get those transactions verified because we frankly don't trust each other all that much. It's expensive. It's cumbersome. It's time consuming. Doesn't really facilitate the transactions themselves. And we hire lots of intermediaries like that settlement attorney, real estate agent, stockbroker to facilitate the transaction between the buyer and the seller. Blockchain technology eliminates the need for all of that because instead of us having to trust each other, the transactions are cryptographically authenticated.

Cryptography Now Allows A Trustless Economy

It is proven valid that you own the deed to the property and have the legal right to convey it to me. And because it is cryptographically proven, trust isn't a factor. I don't have to trust you because it's a fact. And as a result, I can do the transaction immediately without the intermediary, without that insurance or that title search. Transactions become faster. They become safer. They become more transparent. And they become cheaper. The notion of a trustless economy is revolutionary. And this is a big part of the reason for the excitement about blockchain technology. And if you'd like to learn more about this subject, read my book, The Truth About Crypto.