Blockchains, Tokens, NFTs, oh my.
We keep hearing these terms, seeing the speculative pricing mania, and being invited to their conferences.
“But, where is the actual utility?
The value?”
“I hear about the tech's benefits, but why don’t I see it?”
Most people (not building in the space) would be right to ask these questions.
Progress has been really fast…
Buuut…
Also really slow.
Really fast in that central banks are using the technology to create sovereign digital currencies.
Really slow in that no real consumer applications have taken off.
Everything is still being built at the infrastructure level.
One thing is for sure; there is a lot of testing and data being recorded.
Data is a subject you don’t hear much about, but it’s a MASSIVE category.
Let’s depart OZ and take a journey down the data rabbit hole.
Most people understand blockchains as a public resource that enables the digital transfer of value. Tokens, stablecoins, and NFTs are all examples of this value and create vast amounts of data each time they are exchanged.
This data is an untapped gold mine waiting to be utilized.
That is, once it becomes accessible.
You may think you can get to it, right? Just head to Etherscan.io, type in the contract address and…
Wallah! Data.
Unless you’ve got deep knowledge of how to normalize that data, I doubt it would be much use to you.
Web3 is currently analogous to web2 before Google. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, you can find it. If you have less than an exact idea, good luck.
Stick with me, Alice.
To better understand these concepts, we’ll follow the advice of the dodo:
The best way to explain it, is to do it…
You start a new fintech company called BDE Inc. BDE processes on-chain grant payments between the federal government and startup space companies.
Hundreds of transactions occur between the participating entities. Project milestones, deposits, withdrawals, and timestamps are all recorded on-chain. BDE establishes a new means of public audibility and accountability between public/private partnerships.
However, unless you’re an engineer, auditing the data proves difficult due to the state in which the data is stored. Just as complex is to search for specific transactions.
Etherscan Data for Decentraland
Anyone interested in auditing the data must develop their version of Google to make the data useable.
Welcome to the transparency paradox. Publicly available data that is virtually impossible to use.
Why are these key infrastructure components, indexing, and search, missing from web3?
How do we resolve this paradox and make the information more readily accessible without building thousands of independent solutions?
It’s simply impassable!
Do you mean impossible?
No. Nothing is impossible, just temporarily impassable.
Yes, a temporary impasse for sure, but not impossible, Alice.
Come, let’s head to the Magic City of Miami…
Sitting on your third-floor balcony overlooking South Beach, you purchase the ENS domain BDE.eth as a speculative trade. You believe it has a high potential to attract an eventual startup in the space industry.
After purchasing the domain, you get to work on finding that buyer.
You start with data. You believe the likely buyer will have an existing interest or link to web3 so you head to the Indexing Company to begin your search.
Using simple search functionality like you would with Google, you decide to index all the registered Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains via the Ethereum blockchain.
You download all 1.6 million ENS registrants and begin to look for patterns in the data. Of the 1.6 million ENS registrations, you find 72,500 (4.5%) filled in at least one text field. Honing in on your target, you discover of the 72,500 registrants that entered at least one text field, 15,895 entered an email address.
Bingo.
You sort through the emails based on domain keywords. Any domain linked to a space exploration startup (directly or indirectly: distributor, investor, advisor) is added to your outreach list.
After a few emails, phone calls, and Zoom meetings, you make the sale, purchase a Lambo, and become Mr. BDE of South Beach.
With an indexing/search tool, people can access on-chain data much more easily. This will lead to a number of new projects building in the space and make it easier to onboard people who are used to navigating web2.