Following the footsteps of civilization, we ought to encounter unique myths that catch our attention. In Egypt, the home of the Nile River, there are records of conversations over the use of letters between Thamus, the king at the time, and Theuth, the god of invention. Theuth visited Thamus and presented him with the invention of letters, “This invention, O king, will make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memories; for it is an elixir of memory and wisdom that I have discovered”, suggesting it as the key to opening up the virtual world of human wisdom and memory. The king, known for his down-to-earth personality replied, “Most ingenious Theuth, one man has the ability to beget arts, but the ability to judge their usefulness or harmfulness to their users belongs to another.” The conversation between Theuth and Thamus is a preview for the welcoming of Web3, a dream of an ideal virtual society that shares memory and wisdom.
First introduced in 2015 with the provision of development tools and tutorials, dApps have shown us that innovation - such as the letters by Theus - in Web3 will lead us to our ideals; resembling the birth of Egyptian civilization from the flooding of the Nile River which triggered the development of letters, science, language, and philosophy. As of December 2022, there are about 6,000 dApps which seem to be in their early stages, but dApp projects are rapidly emerging due to the evolution and advancement of technology, accelerating the expansion of dApp ecosystem.
What led dApps to grow so fast and become a fundamental Web3 service?
The purpose of dApp is to offer the same or greater value than the apps used in Web2 from the perspective of users, and the evolution of the era through blockchain in terms of technology. dApp operates on a blockchain network where information is distributed and stored without a centralized server, making it more strenuous to steal personal information. In addition, control or interference by companies and institutions is far more complex; even companies or individuals who have created the service cannot delete or modify data recorded on the blockchain. In other words, dApp records all blockchain-based activities in the application and is executed only when conditions are satisfied through smart contracts. Blockchain technology, the basis of the creation of dApps, documents eternal records and rules just like the ‘memory’ obtained through letters.
The technological aspect is clearly the foundation for the arrival and growth of dApp, but it is human wisdom that has turned imagination into reality through dApp. Decentralized application has developed pleasure, the most primitive human emotion, into a way to connect reality with virtuality, expanding to a variety of services to satisfy users' convenience and needs. While apps require users to receive a service that separates reality from virtuality, dApps have completely eliminated the ambiguous or fragmented pleasure.
Exceptional in security and trust, decentralized application has taken root in our lives through its process of growth. Through rewards earned by playing dApp games, also known as Play To Earn(P2E), ‘something to earn’ has been established as a concept that is widely spreading. What ‘something’ will be is in the hands of our limitless imagination. dApps such as M2E(Move To Earn) and T2E(Talk To Earn) have emerged rapidly, leading the Web3 era with a solid community. dApp itself provides users with both the values for enjoyment and economic value through rewards. The development of these technologies also accelerates the evolution of civilization, resulting in the disappearance or emergence of existing ones. Until the rise and generalization of social media in the Web2 era, it was difficult to envisage jobs(means of economic activity) as creators and influencers. Today, these professions have become the center of an ecosystem that generates billions every year through production and distribution of content. Civilization has evolved continuously, with new conceptual companies such as MCN and incubation projects at a national level. Similar to the realization of infinite wisdom using Egyptian demotic, dApps will become the center of Web3 civilization, leading to the emergence of new jobs and industries through the diversification of ‘something’.
In addition, FT(Fungible Token) rewards in dApp have activated its own economy, leading to the creation of tokenomics of an unprecedented scale. The formation of tokenomics unified the virtual world(online) and the real world(offline) to provide users with a new economic system. There are a wide range of games that have incorporated their own tokenomics via P2E, but the tokenomics in Web2 is ‘closed’ tokenomics where it is impossible to engage in real-world economic activities. Looking closely at P2E(Play To Earn) games, blockchain technology has enabled the exchange/trade of tokens to apply real economic value. Through dApp, which has led to the enjoyment of games as a means of economic activity, we have naturally reached the point where enjoying life itself becomes the accepting of Web3.
It has been about eight years since the launch of dApp, and we have wisely enhanced the artifacts of civilization. As King Thamus once said to the god of invention, we cannot determine whether the creation of technology will harm or benefit the future. However, we are advancing dApp to enrich our lives as users, and we are already living in an era where imagination has become a reality where we are rewarded with its value. While ‘something’ that dApp will provide in the near future excites us, let’s adopt a pioneering view of the Web3 era that is expanding in a variety of areas with its evolution.