So over the weekend someone was asking me when Web3 domain names were going to take off? While being far from an expert on every little nook and cranny with regards to Web3 domains, my take was when the confusion ends.
Then I read this article this morning on CoinTelegraph “Web3 usernames may see greater adoption due to recent advancements.” Now the author addressed some of the problems with adoption in the Web3 domain space as well.
From Tom Blackstone long and detailed article on CoinTelegraph.com:
This fragmentation across chains can make integration difficult for wallets and block explorers and cause confusion for users. For example, suppose that a person’s Polygon username is newton.crypto. But when they go to register the same name on BNB Chain, they find that newton.bnb is already taken, so they register einstein.bnb instead. When a user looks at this person’s address on a block explorer, either name could appear, depending on which one the developer of the block explorer has chosen to display. And regardless of which one is displayed, it could cause confusion for users.
In this case for example, if a user wants to send crypto to newton.crypto via BNB Chain, they may easily send it to newton.bnb instead, which will turn out to be the wrong recipient.
A few Web3 companies are trying to fix this problem by creating a single name for each identity across multiple chains. For example, the Redefined app allows users to register for a username on Arbitrum One, but use it to receive funds on 8 other chains: Polygon, Optimism (OP), BNB Chain, Solana, Bitcoin (BTC), Fantom (FTM), Moonbeam (GLMR) and Near.
He does go on to point out that Cross-chain usernames are yet another new development that may spur greater adoption of Web3 usernames over time.
The question is does the general public outside the crypto and domain name space really care? Is it just too complicated for you grandmother, your father, etc…
I think that’s they key, I knew legacy domain names were going to be successful when my Mom who had no skills or knowledge technology wise was eager to get on the Internet in 1998. I think we need to see a lot of things come together and have universal standards before adoption takes off how those truly behind Web3 want.
Namescon this year has a great session on it. What’s stoping web 3 domains. A must see session for anyone sceptical about web3 domain adaption. (Spoiler alert, it doesn’t end well for web3 domains after the panel breakdown.)
I don’t think they have released it yet on video. Very eye opening about problems that web3 domains are facing.
Bitcoin is not a web3
Bitcoin is a Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency domains are big $$$
Cryptocurrency is a multiTrillion $ market
You make a good point about grandmothers and grandfathers they will never know what web 3 domains are and the public as a whole certainly doesn’t care.
When I watch television even sports shows occasionally someone like a Colin cowherd will mention nfts and mock them and talk about how people were idiots and losers to buy them so he has a greater audience than anyone in the domain industry so I would say that most people think oh that’s all just sketchy stuff that’s certainly not worth my time I don’t want to learn more.
There will never be Mass adoption of web 3 domain names people in crypto will probably like them and continue to use them and it’s great to have a short name rather than a long string of alphanumeric digits for your wallet but no the public will never care. How many people actually even know that us domain names in the United States I would say less than 25%.
The average person just wants something that is easy to use. If it is too complex, or doesn’t improve their lives, they won’t embrace it.
For instance you type a domain into a browser, and it works without the need for special software or settings.
The field is not that likely to reach significant usage until/unless that happens.
The truth is you just need some level of centralization for things to operate in the real world.
Brad
We should probably just stop referring to Web3 ‘domain names’ as domain names. They are not comparable. I still think they may find their own use case eventually, but typing them into the navigation bar of a mass market web browser is not one of them.
It seems everyone has failed to mention the largest contender for replacing the current TLD system and that is the Handshake protocol (https://handshake.org/faq). The benefits are widespread for use as websites addresses, SLD’s, and usernames for all web3 projects as well as having a simple path to obtaining widespread adoption through web browser integration (Opera & Brave).
With all current TLD’s and the top 100,000 Alexa ranked websites being reserved for the owners to claim, it’s in a good position to attract more market share as it becomes more well-known.
It won’t be difficult for the market to grasp how beneficial owning yourname/ will be when they see how easy it is to share their website, social platforms, and crypto addresses with a short and easy to understand TLD.
All of this while giving more power to the registrants and taking away from centralized authorities.