Internet 2030: The Future and How We Get There

“Web 2.0 is broken”: It's arguably the most important thesis driving innovation across the world of crypto as entrepreneurs tout visions of a Web 3.0 that re-emphasizes the internet’s founding ideals of freedom and empowering prosperity. 

In 2020, that vision has deviated from its original course in well-documented ways: the capture of web infrastructure by a handful of dominant tech giants, the rise of “surveillance capitalism,” the emergence of fake news and disinformation wars across all of society. 

While the problems with the current landscape are understood, the path forward to a decentralized web is a murkier proposition full of many possibilities. 

CoinDesk’s “Internet 2030” series will examine the future of the medium and what role blockchain and crypto will play in it with content and conversations on the future of the decentralized web. 

The series, which features CoinDesk Live conversations Sept. 15-16, coincides with the planned launch window of the long-anticipated Filecoin mainnet, the native token for the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) protocol. We’ll hear from Juan Benet and the Filecoin team about why peer-to-peer web storage infrastructure is critical to a free and decentralized future, and explore the array of use cases available.

Data storage is a fundamental component of internet plumbing, yet it is largely controlled and siloed off by several household-name tech companies. A reliable, cost-effective and decentralized storage alternative will be foundational for any transition to a true Web3 environment. Indeed, changing the way information is stored and transmitted would very well change the nature of the web itself. 

With Filecoin, one of the most anticipated blockchain project launches of 2020, now going live, Benet and team are headlong in their attempt to deliver on that grand promise. Their success, or failure, will be a leading indicator of whether the Web3 vision is within reach or too little too late.

The internet has reached a tipping point. Can blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies play a catalytic role in shepherding the web into a more fair and equitable tool for all? Or will censorship, surveillance and dystopia reign supreme? We assess the bull and bear cases for what the internet – and its impact on the human condition – will look like in 10 years’ time. 

Sept. 15-16, 2020

Streaming on CoinDesk.com, Twitter and YouTube.

Day 1: Interplanetary: Filecoin Goes Live

Sept. 15, 2020 | 4 p.m. ET

Speakers: Juan Benet, Filecoin founder; Colin Evran, Project Lead, Filecoin; Joe Lubin, cofounder of Ethereum 

Moderator: Brady Dale, CoinDesk senior business reporter

Day 2: Decentralized Web: Promise or Pipe Dream?

Sept. 16, 2020 | 4 p.m. ET

Speakers: John Wolpert, ConsenSys; Brendan Eich, Brave; Emily Parker, CoinDesk global macro editor 

Moderator: Daniel Kuhn, CoinDesk assistant editor and Ben Schiller, Managing Editor of Features and Opinion.