A few days ago, I discussed how Hive can basically redefine the concept of digital real estate along with putting it on steroids.
In this article, I will further explain the concept and show has what is posted in the database has value along with a way to extract it.
Wikipedia
What if the owner of Wikipedia decided to sell? What would that look like?
According to some numbers spit out by Google, it has a value of roughly $10 billion. This comes from around 65 million pages, or $150 per page.
Here we have straight forward stuff. Nothing special about what we see going on. There is one problem. The value of the enterprise came from the users. Of course, we see this all the time in Web 2.0.
Nevertheless, the owner of the platform could sell it and get a nice payday from someone like Amazon.
Which brings up the question of what they are getting? Naturally, the front end (Wikipedia.org) is included along with the back end. Everything in the database is included in the deal since it is property of the owner.
Data on [Web3
What if we have "Wikipedia on the blockchain"? How would the selling of that materialize?
There is an issue. To start, the data is not the property of the owner. If it is posted to a public blockchain, it is owned by nobody. This means the data does not go with the sale.
Here is one of the major differences between Web 2.0 and the developing Web3. It is also a reason for people to get involved in wikis unlike the past. Before, they were helping the owner whereas with Web3, they are contributing to a public database.
Does this mean that Web3 entities cannot be sold? No. The difference is we have to focus upon more on the monetization. Depending upon the value generated through different revenue techniques, that could be sold.
For example, if a site was generating $100K per month profit, that could be used to develop a model of valuation which to use for selling purposes. This would allow for the transfer of the asset including the keys to the account.
So far, basically both Web 2.0 and Web3 operate in the same manner, so nothing revolutionary is taking place.
Individual Pages
With Wikipedia, all pages are owned and controlled by the entity behind it. Even if someone creates a page, that is another asset for the company.
Of course, when selling, you cannot really pull out pages, which makes no sense anyway. Who would pay $150 for a Wikipedia page? The value comes in being tied to the rest of the database and under the same domain. Remove that and you have a page floating on its own.
Even the content is nothing special since it is public. Anyone can copy/paste the information. Archive machines probably have it anyway. The tie to the rest of the platform is what provides the value.
What about under Web3? Can we deal with individual pages? The answer is yes. Here is where innovation enters.
Hive can actually take its database and treat it as digital real estate. This is beyond the scope of the base layer coin which gives people a piece of the entire ecosystem. In this instance, we are talking about the data itself along with how it is used.
"Wikipedia on the blockchain" can be constructed exactly like the Web 2.0 version through a front end. This could have people contributing individual pages which they own.
How does that work?
Something magical called the "Create NFT" button. As I said, without even having the infrastructure for wide spread NFT creation, Hive is changing the game.
Under this scenario, the page creator can receive a NFT as representation of the ownership of that page. It effectively serves as a deed to that digital real estate. Then, not only is monetization possible but also the transferring of the asset. After all, what good is real estate if you can never sell it?
Web3 Innovation
Notice how we no longer are thinking or acting like Web 2.0? Here is where the innovation enters the picture. Why couldn't an application utilize this? After all, the data is unowned, why shouldn't the pages be treated in the same manner?
This is also where innovation enters. Different communities will consider ways to make their platforms more valuable. Obviously, this is relative and comes in many different forms. For the sake of this discussion, we will equate value to traffic..
We also have a way to solve the age old problem with Wiki. Actually, this applies to all of social media. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are all platforms where billions are generated by the users yet they have no equity stake at all.
Web3 can change that. This concept could be applied to anything created on an application. One can truly own that piece of digital real estate including the ability to transfer ownership.
Jack Dorsey did this with the first Tweet. He created a NFT, which Justin Sun paid a handsome sum for. The problem is that tweet is not generating any revenue for Sun. Therefore, what does he own?
Back to the age old NFT dilemma of it having no value. Through the illustration in this article, we can see a stark difference.
Why Hive?
Why is Hive the one revolutionizing this stuff?
To start, I never came across anyone promoting this idea. Perhaps it is out there but I have no seen it.
The second reason comes down to data. We talk about fee-less transactions. Most view this in the financial sense. What gets overlooked is we are dealing with data, whether it is representing a financial transaction or an article about the history of the airplane. In other words, what the data is means nothing.
When it comes to writing data to a public blockchain, Hive is one of the few that can do this without direct costs. Building a database on most other public networks costs a lot of money. Even at a penny or two per transaction, something like Wikipedia on the blockchain would cost a fortune. Do not forget, the fee applies not only to page creation but every update made.
Basically, there is no better place to build a database than on Hive. So far, 1,500 HP will allow for all the writing to the chain. At today's prices, that is under $600.
To contrast, on Ethereum, that is a few days worth of posting with the transaction fees on that network. The other EVMs are less expensive but, with enough writing, end up costing a tidy sum.
Here we see the Wiki problem solved along with providing a use case for NFTs which actually have value.
Only on Hive.