Max Kordek, CEO and Co-founder of Lisk: Decentralization Will Define the Future of the Internet

Since the inception of Web2, centralized Big Tech companies have monopolized the internet. As the cryptocurrency scene expands with the rise of DeFi, NFTs, and the metaverse, the transition to Web3 is becoming inevitable. At the core of this transition, we see more users and platforms alike exploring emerging technologies to make the internet more decentralized and community-driven. These emerging technologies have the potential to change the way organizations and individuals interact in the digital world.

Communities have begun to challenge current systems of governance of the tech world, opting for fairer systems in the form of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). If you aren’t familiar with the concept yet, a DAO is a decentralized organization in which decisions are made based on democratic voting processes.

The members of a DAO are the token holders, or those who own the cryptocurrency related to that organization. Anyone who buys tokens can participate in the DAO and vote on decisions. The result of those decisions is completely transparent and tamper-proof, thanks to the underlying blockchain technology.

The decisions made by the DAO can be about anything related to the project or network. If this technology were applied to the governance of a social media platform, for example, token holders and users of the platform might be able to vote on safety standards for the platform, issues around censorship, the design features of the user interface, and much, much more. In a DAO, there are no central bodies or CEOs in control of upgrades and changes.

This kind of decentralized control isn’t as far away as we might think. Many emerging projects in the Web3 space aim to create products and services that are truly decentralized and are gaining steady traction.

Witnessing Big Tech’s reaction to the next iteration of the internet and the opportunities posed by Web3, such as Facebook’s rebrand to Meta, we have seen in real time the attempt by these corporations to monopolize the rules of Web3 – just as they do today with Web2 platforms. DAOs give all of us the power to build and control the internet, allowing us to set the foundations for how the future of the online world operates and take ownership of these shared spaces.