On November 3, 2020, the Shanghai Stock Exchange decided to suspend the listing of Ant Group on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. The Shanghai Stock Exchange said that due to the regulatory interviews of the financial regulatory authorities and the recent changes in the financial technology regulatory environment, it may have a significant impact on the business structure and profit model of Ant Group. In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors, disclose information fully and transparently and accurately, and effectively maintain market fairness Decisions made based on the principle of justice.
Changes in the regulatory environment may make Ant Group, an Internet giant, slow down its pace of innovation and become more compliant. It is foreseeable that in the future, Internet giants, including Ant Group, may face more regulatory challenges. In addition to legal supervision, it is worth noting that decentralized applications based on blockchain may be even greater. The challenge may even eventually subvert the traditional Internet business model. It can be said that the real challenge for Internet giants has just begun.
1. What is a centralized application (App)?
Each of us has a variety of applications (Apps) on mobile phones and computers. These applications make our production and life very convenient. They are all applications controlled by a specific operating organization, so they are called centralized applications. The more and more centralized application operating institutions have become Internet giants. Internet giants are the pinnacle of centralized application or platform development. Centralized application is a technological tool used by Internet giants to obtain large amounts of user data to obtain high profits. They mainly benefit from the following three aspects:
One is to obtain user data. This user data includes, but is not limited to, privacy, personal preferences, purchase records, access records, and Internet footprints. Through these data analysis, you can know that you may be looking for a good school, decorating a house, preparing to get married and have children, preparing to travel, etc., and can be very “intimate” to recommend intelligent marketing for you. User data is the carrier of big data and the foundation of the business model of Internet giants. In addition to the illegal collection and use of personal information and data, the abuse of personal data and other phenomena that infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of users have also received continuous attention in recent years, such as the previous big data cracking.
The second is to master the flow entrance. After occupying a monopoly position, some Internet giants control the imported applications in their industries and fields, even if they do not charge, they can also profit from advertising. Such as Baidu bidding ranking, Ali Express, etc.
The third is to collect monopoly profits. Collect high monopoly profits based on its traffic entry status. If you want to sell film and television dramas and game apps in their ecosystem, you must find Apple and Tencent, and pay them a high enough share.
2. What is Decentraliazed App?
Decentraliazed App is the best carrier for open asset digital transactions. Compared with centralized applications, decentralized applications are not controlled by a specific operating agency, but run on a decentralized network. Organizations or trading platforms are replaced by blockchain networks without being controlled by anyone. The network has become the transaction infrastructure. People can finally trade data without having to hand over to a centralized control organization or platform. There is a technical guarantee for users to own your data, and this will completely Shake the business model and industry competition model under the traditional Internet model. Therefore, it can be said that decentralized applications are the real rivals and ultimate disruptors of Ali and Ant.
3. How do decentralized applications achieve community-based operations?
From the perspective of specific operations, decentralized applications are the trinity of asset digitization, transaction tokenization, and operation communityization. Asset digitization is the basis for realizing economic digitization, including all data and information will become digital assets. This is the foundation of the digitalization of economic activities; transaction tokenization is a tool to realize the digitalization of the economy. Whether it is digital commodity price tag, digital transaction payment, digital investment and financing income, it needs to be realized through accounting, and token is a decentralized network. The only option for accounting; the communityization of operations is the result of the digitalization of the economy. Due to the digitalization of transaction-related data and information, and the tokenization of the tools used to achieve transactions, assets can be deployed in a wider range, that is, communityization. An economy that does not operate as a community or tokenized transaction is not an open digital economy in the true sense.
So, how to realize community operation through token tools in decentralized applications?
In the BTC network, since the main function of the network is to keep accounts, it is the main task to provide computing power to package blocks. Therefore, when nodes provide computing power to obtain the packaging rights, the network will give corresponding token rewards, including block issuance rewards. And transaction service fees, where issuance rewards are fixed by codes, and transaction service fees are adjusted according to market demand. In this process, first of all, the calculation process, the packaging process and the process of obtaining the price have been digitized, and the payment of the computing power package has been priced to realize the tokenization , and due to the open source of the code and algorithm, the issuance of assets, Communityization of transactions.
However, it is different in some application-type dapp networks. For example, the main function of the dapp network is digital commodity trading, and the main task of maintaining the trading network is to provide or purchase digital commodities, and the accounting function is completed by the basic network. Logically speaking, digital goods need to be provided for sale through dapp first, and of course someone needs to buy them. Therefore, providing digital goods for sale and payment of tokens for purchases become the main task of maintaining the dapp network, so corresponding token incentives must be used. Specifically, for each transaction, a corresponding token reward will be given. The reward will gradually decrease with the development of the network, but at the same time transaction service fees and accounting fees must be paid. The transaction service fees are given to the designer of the dapp and the account is kept. The fee is paid to the miners of the basic network; and those who hold the dapp network token can be used to pay and can also enjoy the dividend of the transaction service fee. In this process, the process of selling and buying digital goods, paying transaction service fees, miner fees, and enjoying dividends are all digitized , and token incentives are provided to those who offer to sell digital goods and make purchases. Of course, in the later stage, if the trading platform When the basic function of the code is implemented, there may be no need for incentives. Instead, a transaction service fee is required to sell or buy on it. The holder of the token can enjoy the corresponding dividend, thus realizing the tokenization ; and because the code algorithm is open source, the sale is also realized , The community of buying behavior.
In this case, the dapp network token issued does not need to raise funds, and the operation process is also open, transparent and truly community-based, and there is basically no substantial legal risk. It encourages participants to continuously improve network functions and network ecology through use Continuous improvement has achieved the goals of asset digitization, transaction tokenization, and operation communityization .
If in the future our online transactions will be digitized and community-based through blockchain-based dapps, the apps used for transactions in this model are decentralized and do not collect user data to serve a specific operator. There is no operating agency that owns user data, and users own their own data. Then this model is completely different from the existing centralized model of Internet giants achieving excess profits by owning user data. This may be the current Internet giant. The real challenge we face.
