Introducing Web 5

On June 11, 2022, Block’s (formerly Square) TBD unit announced the development of “Web 5,” a decentralized web platform that seeks to return ownership of data and identity to individuals. The announcement was accompanied by a Google slide deck that explained the concepts and purpose of Web 5 at a higher level, and the implementation and technical specifics were also outlined on their official GitHub. 

Given the rapid pace of innovation in the blockchain industry, it might appear, at first glance, that Web 5 is just another innovation that promises revolutionary changes, meant for an obscure use case that will only be functional sometime in the future. In this research piece, we will unpack the technicals behind Web 5 and evaluate the improvements to web applications that it claims to bring.