At the turn of the 19th century, advances in steam power technology, metallurgy and textiles laid the groundwork for the greatest economic transformation in human history. We are now on the cusp of the next Industrial Revolution, driven by machine learning, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Blockchain technology may provide the missing piece that completes the cyber-physical flywheel of growth. Intel sounded the starting gun for the Information Age in 1971 with its announcement of the microprocessor. Web3 is a major upgrade of the internet, adding a “value layer” to address some of Web2’s shortcomings and unlock the next round of even more profound societal and economic change. Blockchains provide a decentralized, secure and transparent layer for data exchange and value transfer between users. Zero knowledge (ZK) technology is now entering production and could be the silver-bullet for scaling Ethereum.
