Tim Berners-Lee might be looking for Bitcoin

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Tim Berners-Lee, the man known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, wants to re-create the internet. Berners-Lee says the internet we use today has several problems, and that the goal of his new startup Inrupt is to create a better version of the web.

“The public are getting fed up with certain things,” said Berners-Lee, “they’re getting fed up with the lack of control, the silos…it’s the lack of empowerment, they want to do stuff, they want to collaborate with people.”

Tim Berners-Lee goes on to describe the features that the new internet he is creating will have, such as, a single sign-on for any service, personal data that is controlled by the user, and person-to-person sharing. The more Berners-Lee goes on to describe the new internet he is building, the more it sounds like Metanet and Bitcoin.

Tim is still unaware of Metanet, despite my unanswered emails. Shame, as I'd love to reunite and work together.https://t.co/xmp8tQTZ3a

— Roy Murphy (@murphsicles) January 13, 2021

Why reinvent the wheel?

Bitcoin already has the infrastructure in place for the new internet that Berners-Lee describes. Bitcoin even has companies building out the features that Berners-Lee says his new internet will have. Maxthon’s VBox is a blockchain-based identity system that accomplishes much more than Berners-Lee’s single sign-on idea for Inrupt. And by default, Bitcoin connects individuals peer-to-peer allowing them to share data, ideas, and value with one another.

The tools to create the internet that Berners-Lee envisions already exist—there is no reason for him to build this infrastructure from the ground up. What Berners-Lee should consider is implementing Bitcoin into his stack; it would allow his team at Inrupt to reach their destination at a faster-rate considering Bitcoin already exists and does all the things Berners-Lee is looking to do. 

Bitcoin empowers people

As Berners-Lee said, internet-users are getting fed up with the lack of empowerment they have—Bitcoin solves this. Bitcoin puts the power into the hands of its users and gives them full ownership over the value they create—whether that be data, intellectual property, or the monetary aspects of their lives.

The blockchain, as a public, verifiable, immutable source of truth is one of the best mediums to use when looking to put power into the hands of users. The level of transparency that the blockchain ledger creates makes it hard for business giants to undercut consumers since all of their actions are recorded on-chain.

When it comes to user empowerment, creating a transparent system, as well as reducing costs and transaction settlement time, developers should give Bitcoin a try—because there’s a good chance that Bitcoin is the solution to the problems they are looking to solve.

See also: Dr. Craig Wright’s presentation at CoinGeek Live, How One World Blockchain Powers a New Future for Computing & Cloud System

https://youtu.be/36MRO2izj6I