As a popular track in the past two years, many DID projects have been born both domestically and internationally. However, up to now, most of them have not found good landing scenarios and have become the needs of "project parties" and "capital parties" rather than the needs of users. So as users, what kind of DID do we really need? (Original article Mirror link: https://mirror.xyz/arthurwu.eth/PgbmWx5A5soL6Y9G0gjmvza-U36JI2xNXK-N07a2Pw0)
What is DID#
DID stands for Decentralized Identity, which is a decentralized identity. The difference between it and the identity in the Web2 network lies in the fact that it changes the existing identity verification system and returns the ownership, control, and management of digital identity to the user. The core goal of DID is to create a unique "identity verification" on the chain.
For users, I believe that a successful DID needs to solve two problems, namely "Who are you?" and "What value do you have?"
Web2 vs Web3#
In Web2, we call it ID, but essentially it is the user's identity verification at the network level. Therefore, let's discuss the similarities and differences between the two in Web2 and Web3.
ID in Web2#
In the real world, your identity is defined by your "ID card". In the Web2 network, your identity is defined by your "ID".
When you use Web2 services, your ID is usually logged in with a large platform account, such as using a WeChat account or a mobile phone account in China, or using a Google/FB/TW account or an email account abroad. The combination of large platform accounts, mobile phone numbers, and email addresses basically covers more than 95% of the application scenarios for ordinary users.
However, during the use, you will find that there are two problems that have not been solved:
- First: These account information is not interoperable. As an individual, although you know that you are the same person, you need multiple identity verifications in the network (e.g., WeChat thinks you are one person, and Google thinks you are another person).
- Second: Accounts lack "semantic" information. To be precise, other people cannot intuitively perceive "who you are" through your account (except for some very famous celebrities who directly use their own names as IDs).
Essentially, the ID in the Web2 network only completes the work of "verification and access". With this ID, users can enter the Web2 network world. However, if you want other users to truly understand you, you still need to complete a series of interactive operations with them, which can be summarized as follows:
- First, establish a communication channel.
- Second, ask about your educational background, personal resume, hobbies, etc.
- Third, based on the content of the communication, further evidence is needed through other information (e.g., resume, endorsements from relevant acquaintances, etc.).
Therefore, in the Web2 network, verifying "who you are" is far from enough with just an ID. It also requires "complex information communication" and "supporting evidence based on other information".
After users have identity verification, the urgent question is: "What value do you have?" The most valuable part of the Web2 network is the user's data. In theory, the more user data a commercial company covers, the greater its commercial value. Similarly, for individuals, according to the above business logic, if we want to increase our personal value in the Web2 network, we need to increase the "number of followers" under our personal account (identity).
Let's take a practical example. Cristiano Ronaldo's Instagram account in the football world, for example, has more than 500 million followers, and the value of an advertising post is worth $1.6 million. After Ronaldo joined the Al Nassr football team, the official Instagram account of the team doubled its number of followers within hours.
This is the ultimate embodiment of personal value under a Web2 account.
Here, let's draw a big picture of the Web2 network. The large circle represents the entire Web2 network, which is composed of various major app applications. Each small circle represents a major app, and each small circle is composed of smaller circles. The smaller circles here represent each user in the Web2 network. In this picture, you will notice a few points:
- In the Web2 network, the major applications are independent and do not affect each other, which means that the value of users is fragmented (e.g., the value on Instagram will be diluted or even useless when you switch to another platform).
- The platform owns your data, and your value is defined by the platform (e.g., why is an advertising post by Cristiano Ronaldo worth $1.6 million instead of $3.2 million? Who decides this?).
In summary, we can see that although users have an ID identity in the Web2 network, the problems of "Who are you?" and "What value do you have?" have not been well solved for the general public.
DID in Web3#
Compared with Web2, does Web3 have a better solution?
Let's first look at the existing DID projects on the market, which can be roughly divided into four categories:
- Off-chain identity authentication: As the name suggests, it binds the user's off-chain information to the on-chain address. The problem with this approach is that off-chain behavior cannot be verified on-chain. Projects that have tried in this field include BrightID, which uses video face recognition to achieve "unique real-person identity binding" and is aimed at the requirement of "one person, one account" for many Web3 projects.
- On-chain identity aggregation: Instead of focusing on off-chain information, it aggregates and manages the user's on-chain information. Unipass is a representative project in this field. With a Unipass ID, users can bind their email, multiple ETH addresses, and related Web3 application layer protocols (e.g., RSS3, CyberConnect, etc.).
- On-chain credit rating: This category aims to bring the financial credit mechanism in the Web2 world to Web3 in order to improve the resource allocation efficiency of DeFI. ARCx is a representative project in this field. It quantifies the credibility of the on-chain address of each DeFI Passport holder based on their credit score. The credit score is determined by analyzing the historical activities of the holder's Ethereum address and ranges from 0 to 999. This credit score determines the mortgage rate provided by the protocol to the user. This type of project focuses on the "financial" field and does not consider other fields, so the application scenarios are relatively limited, and it cannot become a universal solution.
- On-chain behavior authentication: This type of project is different from the above three types. The above three types mainly evaluate the user's identity status in a static way, while this type of project dynamically adds relevant behavioral data to the identity status (e.g., if you have taken a certain course and obtained an NFT, it will be added to your identity status). Galxe (formerly Project Galaxy) is a representative project in this field. After the user connects their wallet, a "Galaxy ID" will be generated, and the certificate will be automatically attached to the address's historical behavior data. Its application scenarios are more focused on helping other project parties build better products and communities using credential data.
Let's go back to the two questions of "Who are you?" and "What value do you have?". The above four categories of Web3 DID projects have not solved them well either.
- Regarding "Who are you?": Through the user's on-chain behavioral data, you may know that the other party is a holder of BAYC, but you don't know if they bought it for the price or for the community culture behind it. And more comprehensive user profile information cannot be directly displayed to others. You may also hold BAYC, so you are willing to communicate with the other party, but you still need to spend an hour communicating to have a deeper understanding of each other.
- Regarding "What value do you have?": Compared to the value fragmentation in Web2, it is indeed possible to achieve unity in the Web3 network, but users in this network are still not "valued". We can see that almost all Web3 users who advocate personal value landing are on Twitter, and then we return to the anchor of measuring user value with "number of followers" in Web2.
Is there a product that can allow user A to have a preliminary understanding of user B when they see each other? Previously, it took about an hour of in-depth communication to know who the other person is, but with this product, we can compress the time to 30 minutes or even 10 minutes?
Is there a product that can make users their own value without relying on media apps as carriers for secondary reception? When we need to find a specific user, we can inquire this product, and the product will directly list the corresponding real and valid results, thereby generating C2C transactions.
Ideas & Thoughts#
Currently, Web2 and Web3 are separate, and many Web3 projects are thinking about how to allow Web2 users to enter Web3 at a low cost. Why is that? Because Web2 has a large amount of traffic, with millions of DAU-level products everywhere, while Web3 products, even with tens of thousands of DAU, are considered impressive. However, there are few successful cases. StepN and Axie can be considered breakthroughs, attracting some Web2 users, but the logic is "CX, can make users earn money".
When users know that they can "earn money", the obstacles of the so-called Web2 or Web3 platforms are not that great. But what about besides "earning money"? If it involves making users understand the different concepts and values of Web3 and Web2, it's basically impossible.
Returning to DID, the DID that users need should not be limited to Web2 or Web3 platforms, but should combine the advantages of both and ultimately solve the two problems of "identity" and "value". Through this function, users can seamlessly enter Web3 and enjoy the benefits brought by Web3.
In the next part, I will propose some personal ideas and thoughts on the above two questions, hoping to stimulate more input and opinions.