July 28, 2018 4 min read

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From banking to logistics, distributed ledger technology aka blockchain is leading the digital revolution across industries and sector. You name the sector and there will at least a couple of uses cases of the technology.

While the world is busy dubbing blockchain as Internet 2.0, Joseph Lubin, Co-founder of Ethereum and Founder of Consensys thinks of it as the Web 3.0.

If you are wondering if the web and internet is the same thing, well let’s break the bubble. The internet is the network of network while the web is the medium of accessing information from the internet

Coming back to the blockchain, in a conversation with Entrepreneur India, Lubin discusses the potential of the technology, India’s role in this revolution and what Ethereum’s got here to offer.

Worldwide Web

Lubin feels the distributed ledger technology is an evolution of the internet and web protocols, however, it is a lot like web 2.0 which includes e-commerce, social, mobile and informational aspects but the architecture here is very different.

Carving out the difference between the technology and web 2.0, he explains, “blockchain unlike the web 2.0 isn’t centralized and its identity is also very different as compared to the decentralized worldwide web architecture.”

He adds, “Instead of big companies setting up server systems to service us and often making use of our personal information and sometimes, exploiting or monetising it without adequately securing it, blockchain will enable us to build a decentralised application that doesn't rely on large intermediary or controller.”

In simpler terms, the technology will allow one to build applications in segments like legal, supply chain and ride-sharing where you adapt to the values of the web 2.0 ecosystem and yet build a network-based business model that everyone can participate in.

The Future of the Ledger

According to Lubin, blockchain as technology is ramifying in two direction - one where the governments, corporates and the central banks are using it to essentially to improve their infrastructure, which is trusted, shared with better cooperation.

While on the second side, the technology will be the rolling out of the decentralised worldwide web wherein there are literally thousands of projects that are building small components but yet it still in a very nascent stage.

“As building blocks getting more and more mature, entrepreneurs will be able to piece them together and develop applications to which people care about,” he noted

Talking about Ethereum’s plans at the protocol level, the co-founder said it will continue to improve with respect scalability and also, building privacy and confidentiality into the public blockchain systems.

“We are getting pretty good at doing privacy and confidentiality in the private context or in consortium but we still need to figure that out on the public blockchain systems. There are some great projects that are partially online and will be coming out very soon,” he said.

India Side of Trade

The serial entrepreneur’s company Consensys is also working several blockchain startups across the globe including India.

Discussing his international business, Lubin shares, “We are not coming into a region to extract value and move it cross borders to benefit some other companies. We are looking to serve as a catalyst for the technology sector, especially in the blockchain side of it.”

He believes Indian startups can add a lot of value to the blockchain revolution and therefore, Consensys is keen to support these companies through various activities like educating talent and even raising funds.

“Before blockchain, it was much more difficult to create a startup and have a global success and impact. It is incumbent on the talent here. With our capabilities, we are looking to shepherd projects to maturity and help domestic resources and startups,” he opined.

With blockchain as a new trustworthy database foundation is going to affect every industry profoundly as he explains, “My point here is the barriers to entry are dropping. Education is becoming prevalent and we are doing our best to spread education as much as possible. Hence, it is tough to point to a single niche which will be relevant to the Indian context.”