A Theory of Justice for Web3

Now, standing at the precipice of a new era, we should ask ourselves: Is Web3 actually democratizing opportunity? And if not, how can we better design platforms and governance systems to promote fairness?

Web3 offers the opportunity for a meaningful course correction — a chance to reimagine the internet and build new platforms from first principles. But in order to do that, we need to agree on what those principles should be, and why. 

Despite all the public conversations around the metaverse and various hyper-financialized NFT projects, Web3, more than anything, is a fundamentally different approach that some developers have agreed to. It’s based on the premise that there’s an alternative to exploiting users for data to make money — and that instead, building open platforms that... See more

Web3 protocols have an opportunity to do things differently, owing to the fact that they can distribute tokens to turn their users into owners, empowering them to govern the platform in alignment with their continued interests.

If, as Sal Delle Palme argues, Web3 heralds the birth of a new economic system, let’s make it one that increases true wealth—not just paper wealth for those lucky enough to get in early but actual life-changing goods and services that make life better for everyone.

Core to the tenets of web3 are the notion of self-sovereignty through cryptography, the ability to organize into global communities that resonate with our tailored values and interests, and the redistribution of network value back to users through incentivized participation.