brxyz | you + me + web3

What kind of Web3 blog would this be if we didn't cover cryptocurrency? At this point, you've likely heard of it, and you've likely heard a lot about it. You've probably heard about people becoming millionaires overnight because of crypto. Conversely, you've probably heard of a lot of scams involving crypto. But of course none of those stories tell you what it is. So, WTF is cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is a type of digital money. It is different from regular money because it doesn't have a physical form, and it's not controlled by a government or a bank. Instead, it's based on something called a blockchain, which is a digital ledger that keeps track of all the transactions. While there are thousands of cyrptocurrencies out there, we're just going to start with three. Bitcoin Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that allows for peer-to-peer transactions without the need for a centralized intermediary like a bank. Transactions are recorded on a publi...

I started this blog with the purpose of explaining Web3 concepts (and maybe some adjacent topics) in simple terms for the less technical among us. If you've been following - thanks, by the way - you may have noticed I like to post every Thursday and Sunday. For my Sunday post, I was hoping to break down cryptocurrency, but given all that's happened since Friday, I'd feel remiss if I didn't make this post a bit more topical. I appreciate all two of you guys' patience. So, WTF is SVB and USDC? Silicon Valley Bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a financial institution that provides services to technology companies, particularly startups. It was founded in 1983 and has become known as one of the most prominent banks for tech startups. The bank's services include banking, lending, and investment services, all tailored to the needs of tech companies. In recent years, SVB has been experiencing financial difficulties. In 2020, the bank had to take a $110 million loan loss...

If you've been following along, I've been covering different iterations and developments of the internet. In my first post , I specifically covered Web3 and the vision for a decentralized internet. Some of the primary technologies behind that vision are blockchains. Which I'm sure leads you to ponder, "WTF are blockchains?" Blockchain is a way of storing information in a secure and decentralized manner. Think of it like a digital ledger that records transactions between people or organizations. The ledger is shared and updated by many people, making it difficult to manipulate or change any one entry without everyone knowing. One of the key features of blockchain is its use of cryptography, which is another way of saying that the information is encoded in such a way that makes it very difficult to decipher without the right key. This makes blockchain a very secure way of storing sensitive information like financial transactions or personal data. To keep the blockch...

In my first post , I compared Web3 to Web 2.0, and how the vision of Web3 developers is to move us away from Web 2.0's centralized platforms. It occurred to me, though, that some of you may want a primer on what Web 2.0 actually is. So here we go. Web 2.0 is a term that describes the second generation of the internet. It began around the year 2000, and it has changed the way we use the internet today. Before Web 2.0, most websites were like one-way streets: you could read information, but you couldn't interact with it. You couldn't leave comments, upload videos or pictures, or share information with other people. In other words, it was "read only". But with Web 2.0, all that changed. One of the main tenets of Web 2.0 is user-generated content. This means that regular people like you and me can create and share content on the internet. We can post pictures and videos, write blog posts, and leave comments on other people's content. This has led to a much more in...

In my previous post , we discussed the history and characteristics of Web3 and how it compares to Web 2.0. You may have been left wondering, though, why is it "Web3" and not "Web 3.0"? The simple answer is Web 3.0 was already taken. While Web3 refers to the decentralized web, Web 3.0 is used to refer to the Semantic Web . Now you're probably asking, "WTF is the Semantic Web?" Imagine the internet as a giant library with billions of pages of information. And just like in a library, it can be hard to find the right book or article you need. That's where the Semantic Web comes in. The idea of the Semantic Web started in the 1990s with a man named Tim Berners-Lee, who also happens to be the inventor of the World Wide Web. He wanted to make it easier for people to find information online by adding more meaning to the content. The Semantic Web is based on the idea of adding extra information to web pages, so that computers can understand the meaning of t...

So you’ve heard of Web3, but you’re having trouble making heads or tails of it, right? Ponder no more. I’ve managed to conjure up something just north of a middle school book report on what Web3 is in hopes to begin to unravel some questions for you. Web3 is a new idea for how the internet could work in the not-too-distant future. To understand Web3, we first need to talk about the internet as it exists today, which is sometimes called Web 2.0. In Web 2.0, the internet is made up of big companies that control most of the information and services that we use online. These companies have a lot of power and influence, and they can sometimes use our data in ways that we don't like or agree with. For example, they might sell our information to advertisers, or use algorithms to show us content that we might not actually want to see. Web3 is a different vision for the internet, one that puts more power back in the hands of individuals. The basic idea of Web3 is that instead of relying on ...