Secure Your Web 3.0 Domains and Usernames
It's time to look beyond the "crypto" in cryptocurrency, and see all the other core web2.0 features being mimicked and replaced.
It’s been said ad nauseam:
“Bitcoin is fad.”
“Crypto is a scam.”
“It’s only used as a black market for crooks and thieves.”
“The Crypto Bubble(tm) will burst because it’s tulips mania all over again.”
Yet, despite several (dramatic) bubble bursts in 2013 and 2017, the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies exceeds 2 trillion dollars. Skeptics are certain that the next crash will be the last one. When this inevitably happens, their hope is that all the rampant speculation and scams will be gone for good.
Still, what if it doesn’t? What if there is some merit to crypto being the next evolution of technology? What if crypto auguments (or replaces) the Internet as we know it? What if the web 3.0 stack augments (or replaces) all web 2.0 usernames and domains?
Sure, web 2.0 .com domains will remain important and valuable for the next decade. Some will continue to sell for 7-8 figures. However, what happens when Ethereum becomes the single sign-on of web 3.0? It sounds crazy, but there are already major inroads to this happening. Millions of Metamask users can one-click sign, which allows users to transport their identify from service to service.
If this new world comes to fruition, your .com domains will have less and less importance. True, today’s browsers will still load and render them. Search engines will still index and prioritize them. However, what happens when crypto wallet becomes the search engine to other web 3.0 dApps and domains?
In this world, having web 3.0 native domains (e.g. .eth, .btc, .sol, .crypto, etc) will be critical. They will serve as the pointers by which people find you, and how you will find them. They will not only be the wallet for your currency, but serve as the holder of your digital identity.
I can hear the skeptics scoff. So let’s say that you think this is all a bunch of horse shit. Fine. People back in the 90s had the possibility of buying domains like abc.com for a a few hundred dollars. Now, if someone owns a 3-letter .com domain, they are unlikely to sell for less than a million dollars. The same will be true if Ethereum succeeds in being the next internet. Squatters will buy up domains of celebrities and common words and secure their place in the next digital real estate. We already saw Budweiser buy beer.eth for $100,000.
The best part? Buying these Web 3.0 domains costs as little as $5/year + the transaction costs on a given network. I recently purchased mine on Ethereum for a 10-year period. Having spent almost $2,000 to secure Manelius.com a few years ago, it was a no brainer.
If you or your business relies on a web 2.0 domain presence, you owe it to yourself to secure your spot in web 3.0 while it’s cheap and available.
If crypto is all a scam and blows up, you’ll be out a couple hundred bucks. However, if it all takes off… you won’t be fighting to buy your spot back in the next web.