Circle CEO says blockchain sector is shifting from dial-up to broadband phase

• Michael Willson
• May 03, 2024

Allaire considers identity and confidentiality the two main pillars of a future Web3. Jeremy Allaire, CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle, stated that the world is finally transitioning from the hypothetical value stage of cryptocurrency to the operational phase at the Converge22 conference in San Francisco. He said, drawing comparisons to the early days of the internet.

“It is an architecture that the internet was founded on many decades ago — this idea of open networks, of open standards and protocols, of connecting entities, devices and people in interoperable ways, of a globally intertwined world of decentralized systems.”

Allaire claims that on-chain protocols are already in place to ensure safe and dependable communication between cryptocurrency users. To authenticate credentials and ids while still safeguarding people’s privacy, “advancements” in technology are needed, such as zero-knowledge proofs:

“People need to be able to interact with apps, services, content, and transactions without knowing that they’re using crypto. I don’t know if I’m using SMTP [Simple Mail Transfer Protocol] when I send an email with Gmail — but many people don’t know that, and that’s okay.”

According to Allaire, people need to be exposed to a significantly more basic form of the underlying technology for broad crypto adoption. According to him, people don’t even need to be aware of the stablecoin they are using. They only need to be mindful of the seamless exchange of data and money..

At last, Allaire added, referring to the dial-up era in the early days of the internet, that we are entering the next “broadband” phase of blockchain. As with the internet, he said, “We need safe, scalable, and energy-efficient public blockchains.” He cited recent advancements like Ethereum’s switch to proof-of-stake and the creation of layer-2 and layer-1 scaling models as examples. He claimed that the action was essential for this [blockchain] to be used by ordinary society for mission-critical applications.”

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