In the early days of the internet, governments and universities were using it to communicate and collaborate. But its reach was pretty limited - average people weren’t using it. There were 2 broad developments that led to the explosion of interesting new applications.
- Open protocol and standards: Things like DNS, SMTP, HTTP allowed people to speak the same language and reach consensus in a new online Wild Wild West.
- Browsers: GUI browsers in like Netscape enabled average people to access the web of new applications on their computer
It was only after technology both 1 and 2 matured that we saw interesting applications that consumers could use like Ebay, AOL, and Wikipedia. Open protocols enabled developers to build things that worked with the existing things. Browsers enabled consumers to find and easily use new apps through a rich GUI and URL bar. They let you use and get value out of the Internet without making you realize you are using the internet. The browser was just another desktop application.
Blockchains have the potential to create new ways for people to communicate and collaborate, like a next version of the internet. But it still hasn’t yet reached this explosion of consumer applications like the internet saw in the early 90s. Right now we have
- Open protocol and standards: ENS, ERC-720, ERC-721 allow people to speak the same language on Ethereum.
- Browsers: ?
What we’re missing is 2 - a technology that allows average people to browse new applications and use it easily. Embedded wallets make it significantly easier for people to interact with these new applications by removing the need download an app and store a seed phrase. They solve the ease-of-use problem but they don’t solve the discovery problem.
It’s not clear how this will play out. Maybe the crypto browsers will be consumer wallets like MetaMask, exchanges like Coinbase or actual web browsers. But maybe Farcaster with Frames can do that - be the browser that allows average people to find and use this new web of applications. We don’t know if Frames will be the but I think there’s some evidence. I myself saw people 10+ people meaningfully interact with my app on chain pwithin minutes - something that’s been hard to do on twitter, and other people are seeing similar. Frames in farcaster let people do things onchain without making them realize it. A frame is just another feed post.
Who knows how this will play out - but for now its exciting to maybe be on the cusp of something new in consumer crypto.