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A soft ramp to web3 with an eye on newcomers’ UX

May 30

Introduction

Welcome to the Astara Labs Blog. Today, we will explore the innovative use of Web3 technology in managing users' assets without requiring direct interaction. In this post, we will first explain what Web3 technology consists of. Then, we'll dive deep into the cutting-edge concept of decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and demonstrate how they simplify user interactions in the Web3 space. Let's begin!

What is Web3?

The Web3 term itself is the new evolution of the internet. Web pages were static in the early days of the World Wide Web (WWW), known as Web 1.0. In those days, users could read or download content but could not modify it (writing comments, liking posts, modifying information, etc). It was a one-way street: content was created by a few and consumed by many without direct interaction.

The next evolution in internet technology, Web 2.0, introduced dynamic webpages that could be updated in real-time without publishing a new version. This era was marked by the rise of platforms like Facebook and Twitter, where users become active content creators.

In Web 2.0, users consume and generate information, sharing private data and allowing these websites to collect and store them. This is the most critical aspect of Web 2.0: the centralization of this user-generated content. All this data is controlled by a few companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google, which manage large amounts of data, creating potential concerns over privacy and data ownership. This centralization has shaped how information is controlled and monetized, setting the stage for the emergence of Web3 as a response to these challenges.

For this reason, we need a new evolution of the internet in which users own their data. This evolution, effectively, is Web 3.0, often simply called Web3, which marks a revolutionary shift in how we interact with the World Wide Web, driven by blockchain technology. This new iteration emphasizes user sovereignty over personal data and digital assets like cryptocurrencies. At the core of Web3 is the principle of decentralization, where data is distributed across numerous servers that collectively form a blockchain network.

Furthermore, Web3 enhances user privacy by keeping personal data anonymous but public. This means anyone can view this data while the user's real-world identity remains protected. So, users retain ownership of their data—it belongs to the individual, not any corporation. This fundamental change in data ownership and control represents a significant shift towards a more secure, user-empowered internet.

Another mind-blowing change of Web3 is the ownership of digital assets. While in Web 2.0, users don't own the assets associated with their accounts (like points in an APP, coins in a game, or images uploaded to a social network), in Web3, the user exclusively owns these assets. Nobody else (nor the corporation owner of the platform) has rights over those assets. This means users can make whatever they consider with these assets.

At Astara, we are steadfast in our commitment to protecting user data. We firmly believe that users should own their personal data and digital assets. As such, we act as custodians, securely safeguarding this information until users take complete control. Our approach ensures that the integrity and privacy of user data are maintained, empowering users to manage their digital assets on their terms.

Our approach

Interacting with blockchain technology can often be a painful experience for the average user. The process typically involves several complex steps: creating a digital wallet, securely storing private keys, and acquiring cryptocurrencies through exchanges to execute transactions.

Other projects, like the NFT collections or Web3 games, teach users how to carry out all these steps, and this is very useful because users learn how web3 space works. The projects invest a lot of time recording, editing, and posting excellent content to clarify to their users how to create wallets, store their credentials, create accounts in cryptocurrency banks, buy these coins, etc., to make the Web3 experience as smooth as possible. Still, in the majority of cases, this is not enough.

In Astara, we believe the technology must be adapted to the users rather than the users having to adapt to the technology. For this reason, in our commitment to carry Web3 to our users, we didn't invest time creating content about using the technology; instead, we abstracted the technology to the users and made all the painful stuff in the background. This enables our clients to enjoy the benefits of Web3 without the burden of its intricacies.

Our Web3 layer acts as a temporary non-custodial service at first. Simplifying the user experience to the maximum. We provide the option for users to take self-custody of Web3 assets, allowing them to embrace the complexities if they choose to do so. In this regard, our Web3 approach is non-intrusive, avoiding standing in your way if you don’t care about it but enabling those stakeholders that want to benefit from ownership.

Decentralized Identifier (DID)

You may wonder how we abstract Web3 and handle it behind the scenes without involving our users directly. So let's see it bit by bit.

We aim to simplify the Web3 experience for our users by handling all the complex steps ourselves. So, firstly, when a new user registers in our system, we automatically generate a new Web3 identity for them. This identity is created by generating an externally owned account (EOA) known as a wallet or simply "account" further in this post. The wallet is composed of a key pair, public and private, and allows the users to execute blockchain transactions. The public key is formed by forty hexadecimal characters plus the prefix 0x and looks like 0x5C2A3DF5487e80E2638DFDc551e4B33A435330B5. This public key can be shared with anyone, and it is used to allow other users to send us assets. On the other hand, the private key is very similar to the public, but it is larger (sixty-four hexadecimal characters) and should not be shared with anyone. This private key allows us to sign transactions and get access to the account assets, so whoever has access to the private key can do whatever with our assets and execute transactions on our behalf.

In this first step, we also generate the user seed phrase. This phrase is used to generate the user's wallet, but it also allows for generating more different wallets. It comprises twenty-four random words and gives access to all the accounts generated from it (all the public and private keys). We must carefully store these words to avoid bad actors accessing users' wallets.

So, at the end of this first step, we just generated a unique seed phrase and a wallet account derived from it for the user.

The second step is creating a Safe Wallet account. This is nothing more than another kind of wallet that can be co-owned by different accounts (also known as a multi-signature wallet). The user will be one of the owners of this wallet, and the other owner will be an account managed by us. So, with this kind of wallet, we can execute transactions on the user's behalf to avoid them paying the required fees for executing a blockchain transaction.

So, as we explained, now the user has a Web3 account, and they execute transactions on the blockchain, but we are in charge of all of it. We create and store the wallets, execute and pay the transactions, and the user owns the generated assets.

But now, what happens when a user wants not to use our services anymore and wants to remove all their information from our records? In line with our commitment to user sovereignty over their assets and data, we allow users to take complete control of their Externally Owned Account (EOA) and Safe Wallet. If you'd like to, we will revoke our co-ownership of the Safe Wallet, making the user the unique owner. We then securely transfer all credentials associated with the EOA to the user via email (seed phrase and private key). Following this transfer, we ensure the privacy and autonomy of our users by deleting all their information from our records, thereby not retaining any data. This process underscores our dedication to protecting and empowering users with complete control over their digital identities and assets.

This approach is how we demystify blockchain technology for our users, providing them with the benefits of this advanced system without necessitating a steep learning curve. We handle the complexities, allowing our users to grow comfortable and confident in managing their digital assets independently. Our ultimate goal is to empower our users to harness the full potential of blockchain technology at their own pace, with our support every step of the way.