Yesterday Anthony Pompliano’s Youtube Channel was de-platformed, where the channel was acting to “encourage illegal activities”. The topic of discussion yesterday was a bullish case for Bitcoin.
THE PROBLEM
Now I want to take a quick pause. There are a few things happening here that need to be stated simply to frame this moving forward:
- Censorship of an established, positive track record channel by a centralized service provider.
- Review teams missing all of the fake Winklevoss, Michael Saylor and Elon Musk phishing live channels (Google missing real phishing)
- A Screaming Example as to why decentralized services are needed.
What we are seeing happen by Big Tech is that users are being de-platformed for different views on a myriad of topics. This creates a major case for decentralized services. While Pomp did get reinstated quickly on the same day, many social users don’t get that treatment. Thanks to the large following and engagement on the posts, a reactivation happened swiftly. Great! But what about the average user?
LIGHTNING NETWORK DECENTRALIZATION
This is where we believe the Bitcoin Lightning Network will play a key role, and how Lightning Nodes will give users autonomy across the web. Lightning Nodes allow users to sign into decentralized services with their own encryption keys.
These encryption keys allow a user to create a digital signature to verify exactly who they say they are. The keys also allow an interoperable experience across the internet. Imagine an internet where you sign into Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or any website with your Lightning node keys to VERIFY you are exactly who you say you are. This would reduce fake accounts and spam. This also would create clarity for those in your network. You can share your public key with anyone. This is how they verify you are YOU. You can then sign all messages, and verify logins with your private key. (ONLY YOU HAVE YOUR PRIVATE KEY) – This makes it easy to know you are dealing with the right person.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Centralized services are good in some regards while bad in others. If YouTube didn’t take down real phishing or spammers from tricking new or uneducated Bitcoin investors that would be bad. In my humble opinion, we see a complete lack of management from YouTube in this regard. I personally see tons of spam LIVE channels doing giveaways, and YouTube comments are flooded with spammers and scammers replying with WhatsApp numbers so they can scam in private.
Two real-life services
Our friends over at Get Zion are building a decentralized social network/utility where content creators own their data and content. Zion is using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network to give users their own node, allowing them to use their node keys to interact, creating an interoperable social network. You can also download their docker file and put it into any Lightning Node running LND. As their founder J puts it, “With Bitcoin & Lightning social media no longer has to be this idea of “build the largest walled garden”. Open source, permission-less, interoperable technology. That is the future”.
Another great case for decentralization is Sphinx Chat, a messaging service built on top of the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Every message on Sphinx is a transaction on Lightning. This protects against spam while allowing users to monetize content without a trusted third party.
Open interoperable networks are the future of the internet and give users a better user experience. Fewer passwords (potentially none), verified logins, and a reduction of spam and noise that plagues social media channels.
If you are wanting to take part in building the decentralized web or to begin interacting with the decentralized web apps being built on the Lightning Network hit us up! We help decentralized devs and brands scale their Lightning infrastructure and have a passion for the future decentralized internet. Create your node today and start below.
If you have any questions or comments either email us at support@voltage.cloud, use our live on-site chat, or join us in Discord. ⚡️
