Your crypto wallet is the key to your Web3 identity

Digital identity has been a busy topic since the earliest days of the internet. Web2 bridged the gap between people’s offline lives, online identities and creative and consumer habits, which has given way to a thoroughly integrated internet experience designed to be as personal and targeted as possible. As a new phase of virtual interaction and digital identity emerges on the horizon – one even more interconnected than Web2 – we need to reconsider personalization and ownership with an eye for what worked and didn’t work in the Web2 world.

Although there is no blueprint for the Web3 identity procedure, we can predict the path that digital identity in the metaverse will follow. This path is already taking shape.

All you know, decentralized

Virtually every aspect of the internet as we know it is ripe for decentralization. Chat and messaging services are private and encrypted, browsing is incognito, and transactions take place between individual bank accounts (albeit mediated by an intermediary) – all signs point to a system that is user-controlled and addresses the individual instead of the collective.

The rise of the internet is also not the first time we have seen this progression. The radio began as a series of AM stations, gradually expanded to include FM, and then developed satellite features that provided universal access to a variety of stations. Web3 and the way identity functions within it are roughly correlated with satellite radio. So, in the history of modern communication systems, the arc bends towards decentralization.

In this new space, a person’s crypto wallet will be the key to establishing a presence in the metaverse, from serving as an entrance to games to helping them build collections of non-fungable tokens (NFT) to letting them do business. . Crypto wallets will be connected to everything users already do on the internet and in all online activities that come.

Related: Web3 is crucial for data sovereignty in the metaverse

The future of ID (entity)

People accustomed to traditional markets can be confused, intimidated and even deterred by the crypto-based ownership revolution. But it is the means (identification), not the goals (identity), that change.

A user’s crypto wallet will act as a key and gain access to all their domains, property, NFTs and other virtual properties. Should they lose the key, they will have to wait until the period expires to renew it. That said, the wallet will be so integrated into everyone’s online identity that there will hardly be a total loss, and there are companies that are actively developing solutions to combat such losses.

Identity will not be transformed by itself, but also in relation to ownership. For example, cryptocurrencies will have a hand in buying web domains. Third-party administrators such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will no longer have control over users’ ability to purchase or create a subdomain (TLD), and users will not need to request permission to do so themselves. Domain ownership will recently become permanent; even the embossing of a subdomain from a previously owned TLD will give a user indefinite ownership of that subdomain.

All this will only be possible through a crypto wallet. With the hype we’ve seen around metaverse and NFTs, Ethereum and other wallet addresses will be the primary channel for accumulating virtual wealth.

Related: Identity and metaverse: Decentralized control

But what about Web2?

All this is not to say that Web2 will become completely or instantly obsolete. It will not disappear, but it will be integrated into Web3 rooms. For example, domain ownership will be backward compatible with ICANN standards, which means that individual owners will achieve the same legitimacy as they did in the past by acquiring a domain through ICANN.

Services like PayPal will of course continue to exist: These accounts will eventually be linked to a wallet address instead of an email address. This shift is already taking place across regular financial platforms and retailers.

Streamlined and accessible

Given the possibilities of cryptocurrencies, the future of domain acquisition and digital identity will pair a mindset for collective benefits of individual ownership. It will revolutionize the way we identify. Domain name service (DNS) records, which are used to track URLs to IP addresses, have so far been necessary for solvers, but this solution will occur naturally in a fully realized Web3 environment. Similarly, many of the extra steps needed in Web2 ownership and identification processes will be unnecessary.

These changes will eventually result in unchanging proof of identity on the blockchain. When a user buys a property, whether it is a domain or an NFT, they will own it; no organization can withdraw or tamper with this ownership. The main goal is accessibility across the metaverse. We need to develop systems that promote viability, practicality and utility to create an Internet that works for everyone.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading movements involve risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.