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Because of the success of Bitcoin, most people still believe that blockchains will only ever be useful to build new kinds of currency. The truth, however, is that their usefulness is actually much broader. They’re part of a larger technological trend that we all now call web3.
Modern blockchains are fully programmable—like a PC , a smartphone, or a computer in the cloud. The best way to think of a blockchain is as a new kind of computer with a unique capability: it allows programmers to write code that makes strong commitments about how it will always work. Bitcoin, for example, is a program that makes a strong commitment that there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins. But that’s only the simplest example. In the last few years, we’ve begun to see hints of what is possible starting with the emergence of DeFi and NFTs.
Every new kind of computer needs its own operating system, its own platform, and a set of tools that make it easy for developers to build new things. Personal computers have been powered by Mac OS X and Windows; smartphones have been powered by iOS and Android; and cloud computing has been powered by Amazon Web Services, Azure, and Google Cloud. The companies that built those platforms—Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—have become four of the most impactful and valuable companies in human history.
Because of the success of Bitcoin, most people still believe that blockchains will only ever be useful to build new kinds of currency. The truth, however, is that their usefulness is actually much broader. They’re part of a larger technological trend that we all now call web3.
Modern blockchains are fully programmable—like a PC , a smartphone, or a computer in the cloud. The best way to think of a blockchain is as a new kind of computer with a unique capability: it allows programmers to write code that makes strong commitments about how it will always work. Bitcoin, for example, is a program that makes a strong commitment that there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins. But that’s only the simplest example. In the last few years, we’ve begun to see hints of what is possible starting with the emergence of DeFi and NFTs.
Every new kind of computer needs its own operating system, its own platform, and a set of tools that make it easy for developers to build new things. Personal computers have been powered by Mac OS X and Windows; smartphones have been powered by iOS and Android; and cloud computing has been powered by Amazon Web Services, Azure, and Google Cloud. The companies that built those platforms—Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—have become four of the most impactful and valuable companies in human history.
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