Web 3.0 and Politics: Will its Decentralization Weaken Policymakers?
Impact of Web 3.0 in policymaking and how decentralization is a part of it
Policymakers are currently having a field day with the concept of Web 3.0 but what they are most adamant and vocal about are the things they don’t want from it. Web 3.0 is the most credible alternative for reshaping and redeeming institutions that have fallen short over the last few decades. The list includes Big Tech, Wall Street banks, and broken public assistance platforms that have failed to quickly and efficiently deliver needed help to Americans in times of crisis. In times like this, the policymakers are more open to understanding the concepts of big tech, data privacy as well as decentralized finance. Several countries are looking for amends to get out of the holds of centralized business giants as it gives them a disadvantage. For example with the Russia-Ukraine war at bay, centralized business conglomerates like Meta and Google banned Russian users and it led to monetary loss, which would have been avoidable if they depended on decentralized platforms where no one particular is in control.
Big Tech and Decentralization
On the other hand, big tech has been embroiled in an unending series of controversies over the past decade, ranging from poor stewardship of consumer data and privacy breaches to disinformation and algorithmic bias. But these platforms are now being disrupted and disintermediated by Web 3.0. A major example of this condition is decentralization. It has opened up the possibility of a world in which people can own their data and grant applications permission to use it on a limited basis, rather than having that data littered across hundreds of centralized databases. Decentralized finance (Defi) is another area that holds great potential. If fintech platforms like mobile payments revolutionized the frontend of finance, we can think of Defi as revolutionizing the backend laying new pipes and rails that are easier and more efficient to access, audit, and upgrade.
The Impact on Policymakers
Web 3.0 also holds tremendous promise for the government itself. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led the federal government to make a major investment in Americans who were struggling to make ends meet. The proposals now being considered in Congress would bring even more aid to working families across the country. Yet, our antiquated financial systems leave far too many people waiting weeks or months for help to arrive in moments of desperation, and then even longer for checks to clear. At the same time, existing systems have proven shockingly vulnerable to exploitation by foreign organized crime rings, which stole tens of billions of dollars from taxpayers by exploiting weaknesses in our increasingly decrepit financial architecture. Tools like stablecoins and digital identity can enable more efficient distribution of aid to working families and protect our systems from exploitation by foreign criminals.
