Firstly WTF is Web5 And What Happened To Web4?

Well On June 10th, 2022, Jack Dorsey's TBD business unit, announced that it has embarked on the journey to build “Web5”.

After Jack publicly criticized web3 in a tweet.

I'm of the belief that the former Twitter CEO wants to take a swing at building a truly decentralized web.

Web5 is meant to leverage Bitcoin's blockchain and allow users to take full control of their data and identity.

And it apparently got its name according to the google doc published by TBD by combining Web2 and Web3

How Does It Actually Work?

TBD's Web5 vision consists of a number of software components that, when combined, allow developers to focus on creating immersive user experiences while also allowing for decentralized identity and data storage in apps.

It’s all based on the Sidetree protocol and ION which doesn’t require the use of tokens, trusted validators, or additional consensus mechanisms to function.

The first component is the Decentralized Web Node (DWN).

DWNs are described as mesh-like datastore construction that enables an entity to operate multiple nodes that sync to the same state across one another.

Web5’s DWN will be used to locate data linked to a given DID (Decentralized Identifier), the next piece of the puzzle.

A DID is a globally unique permanent identifier that is commonly produced and registered cryptographically and does not require a centralized registration authority.

The next crucial component is Self-Sovereign Identity Service (SSIS). Self-Sovereign Identity Service (SSIS) is a decentralized identity management service that enables individuals and organizations to control their own digital identities. SSIS is built on a blockchain platform and utilizes smart contracts to provide a secure, decentralized, and tamper-proof way to manage digital identities.

The last main component is the Self-Sovereign Identity SDK.

The Self-Sovereign Identity SDK is a toolkit that allows developers to easily build applications that utilize self-sovereign identity principles.

It is designed to work with any identity management system and provides a set of tools and APIs to help developers create applications that give users control over their own data.

PWA & DWA

PWAs are Progressive Web Apps and you use them every day (Pinterest, Spotify, etc). They are web apps that use modern web technologies to provide a user experience similar to that of a native app. PWAs are designed to be fast, reliable, and engaging.

Utilizing the aforementioned Web5 components, Jack Dorsey is creating the infrastructure to create DWAs (Decentralized Web Apps).

This structure would allow developers to create apps with decentralized identity and data storage capabilities all of which give users full sovereign control of their personal information

It is too early on to speculate if Web5 will catch on or not but its sure to cause a big stir in the tech community.