The world computer

Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum's founder) recently did an interview with The Defiant where he was asked, "has Ethereum succeeded in becoming a world computer?"

The term "world computer" is interesting. It's the idea that general purpose blockchains (like Ethereum, Koinos, and others) can run programs (smart contracts) without knowing anything about the computers in the network. Blockchains are a computer... they compute.

Vitalik's response to the question focuses more on the "world" part. Yes, Ethereum is a computer, but a small portion of the world actually uses it. To be a "world computer" requires actually serving the function of a computer for all (or at least most) of the world.

There are plenty of problems creating barriers to worldwide adoption. Top of mind for Vitalik are fees and usability. This is great validation for the Koinos design. Removing fees enables developers to build more usable apps (because it's no longer a trade-off... do I want to save money or use the better app?).

Even with the design of Koinos, I expect the blockchain to reach some new constraints down the line. I would be extremely surprised if Koinos could achieve mass adoption without rethinking some initial assumptions. By getting past the barriers of fees and usability earlier, Koinos will be able to uncover the next biggest issue. This will help all blockchain projects that aspire to be world computers.

Koinos is going to have compounding effects that accelerate blockchain innovation and thus adoption.

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More tomorrow,

-Luke

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P.S. It's all about the customer. If you're building a blockchain because you have a cool idea, that's great, but whose problems are you solving? Yours? Or the world's?

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