A pivot moment for Web3
In every tech cycle, there is a pivot moment where a slow realization becomes an “aha” moment, and the market shifts at scale to a new model, platform, or paradigm.
We think that moment is fast approaching for Web3.
For the past few years, decentralized applications (DApps) have been viewed as the core building blocks of Web3. DApps as the interface between smart contracts and the web. DApps as the connector of users to the blockchain and smart contract logic, with tokens as a peripheral or ancillary object.
Building Web3 with a DApp centric approach is flawed, as it's blindly following the Web2 paradigm. It perpetuates closed and centralized systems that put the application first and the user second. When combined with the challenges of smart contracts on-chain, it is creating Web3 with a terrible user experience that is not fit for mass adoption.
A DApp first Web3 fails to deliver the core promise of Trust, Interoperability, Privacy, and Security.
The alternative is a token centric standard for Web3. Smart tokens connect to smart contracts in the same way that DApps do but via a smart token interface that can connect to other smart tokens, user agents, websites, web services, Web2 and Web3.
Using smart tokens as the building blocks of Web3 will make it infinitely composable and will allow for seamless authentication, transaction, ownership, and rights verification. Tokens are inherently user first and will enable interoperability and portability that’s at the heart of the Web3 promise in NFTs, gaming, and the metaverse.
A token first Web3 will ultimately deliver a vastly improved UX over Web2 and facilitate mass adoption. Smart tokens are the new digital primitive, analogous to the website but vastly superior because unlike websites they are fully portable, completely owned, and controlled by the user.
Tokens represent who you are, what you own, what you are entitled to, and how you choose to interact. Tokens held in super user agents will operate like digital wallets in-real-life (IRL) today but at an infinite scale across completely new and interconnected digital ecosystems and environments. Tokens will bridge web2, web3, IRL, and the IoT.
Two core bridges to a tokenized future
Since 2017, Smart Token Labs has been building two core bridges to a tokenized future — TokenScript as a smart token interface and AlphaWallet as a super user agent for smart tokens.
TokenScript will set a new standard for token composability in a Web3 where tokens will be as ubiquitous as web pages. Tokens will also be the primary objects of ownership, identity, and transaction.
TokenScript overcomes a core limitation of today’s Web3 ecosystem. When DApps are used as the token interface, token utility is limited. Transaction and integration logic locked in the DApp layer brings the same composability, security, and availability issues as Web2.
TokenScript introduces a smart token interface so that the knowledge about the token and smart contract logic exists in a portable interface. This dramatically increases token utility. It brings context, security, interoperability, and composability to tokens. With unlimited logic and endless composability, it will help deliver the promise of Web3 as a fully integrated web with a seamless user experience
AlphaWallet is the only 100% open source wallet in an ecosystem that has centralized around a few key players.
Wallets are going to be the super user agents of Web3. They hold tokens that represent who you are, what you have, and what you have done. Services can be integrated via tokens into User Agents. We are rapidly moving beyond transactions to User Agents as your personal Web3 integration platform.
AlphaWallet is the most forked wallet on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem and the first open source wallet that uses the Secure Enclave on mobile phones since 2019. It is the counterbalance to centrally controlled wallets and the primary, market tested, open source alternative.
AlphaWallet will be the super user agent for builders and users.
The pivot moment is fast approaching
We see strong signals that the market understands the limitations of DApps and that smart tokens are the new primitive upon which Web3 will be built. We have been building to this future for 4 years and are very excited to be scaling TokenScript and AlphaWallet via NFTs, gaming, and the Metaverse.
We believe the pivot moment for building web3 is almost upon us.
To follow the Smart Token Labs projects
- TokenScript Twitter: https://twitter.com/TokenScript
- AlphaWallet Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlphaWallet
