Five Web3 primitives you should know about 🧵
1/ Tokens
The first primitive we built on blockchains was tokens. They allow us to own and transfer slices of a pie. Bitcoin introduced currency as their first use case then when Ethereum came along we started using them for things like governance and fractionalized ownership.
The first primitive we built on blockchains was tokens. They allow us to own and transfer slices of a pie. Bitcoin introduced currency as their first use case then when Ethereum came along we started using them for things like governance and fractionalized ownership.
2/ NFTs
We eventually realized that we could make each token unique and indivisible then attach a bunch of metadata to it. Thus non-fungible tokens were born. At first we used them as domain names on Namecoin then later we realized we could make art and tokenize gaming assets.
We eventually realized that we could make each token unique and indivisible then attach a bunch of metadata to it. Thus non-fungible tokens were born. At first we used them as domain names on Namecoin then later we realized we could make art and tokenize gaming assets.
3/ Identities
More recently it has become clear that a primitive for our Web3 identities has surfaced. We’re starting to think of wallets as people. We’re bringing humanity to wallets by associating NFT avatars and human-readable names like Leonidas.eth with them.
More recently it has become clear that a primitive for our Web3 identities has surfaced. We’re starting to think of wallets as people. We’re bringing humanity to wallets by associating NFT avatars and human-readable names like Leonidas.eth with them.
4/ DAOs
DAOs are the corporations of Web3. They allow us to pool resources and collaborate as we work together towards achieving goals that no single person could ever accomplish alone. We’ve already seen them be successfully used to govern DeFi protocols and create NFT funds.
DAOs are the corporations of Web3. They allow us to pool resources and collaborate as we work together towards achieving goals that no single person could ever accomplish alone. We’ve already seen them be successfully used to govern DeFi protocols and create NFT funds.
5/ Locations
This nascent primitive is still taking shape but by now it’s self-evident that we’ll need a standard for teleporting around the metaverse. Our homes, workplaces, and games will all be locations inside of 3D worlds. We need to be able to move between them seamlessly.
This nascent primitive is still taking shape but by now it’s self-evident that we’ll need a standard for teleporting around the metaverse. Our homes, workplaces, and games will all be locations inside of 3D worlds. We need to be able to move between them seamlessly.
6/ There’s so much low-hanging fruit to be built on top of these five primitives over the next decade. For example, we don’t even have messaging between wallets yet.
7/ Twitter and Discord are just an identity primitive with a social graph (followers/friends). We’re going to need protocols that allow us to establish and own our relationships with one another in a decentralized manner.
8/ If I want to search for these primitives where do I go? Who is indexing them? As an NFT Archaeologist, I spend all day sifting through on-chain information across a dozen different explorers, marketplaces, and social platforms. We’re going to have to build search as well.
9/ It begins to get fun when we start thinking about how we could combine these primitives to solve Web2 problems. Every day I get 3+ spam phone calls, 30+ spam DMs, and 300+ spam emails. I let spammers control a small fraction of my day yet time is my most valuable resource.
10/ So as a thought experiment how could we combine these primitives to solve the spam problem in Web3 and give me back control of my time?
One solution would be to create a norm where everybody’s gates their Web3 inboxes with a paywall for senders not in their network.
One solution would be to create a norm where everybody’s gates their Web3 inboxes with a paywall for senders not in their network.
11/ @mcuban could set his threshold for inbound messages at 1Ξ and others could choose to set it at .001Ξ. If you’re a brand who wants to tell me about your product, cool. Send me some eth to pay me for my time and I’ll be happy to take a look.
12/ This solution combines the token and identity primitives but let’s think about how we could throw NFTs into the mix. Maybe I want to let other CryptoPunk holders that I don’t know message me without paying the fee? Eazy peazy. That maybe takes 5 lines of code to implement.
13/ My point is that there are all kinds of ways you could combine these primitives to create magical products and services that we haven’t even thought of yet. Primitives are like legos. As you build on top of them you unlock new use cases that will in turn unlock new use cases.
14/ We’ve done a pretty good job building exchanges like Uniswap and explorers like CoinMarketCap for the token primitive. Probably because we’ve had over a decade to work on it now. I have no doubt that similar quality UXs will exist for the newer primitives in a few years.
15/ The dawn of Web3 is upon us. It will transform our civilization and create more opportunities than any of us could ever imagine.
If you’re a developer we have work to do.
If you’re an investor be patient.
If you’re a creator keep doing your thing. Yall are killing it!
If you’re a developer we have work to do.
If you’re an investor be patient.
If you’re a creator keep doing your thing. Yall are killing it!
Would be interesting to get @iamDCinvestor's take on this.
Also, @cdixon and @punk6529 have had some killer threads that touch on some of these topics as well. Would love to hear your thoughts.
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