Blockchain Router: Path To A Decentralized Internet?

Often I like to write about things that are potential disruptions. I do this because I follow technological trends and feel, now more than ever, they have an impact on business and investing. We are going to see a lot of major changes over the next 10-15 years, changes I am not sure many see nor are prepared for.

One of the biggest innovations in the last 100 years is the Internet. What started out with grand dreams of vast improvement for all of humanity quickly turned into a centralized model that ended up controlled by a handful of mega technology companies.

That probably was a natural outcome since, when the Internet started, there were only a handful of people on the planet who understand what it was. The technological capabilities of the population was rather low.

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Fast forward 25-30 years and we see a lot more people who are advanced in this area. Developers are all over the place and many of them have the ability to cause major disruptions. This is leading to attacks on those areas that are deemed hindrances to humanity.

I believe the centralization of the Internet is going to rapidly decline. This will put some of the controlling entities in a major bind. Their business models are based upon the monetization of that control. If something changes, they could be facing a very difficult period.

Web 3.0 is going to change a lot of things. I will not get into what that looks like in this article since I cover it so often. However, one thing I will saw is this is an evolution of the Internet that is moving away from the control state.

Andrey Yushkevich is one of the creative minds that I was describing about. He introduced a product at this year's CES show that seeks to open the Internet up in a way that was never seen before. Instead of using the typical protocols, this accesses files on IPFS to bring up web pages.

Think of IFPS as BitTorrent, but for the entire Internet, the 33-year-old Brooklyn, New York-based creator of Blockchain Router told Decrypt. Instead of downloading, say, information from The Pirate Bay’s server, you’d download the site from a peer to peer network that’s distributed across thousands of computers. That means the website is nearly impossible to shut down.

The idea is to create an Internet that cannot be take down. By using IPFS, files are pulled from thousands of computers around the world. It is basic file sharing, but on steroids.

The Blockchain Router functions as a normal router does, but accesses the decentralized web when the user enters a URL ending in “.eth”. Then the router, which comes with an Ethereum node installed, uses the Ethereum blockchain—specifically, the Ethereum Name Service—to shorten links to websites hosted on IPFS.

For instance, the website for Elon Musk’s SpaceX project is hosted on IPFS. So when you type in SpaceX.eth, Blockchain Router will decode it into a 32-byte link, look up the website on a blockchain, verify it, and download the site, piece by piece, from a bunch of nodes in the network.

https://decrypt.co/16524/a-new-easier-way-to-access-web3-the-blockchain-router

This combines the blockchain key system with the website to bring up the content. Essentially, the data is spread across a variety of computers and the key accesses the "wallet".

Please do not mistake this as an endorsement for this project or the fundraising it is presently undertaking. I provide this for informational purposes.

However, it is best to begin thinking about the impact something like this will have. This, I am certain, is just one project of many that is focused upon creating a decentralized Internet. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people around the world working on this situation. Eventually, someone will come up with the solution that starts to reach broad acceptance.

Investing timelines can often be long range. Unfortunately, the idea of buying a stock and letting it sit for 20 years might not be the best approach. This is especially true of those companies that are leaders yet use the present system as a defense. That barrier might not be there in a few short years.

Companies that rely on controlled ecosystems might have trouble as we go through these technological transitions. People are going to have more choices which means they will be harder to lock in. Quite simply, the incentives for switching might be too great.

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