“A digital economy is not simply an industrial economy on the internet.” The Blockchain Innovation Hub at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia recognizes a truth governments worldwide have not. Web 3.0, the approaching next internet phase with unprecedented methods of commerce, is unique in history. The Industrial Revolution transition is analogous. Changes of this magnitude require governments to reevaluate their economic oversight role. Web 3.0 will challenge old models of what constitutes a firm, a security, and a commercial transaction. The Royal Melbourne Institute provides some worthwhile proposals to welcome this new cyber world.
In the future, shareholders will run companies directly through smart contracts coded into decentralized applications—no management required. Cars will pay each other to pass or change lanes. Houses will rent out spare bedrooms upon predefined criteria. Computers will sell extra file storage to the continuously, to the highest bidder. And people will buy, share, and exchange value in myriad forms without any impeding central authority.
