Muneeb Ali On 021 Disrupt 2020: Crypto And The Next Internet!

For most of us who grew up in the times of big PC units, with monitors, CPUs, keyboard and dialing connection internets, THE NEXT INTERNET concept in incomprehensible.

Reading this heading in itself is intriguing. Well everything evolves especially technology. Muneeb Ali, CEO and co-founder of Blockstack PBC, is a Computer Science Researcher and PHD from Princeton University, USA. He talks about crypto, bitcoin and the next Gen Internet.

Muneeb reveals that efforts are underway to drastically upgrade internet, because most of the internet innovation was done few decades ago, making it an old technology. Drastic innovations are made to introduce the next generation of internet called the WEB 3. This could be radically different from the internet we use today.

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How will WEB 3 be different from the current internet?

Web 3 will be fundamentally different in 2 ways:

1.Financial Asset:

With web 3 we will be able to own financial assets online. For instance we own houses, cars etc. in the physical world but as of now there is no concept of owning any assets, which you can control, online. Similarly, Bitcoin is the form of money which is not owned by any country but is at your disposal through the internet. This will in the future give freedom to be more innovative financially.

2. Decentralized Application:

Currently we are all heavy users of social media apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, which are all owned by one company Facebook. Being a user of these networks means ones data is constantly compromised and locations are tracked. All our data is basically on cloud which means nothing is limited to our PC sets. These companies live off of tracking users and present a business model very different from the user freedom concept it ought to have been. Web 3 is working to decentralize the applications so that the connection between two people will be direct, peer-to-peer and will not involve any company.

What is Web 3?

A few decades ago when the internet was launched, there were two things working side by side. One was web, which simply means websites that were made to give information etc. Simultaneously there was crypto which involved encryption, security protocols and coding technology. As time progressed this became dormant for a while with no latest upgradation in it. Whereas, web continued to evolve in to more advance type of websites, like Facebook etc.

Web 3 is a merger of both crypto and web. The crypto or encryption technology has revived strongly to make possible the concepts of financial assets online. It also strives to ensure consumer freedom, unlike the web we currently use.

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Why Bitcoin?

Bitcoin has witnessed exponential growth over the past decade. It is already the most secure network present today; completely decentralized that no one owns it and has its own self-organizing protocols.

It already has a whopping $350 billion in assets, and Muneeb suggests that at Stack, they make bitcoin more programmable and allow smart contracts over the internet. Although, the value of bitcoin plummeted on and off creating disappointment in people who expected more from the technology, however, Muneeb speaks positively about it. He explains how industry has cycles and every time a cycle is completed it only becomes bigger and attracts more investors. So is the case with bitcoin industry which is growing with each cycle.

Its impact in Pakistan:

Stacks have recently launched a local chapter in Pakistan, with local tech companies and the intention of it is purely educational. They intend to focus on providing guidance and education in the field of block chain and other related technology so interested youth or people may have the opportunity to learn something different and innovative. This will enable them to contribute in this field in the future.

Conclusion

Hence, to conclude, big innovations are underway which can have a drastic impact on world economy and pretty much everything. Pakistan being a forward looking country in terms of growing technology and boosting economy, tech start-ups can present a lot of potential.