UPDATED 22:43 EDT / MAY 23 2017

EMERGING TECH

This company has released a browser to deliver a decentralized Internet

While it’s said that art usually imitates life, sometimes life can imitate art. Fans of HBO’s hilarious “Silicon Valley” television series would know that this season has seen character Richard Hendrix attempting to build a decentralized Internet that doesn’t rely on centralized control, and now a company has announced that it is building just that with blockchain technology.

Called the Blockstack Browser, from startup Blockstack Inc., the tool functions as an add-on for Mac, Linux and Windows browsers, including Chrome, Safari and Firefox. It allows developers to implement decentralized identity, storage and payments to create consumer-facing apps. The browser uses the blockchain in the same way bitcoin does, in that it records at multiple points the data across the network, meaning that it requires no central point of storage as today’s Internet does.

The browser does this by allowing users to control their identities, storage and payment credentials directly by keeping the namespaces, including both user names and addresses for applications, on the specific Blockstack blockchain. “This new internet reflects how people interact with each other naturally, as they have for thousands of years,” the company explained in a blog post. “In open marketplaces and societies, people transact directly with other people to offer advice, goods, and services. Human interaction has never needed a middleman. The internet should work how real life works.”

The technology has been tested for over three years and is already said to have over 5,000 users. But the new release is the first time a product-ready version has been released to the public, though at this stage it’s primarily aimed at developers. “We can build a digital world of truly peer-to-peer internet utilities not maintained by corporations but collectively, by the people,” Blockstack adds. “We can build a digital world that encodes property rights, where we can own our data, and where the people are powerful.”

In addition to the release of the browser, Blockstack has also launched a token program to facilitate transactions on the network. Similar to an initial coin offering, the token will not rely on an Ethereum platform but will involve Blockstack using its own technology. The token itself would be used by those on the network to pay for items such as registration fees. “Currently, we’re launching a single token for Blockstack,” a spokesman told Coindesk. “And we’ll have more details on app-specific tokens later.”

Although it’s still relatively early days, the potential decentralized Internet Blockstack is pitching is backed by more than words alone. The company has raised $5.45 million from investment firms that include Digital Currency Group, Dorm Room Fund Seed, Lux Capital, Rising Tide, SV Angel, Union Square Ventures, Version One Ventures, Y Combinator and a number of individual investors. It’s not certain, however, that any of the investors owns a gull-winged car or has recently been fired from a high-profile Internet company.

Image: Blockstack

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