![[Talks from Big Names] Web 3.0 and the Digital Economy](https://images.bitpush.news/2022/08/special_cn-20220803-165953889835568381.jpeg:4JWTUBSWVZABDHJ22GSZOSK4EU.jpeg)
[Talks from Big Names] Web 3.0 and the Digital Economy
Recently, Han Feng, author of “Blockchain Wealth of Nations”, a visiting scholar at Columbia University, and a visiting researcher at Tsinghua University, visited Alibaba Research Institute to discuss topics such as blockchain, the digital economy, and the value of data information with Gao Hongbing, vice president of Alibaba Group and director of Alibaba Research Institute. During the conversation, two industry leaders pointed out that in the face of next-generation Internet changes characterized by Web 3.0, digital information authorization can drive the iterative development of the digital economy. This trend has already attracted great attention from both China and the US. 01 “What is a digital account? What does it have to do with the digital economy?” Han Feng: Author of “Blockchain Wealth of Nations”, visiting scholar at Columbia University, and visiting researcher at Tsinghua University. In 2016, Dean Gao Hongbing once said something that left a deep impression on me: “A bank credit building marked by reinforced concrete is being replaced by a blockchain credit that uses data as the soil.” Zhou Ziheng's book “Accounts — A New Economy and a New Financial Path” mentions that before the Internet, the economy revolved around corporate accounts, banks served enterprises, and there were not many personal businesses; today, the online economy revolves around personal accounts, and credit generation also revolves around personal accounts. According to the data, the transaction volume of online accounts in 2021 exceeded 100 trillion dollars. As a result, the economy and society underwent fundamental changes, moving from the small data world to the big data world. As Director Gao said, from the traditional economy to the online economy, the core is the shift in credit generation models. From atomized buildings and large enterprises to bit-enabled data and individuals, computational credit continues to emerge, highlighting the importance of data and digital accounts. Gao Hongbing: Vice President of Alibaba Group and Director of Alibaba Research Institute In 2000, Microsoft proposed an internal Internet ID card program (Passport), which refers to a digital account. As a digital account, Passport is a portal for users to join the digital world. This is a huge business plan. Users can register to log in to this lifetime account through any Microsoft software to access all Microsoft application scenarios. Zhou Ziheng's “account” idea on internet finance echoes Microsoft's technology and commercial digital accounts to some extent. Dr. Zhou tried to use Internet accounts in the digital economy to describe the future of the internetization of traditional bank accounts. He discovered that consumer internet finance driven by mobile payments is on the rise, and its core is precisely this Internet-based financial consumer digital account. Going back to the phrase “a bank credit building marked by reinforced concrete is being replaced by a blockchain credit facility that uses data as soil”, why should big banks choose the most expensive and best location for their offices is because banks want to let depositors see the strength of the bank and increase credit. Entering the digital economy era, the line between original TOB public accounts and TOC private accounts in banks is gradually blurring. Personal accounts have also begun to accumulate and credit wealth, and the concept of a personal balance sheet has emerged. An individual's balance sheet is digitally recorded and has the potential to anchor a person's long-term credit. This digital balance sheet did not exist in the past. In the IT era, it was also difficult to do because manual entry was too expensive; now, with the popularity of websites and apps, people use personal digital accounts to log in to networks and applications, and server systems will automatically record and deposit these digital footprints. Through some scoring models, this personal balance sheet will be formed. Today, digital accounts are the starting point of the metaverse. It's also an entry point for people to join the metaverse. Arguably, without this digital account, there would be no metaverse. 02 “What has blockchain technology brought to the digital economy?” Han Feng: Author of “Blockchain Wealth of Nations”, visiting scholar at Columbia University, and visiting researcher at Tsinghua University, the credit brought by blockchain technology is of great significance to the digital economy. As can be seen from Satoshi Nakamoto's paper published in 2013, the core of blockchain technology is the issue of asset authorization in the digital age. Why does content exist in digital form belong to you? Before blockchain, this couldn't be done. The internet is full of information, but until now it has always been a “borderless world.” With the advent of blockchain, asymmetric encryption and private key signatures were used to solve the problem of information ownership. Bitcoin is an example. The reason why some people question Bitcoin is precisely because they can't understand why the string representing Bitcoin is so valuable. Bitcoins must be signed with a private key to be exchanged and show ownership. Bitcoin fits the most basic definition of an asset precisely because it has solved the issue of affirmation of rights. With the development of the digital economy, digital information is authorized and becomes an asset,...
