Author: Spike, researcher at ThePrimedia
Original editor: Jerry Crypto, founder of ThePrimedia
DID：Decentralized Identity❎
DID:Dissociative Identity Disorder✔️
When we search for the word DID in Google, the first thing that pops up is its medical explanation - multiple personality disorder, not the concept of decentralized identity that we are familiar with. Compared with concepts such as DeFi, GameFi, NFT, and DAO, DID is an extremely neglected field that has not attracted enough attention from investment institutions and technology developers.
In the context of calling the richer and more diverse ecosystem based on Web 3 a decentralized society (DeSoc), we believe that DID is a key link in building DeSoc—realizing Web 3 native applications. Previously, we had hoped that the unique characteristics of NFT non-homogeneous Token could complete the users identity and asset confirmation in Web 3. But in fact, some NFT artists and creators are suffering from plagiarism and fraud. Not Web 3.
Creating a shared, flexible, and resilient identity layer is imperative: the DID is the backbone through which all digital elements flow. As DID is adopted by more users and Dapps, the processing authority of all digital elements must be in the hands of individual users. Users will not be limited to a single application ecosystem, and users do not need to be trapped in multiple applications. In the mist of individual account and password records; and only on the basis of DID empowerment, Web3 applications such as DeFi, GameFi, NFT and DAO, as well as grand future scenarios such as DeSoc and Metaverse, will bloom more exciting and even are great narratives—a topic to be discussed in the next article.
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Previous: The only way
All links are DID. This is an infrastructure where users control their own identity and asset permissions, and it becomes the only way for users to enter the Web3 era.
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DID classification
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Front-end interface: Take MetaMask as an example
The reason why the wallet is classified as DID is that before interacting with the Dapp, the wallet has already completed steps such as address verification, on-chain identity authentication, application signature authorization, and even real KYC information.
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Metamask Volume, source: Dune
The question is do we have to do this?
In fact, the biggest problem with the wallet as a log-in device is the sensitivity of censorship, which comes from two points. First, the main interaction object of the wallet is still DeFi applications, and the regulatory pressure is increasing day by day. A regulated entrance may make We avoid the next UST-Luna crash, but this is obviously not the mainstream direction of Web 3.0 social networking; second, during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Metamask banned IP addresses from Russia and Belarus, if we hate Facebook for violating our personal Embracing DID and Web 3.0 because of factors, then we again choose a same species lacks logical rationality.
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Wallets such as Metamask are basically the default login tools for all Web 3.0 applications
First of all, wallet service providers have the internal motivation to develop towards DID. Because the battle for traffic is still going on, a typical example is that Metamask launched Metamask Swap, with 1,246,780 independent addresses, and Metamask directly supports the purchase of cryptocurrencies with fiat currency, which is actually robbing the interests of DEX and CEX. If Web 3.0 continues to develop, there is no reason for wallet applications not to grab this part of the traffic.
Secondly, as the direct wrapping layer of the address on the chain, the wallet itself has a natural expansion tendency to carry all the entrances. From the experience of Web 2.0, the success of the expansion of the platform economy is inseparable from the richness and integration of functions, and the address on the chain does not belong to the wallet, so it may not be impossible to take the essence and discard the dross.
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Web 2 Thinking Continuation: Social Media Accounts
Human beings are creatures with the inertia of historical thinking. If a kind of thinking exists in the past, it is very likely to live in the present and the future. This kind of thinking does not seem new at all, but in fact this situation exists widely in real life, such as the TCP/IP protocol, which is the earliest Internet infrastructure, but we have entered the Web 3.0 world, and it is difficult to directly replace this kind of agreement.
Based on the possibility that such a situation exists, we expect social media to be the DID of Web 3.0.Under the guidance of this idea, it can be divided into two paths:
Web 3.0 native social media represented by lens protocol
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LensFrens main interface
If the number of users rolls up, social networking will bring about a snowball effect, and it will be natural to become a mainstream DID tool in an instant. The problem is that social applications have a considerable degree of user stickiness. Musk has announced his withdrawal from Twitter many times, but then he will return and even buy Twitter instead of lens protocol.
In essence, the promotion of DID and Web 3.0 social tools is a philosophical question of whether there is a chicken or an egg first. Users will not choose you to abandon Twitter just because you are Web 3.0. However, quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, and there will always be a critical point. At present, it is necessary to complete the dual education of users and the market before it is possible to truly see the formation of DID. From this point of view, the exploration of Lens Protocol has pioneering significance.
A plug-in social media aggregation tool that combines Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 represented by Mask network
Mask Network is not a representative of new forces. We mainly absorb its ideas. If it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to directly promote Web 3.0 native applications, it is possible to directly integrate existing social applications and promote Web 3.0 based on them.
At first glance, this idea is very clever. It is equivalent to Cheng Xins five-kilogram universe. Everyone steals a little bit of contacts and content from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and finally adds up to attract everyone into the new Web 3.0 world, and Mask Network will also become the de facto DID, and it will be a double entrance and exit linking the two worlds.
However, there are problems in the aggregation tool itself. The user population and content orientation of different social tools are not the same. Aggregation will only increase invalid links, and will not really generate real users who are willing to contribute content to the new platform.
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True to its name: Lander Unipass
ThePrimedias arrangement of the loggers that best meet the concept of DID in the center section is intentional - I hope that we dont talk about DID about DID, dont stick to the list of applications and slogan-style sermons, but focus on the functions of the product. Starting from the wallet, then talking about the DID of the social tool itself, and then advancing to the logger itself, it expresses the idea that DID is more attached to Web 3.0, which is a consistent view.
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Source: Unipass
To put it simply, Unipass can be regarded as a decentralized version of Microsoft Authenticator, which is the product that best meets the definition of DID. It starts with personal identification and login functions to build its own products.
Unipass can be viewed from these two perspectives. The first is do individuals need an independent DID tool that is different from the address on the chain? There is actually a problem with the address on the chain as an identity identifier. Different chains may be different. The most typical is that Bitcoin and Ethereum need two. Many users have had enough of account and password record books. In the future, entering an interoperable and integrated Web3 ecosystem will inevitably require an identity center, which has the central function of mastering all digital elements of users. From this perspective, it makes sense to use a separate DID as an entry.
Second, can the new DID form replace the wallet as the default login tool? If the first point is optimistic, this one is pessimistic. The growth of wallets, especially Metamask, as the default login tool is the result of fierce market competition. The starting point is that everyone has the need to safely hold their own assets away from exchanges. This is a real and widespread need.
But the lander does not have the function of depositing assets. There will be a difference between a user using a certain logger alone and many Web 3.0 applications uniformly supporting a certain logger. If this problem is to be solved, the loggers must first communicate with each other, or support a unified , Standard interactive protocol. From the current point of view, we can only say that there is still a long way to go for marketing and user habit cultivation.
Moreover, the logger needs to strike a balance between the light and the heavy. If the product form is too simple, it will be too replaceable, and it is difficult to really form the precipitation of the number of users; but if it is too heavy, add additions to the login , such as increasing support for assets, increasing support for social content, then there will be a direct conflict of interest with these applications. This is an open topic, and we look forward to seeing more intelligent developers give effective practices and explorations.
Others: domain name, email address
As the end of this section, briefly discuss whether personal identities based on ENS and mailboxes may develop into DIDs.
- What is the main function of ENS?
The domain name of the personal Web 3.0 website ❌
Twitter suffix ✅
This is of course a joke. The main reason is that building a personal website is actually a technical task. Even when various cloud and other SaaS tools are very complete, it is still time-consuming and laborious. After deployment, continuous maintenance is required, including ENS domain names. You have to continue to pay for it yourself, just like you bought a luxury car with gritted teeth, but found that the maintenance fee is still unaffordable.
This feature determines that the domain name is only suitable for users such as institutions and geeks. The technical threshold prevents most people from using this product freely. If it is used as a DID, it is more suitable for institutional users to interact with individuals.
- Wheres the mailbox?
There is no problem with the login function of the mailbox, but it is only suitable as a peer-to-peer communication tool. Sending emails and tweeting itself are different usage scenarios. Sending emails in groups and then recycling information is not suitable for daily communication, but more suitable for formal actions and marketing tools.
After talking about so many possible entrances, understand why a DID is necessarily required - or is it necessarily correct to assume that a DID is an entrance? At present, we use social software such as WeChat and e-commerce platforms such as Taobao. These software and the ecology formed by them have brought us into the real Web2.0 era by virtue of their convenience.
