Not so far from today, we will start seeing blockchain-enabled features on our mobile phones. These features, while minor, will make our user experience incredibly better than what it is today.
The general belief of blockchain is that it involves cryptocurrencies. While not far from wrong, it also enables a new set of functionalities we are starting to discover.
The reality is that despite the ubiquity of mobile devices, there are only two operative systems out there that control our lives on mobile devices. Android and iOS. These two systems are backed and run by giant corporations (Google and Apple) bound to their shareholders. At the same time, while keeping ethics within their mission, overriding those remains possible and usual.
https://twitter.com/joaxap/status/1560609998782095360
Blockchain-based features allow decoupling of the dependency of the end user from the corporations' systems. Enables de delegation of processing and storage to public ecosystems that already run profitably without the need for the market. These ecosystems have no other intentions but to keep the platform alive and running smoothly.
Your web3 wallets
Operative Systems will incorporate web3 into their internal logic through a native EVM -and perhaps other chains- wallet system. The user can create these wallets -as many as the user would like.
These wallets enable you, the user, to handle all web3 matters as if they are your accounts to leverage the web3 capabilities on your phone.
Validation
One of the reasons you can pay with your card in stores without anything else but a piece of plastic is what that card brings with it. That card means you have an account with funds you opened by identifying yourself to the bank to prove you are not a crook -KYC. Of course, the store doesn't necessarily need to know who you are, just the card information to accept the payment—still, your identity leaks in this process.
Web3 can validate your wallet without the need to share your information around to prove it. However, in the process, a validator needs to stamp this validation checking your identity. So, in the case of the phone, it is your carrier.
Some carriers can provide optional validation of these wallets following the ERC-725 standard, enabling the wallet to be somewhat "KYC'ed" by the operator. A validated wallet has a lot of value towards your identity online. For example, today, you delegate your OS and browser your credentials. With the validated wallet, you no longer trust your OS's credentials storage but on a heavily complex mathematical algorithm -which is the basis of the blockchain.
Recovery
One of the biggest fears of using web3 wallets is that if you lose your key, you lose your wallet. Understandably, this customer experience can be very daunting. The fact that you can lose everything by losing your key -or passphrase- is a thought that can deter anyone from wanting to use it.
When you create a web3 wallet on your phone, you get asked if you want a recovery mechanism with some trusted peers. Your phone will send a piece of your key to those of your choice, i.e., your family members. If you ever need to recover your wallet -phone lost or stolen- then it would be as simple as a quick request to these peers, plus a piece you would have kept -a passphrase, for example.
Your pictures and videos
When you take pictures with your phone, these pictures sit on your storage and can be copied and used without your consent. Web3 enables a new paradigm that helps you as a creator to control your pictures, as you would do with your information.
When taking a picture with your phone, the OS will automatically mint an NFT of that picture. This token will record the picture and your ownership of it.
Why is this relevant? Well, imagine you share this picture with some friends on a social network or via text message. The OS of their phones will check if the picture has the correct "permissions" to be shown. For instance, you can share pictures that expire in time. The consumers of the picture will have a limited amount of time to see it -hours, days, weeks, and even months.
You can also withdraw permissions from a picture or video, allowing it to disappear from the devices that have it. All this by calling a method of the NFT smart contract via web3.
Another benefit of these tokens is that you can choose to charge for the commercial use of the picture. The OS consuming the picture can now trace if the picture is used for commercial purposes and charge for its viewing. The OS can charge the advertiser or the person who wants to see the picture.
Selling your pictures is now easier than ever. You can mark pictures for sale, which will automatically appear on marketplaces that track these NFTs.
Your music player and collections
Web3 music scene is growing. This new paradigm enables creators, so they don't need intermediaries and complex infrastructures to make music.
People like @coopahtroopa are at the forefront of this new wave in music. Their vision is to enable a world where creators and listeners share the benefits of music creation.
https://twitter.com/Cooopahtroopa/status/1555610752026718209?s=20&t=3TYGTBmm9OkqilesiA97JA
One good example is Heds App. A curator that mints NFTs of tapes where he curates music. As well as this NFT of a song.
Some creators choose to fund their projects by selling a small portion of the royalties via NFTs. However, when done in scale, you can choose to mint or buy the NFT of a song or album and get royalties every time the music plays.
The players are web3 integrated, which means that the subscription model we are so used to today is gone. You will pay as you consume the music. The payments will be reasonably small. Removing intermediaries out of the way makes the music cost vanish and ensures profits arrive to the creator and NFT holders. A fee for playing will also go to the services that enable the streaming.
We are now consumers and beneficiaries of the music we love.
Your apps
One of the most significant features of a web3 phone is that the dapps can now be on your phone. The decentralized apps can connect to your phone's wallets directly and enable a seamless experience for you.
When buying in-app features, you won't need to pay through the stores but directly from your wallet.
Game builders now directly connect with you without intermediaries that cut 30% of your payments.
Gaming
The web3 gaming world is still in its infancy, but installing a web3 game on your phone will connect with your wallet and leverage your assets. For instance, you may want to use that avatar NFT you bought that you love so much or equip your player with that weapon you earned in the other game.
Some games have their currency. Sandbox has SAND, for example. This currency is a cryptocurrency you can exchange on any decentralized exchange like Uniswap or Sushiswap. You don't need to purchase cards for your game in stores or online. Instead, directly on your phone's wallet, you can exchange some of your money for the game's currency and use it.
Your finances
If we are talking about crypto, we need to talk about finances. Today we depend on banking apps to handle our finances. Deposits, payments, loans, and everything depend on an intermediary. Web3 will remove this burden.
When we create a web3 account on our phone, we are virtually creating a deposit account -for free. This account can have money in it. You can have multiple currencies on your wallet and use them to pay with your phone. New NFC and QR code standards will enable payments with crypto in stores and online.
With your phone integrated into web3, you don't need to access banks anymore to be able to invest, save or get loans. The web3 financial system is evolving quickly, and all the financial products you seek from a bank, you can also obtain from DeFi -Decentralized Finance- services.
Your bills and dues
Having the web3 account integrated into your OS means that the usage and notifications appear directly on your user experience rather than on app notifications. So, for example, when a payment is due on a service -like Netflix- your phone can request your approval to make this payment happen.
Since the web3 account is bound to the blockchain, you have access to all the transactions with your account since you opened it. Any PFM -Personal Finances Manager- can plug in -with your permission- and give you nice graphs and insights on your spending habits.
Your banking
Since your phone can connect directly to the web3 world, you won't need banks or intermediaries to access financial products like loans, investments, or savings. Instead, you can find all those on respectable DeFi -decentralized finances- apps that can handle your burdens.
While still in their inception, some already manage billions in assets and can be very powerful. This industry will need to learn how to operate with regulators and governments to whom we did delegate the power to protect us.
Conclusion
We don't know yet what the future is going to bring us. But the hints are all over the place. The blockchain paradigm is bringing the new expansion of interoperability and standards faster than any other technology before.
Solana is pushing hard to get manufacturers to start including web3 hardware-friendly components on the new phones, so the integrations will only depend on the developers from that moment. This stack includes a protocol to connect phone's wallets with dapps and a dapp open store.
It will be hard to imagine how carriers and major subsidizers of the phone hardware you use today can let these new stacks disintermediate them from the transactions with the users. Google might find it a threat to their revenue model with the store, and Apple can have some concerns about the fact you no longer need their Apple Card.
Today, the current code repositories enabling this vision have no more than six developers working on it. It indicates that it is still a Lab project, not a mass adoption project.
There is an exciting twist on this project. Solana sees the power of DAOs as an ultimate driver to keep the momentum for this project, so they are launching a Saga NFT membership token to this community. They claim this will be the way to decide on new features or the project's direction. While I firmly believe that DAO models might be more efficient for certain aspects of our lives, this one strikes me as an engagement tool more than anything else.
