Move Over Web3 (and Web4), Jack Dorsey’s TBD Is Building Web5

Twitter and Block co-founder Jack Dorsey is back at taking shots at Web3 again as TBD, a Bitcoin (BTC)-focused subsidiary of Block, announced that it is building Web5 – a Decentralized Web Platform (DWP) that is meant to enable ‘truly’ decentralized apps and protocols.

According to the description on the project’s site, Web5 will return data ownership back to people by utilizing decentralized data and identity tools.

“Web5 brings decentralized identity and data storage to your applications. It lets [developers] focus on creating delightful user experiences, while returning ownership of data and identity to individuals,” they claimed.

The key components of Web5, or DWP, include Decentralized Web Apps (DWAs) that will utilize Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Decentralized Web Nodes (DWNs), the presentation of the initiative shows.

DIDs will include self-owned identifiers that should be capable of decentralized identity authentication and routing and cryptographic verifiable credentials (VCs), while DWNs will serve as a message relay nodes and standard for data storage – the foundation for decentralized apps and related protocols.

“The combination of Decentralized Identifiers and Decentralized Web Nodes produces a Web of DID-secured messaging, data sharing, and credential exchange that can replicate one-off protocols (encrypted messaging, photo sharing, etc.) with universal standards for all types of semantic data exchange.”

Meanwhile, both the website and the presentation do not mention Bitcoin specifically, but a report in Bitcoin Magazine claims that “Web5 leverages Bitcoin <…> and a plethora of sound computer science technologies to create a new ecosystem of decentralized identities.”

“Web5 is based on the assumption that Web3, the idea of building a decentralized web with blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, has the right intentions but is using the wrong tools,” per the report.

It added that “fairly decentralized developments in the internet over the past couple of decades such as BitTorrent and Tor have shown that blockchain technology is not a necessary component for decentralization.”

Meanwhile, Jack Dorsey said that he hopes that the project “will likely be our most important contribution to the internet.”

Dorsey has been a staunch Web3 critic, claiming that Web3 is not sufficiently centralized and is mostly controlled by venture capitalists in what’s been called “Web3 wars.”