What is EPNS?
The Ethereum Push Notification System (EPNS) allows users to subscribe to notification channels without needing to store data on centralized servers. This prevents any one entity from being able to censor or control user data.
Until now.
. What EPNS does is introduce a new, decentralized middleware system. This communications layer for Web3 allows users to subscribe to channels for communication, which opens the doors to a whole range of use cases, from minor insights to critical alerts.
Here are some examples of uses that help illuminate the value being created here:
- Nearing liquidation warning (lending and borrowing)
- Staking rewards available to claim (staking)
- Price alerts (trading)
- Stablecoin peg slippage (arbitrage)
- Low gas alert
- Governance Updates
- Airdrops
. There are many potential opportunities that EPNS provides. However, it is difficult to imagine what users will eventually create in the future.
Speaking of technology…
How does it work?
The EPNS protocol allows dApps and other sources to create channels that users can subscribe to in order to receive push notifications. These notifications can take the form of broadcasts sent out to all subscribers, messages to subsets of subscribers, or even targeted messages to an individual wallet address.
Sending
When staking a small amount of PUSH tokens, users can create a channel that allows for sending messages.
Any entity, whether it be a business, dapp, or individual, can be a channel for notifications. This means that they can program their notifications to be sent in response to information on the blockchain, or they can manually send notifications for off-chain activities.
Source: EPNS Blog
The EPNS Communicator contract can be used to send message data. This data is then received by Push Nodes. The Push Nodes connect to the EPNS Core smart contract to make sure that the sender is an existing channel and is not spamming. After this, the notifications are sent to the front-end infrastructure. EPNS provides apps for iOS, Android, and Web that can read and display these notifications to users. In the future, this will be able to be done through your wallet of choice.
Receiving
Subscribers are users who have opted in to receive notifications from a specific channel. To subscribe to a channel, just open the EPNS app and connect your wallet. Once you’re connected, you can easily subscribe to your preferred channels from the channels tab. This allows you to receive updates about things like liquidation risk on Compound or Aave, governance on the projects you follow, or the current Ethereum gas price. And more services are becoming available as more protocols decide to implement EPNS notifications.
Looking Forward
There are many upcoming changes to the protocol that will make it more functional and decentralized. One of the most anticipated features on the roadmap for 2022 is communication between wallets. This would enable decentralized chat applications and pave the way for even more ambitious automation opportunities like smart contract to smart contract communication.
If your loan is in danger of being liquidated, Aave could send a notification to a smart contract you’ve set up, which would add more collateral and avoid liquidation without you having to do anything. This is just one example of what’s possible with these technologies.
Node Decentralization
The next step in EPNS’ decentralization is to decentralize nodes through a permissionless system based on game theory. There is no hardware required for these nodes, which are essentially software server nodes that store data on IPFS. The key feature is focusing on incentivizing participation with staking rewards and penalizing bad behaviour with slashing.
The next step is to ensure that push nodes are ready to support all the new features, especially the multi-chain support, and then to decentralize further from there.
Governance
The EPNS is governed by the PUSH token holders and is working to get the tokens into the hands of those who actively contribute to and manage the protocol. This is done through the new grants program, the weekly Rockstar of EPNS awards for participation, and meta-governance through DAO to DAO partnerships. Other ways of rewarding active community members, such as Coordinape, are being discussed.
If you’re reading this and are interested in EPNS, I encourage you to join the discord, ask questions, and get involved in whatever way you can. Also, check out the website, blog, and twitter.
The technologies that are being developed for the future of the web are going to have a big impact. I started this post by discussing push notifications, which are pop-ups that most people never think about unless they’re annoying or useful. But any app developer will tell you that this is a very important part of the user experience, and it’s been missing from Web3.
What was Web 1.0?
The most important protocols for the internet are TCP/IP. Web 2.0 is the current age of the internet, which began in the early 2000s and continues to today. It is characterized by user-generated content, social networking, and cloud-based services. There have been two major iterations of the internet so far: Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Web 1.0 was the early era of the internet, lasting from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. It began with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) research on protocols that would allow computers to communicate over a network. The most important protocols for the internet are TCP/IP. Web 2.0 is the current age of the internet, characterized by user-generated content, social networking, and cloud-based services. It began in the early 2000s and continues today.
The original version of the internet was not centrally controlled by one organization or company. Instead, it was based on a number of free and open protocols that anyone could use. These protocols, such as HTTP (web), SMTP (email), and FTP (file transfer), are still in use today and form the foundation of many popular internet applications.
The internet during Web 1.0 primarily consisted of a series of pages that were joined together by hyperlinks. There were no additional visuals or comment sections. Internet users were passive recipients of the information and couldn’t interact or respond to what they encountered.
In this respect, it was the “read-only” era.
The goal of website owners when the internet was first created was to share information with as many people as possible instead of interacting with them. early internet pages were just a collection of links.
What was Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is a term that refers to the second generation of the World Wide Web. It is characterized by a change in how users interact with and use the internet. With Web 2.0, users are able to create, share, and publish content, rather than being passive observers.
In Web 1.0, e-commerce stores were just a long list of product names and prices that readers would scan through. In Web 2.0, users can use e-commerce sites to make payments, track their orders, post reviews, request refunds, and more. Web 2.0 sites actively encourage users to participate and increase their engagement, through features such as Facebook’s like button or their notification system. Google and Amazon encourage users to leave reviews in similar ways.
It’s sad that Web 2.0 is largely defined by intermediaries.
Folks are increasingly turning to the internet to find what they need, be it a business, artist, or product. More and more, people are using search engines, social media, and ecommerce platforms to scour for information and make purchase decisions.
The biggest names in the internet, such as Google and Facebook, make their money by collecting data from users and then selling it to the highest bidder. This process means that these companies make nearly all of the money from user activity, rather than the user themselves.
Multisided platforms which create value by enabling direct interactions between groups became popular with Web 2.0. They now dominate the global economy and are some of the world’s most profitable companies. This came with problems.
The problems in Web 2.0
The platforms became more profitable when it became difficult for groups to interact with each other. For example, Facebook uses intermediaries to make it more difficult for groups to interact directly.
Facebook started out as a platform where people could connect with friends and businesses, and share thoughts and goods. As more people joined Facebook to see what their friends and companies they followed were up to, Facebook’s store of user data grew. Each click, scroll, and like became a data point with financial value. Facebook realized that businesses would be willing to pay to get their products in front of new (and even their existing) followers. So it started selling ad space to make money off of users’ attention.
Now, Facebook is an intermediary that determines when and how users and businesses interact and engage, just like Google does with their ad platforms and Amazon with their featured products.
If you still don’t understand the problem with this, The Oatmeal provides a clear explanation.
In Web 2.0, the platforms that we use are owned by intermediaries who have all the power. They control our data and decide what we can and can’t do online. They can suspend our access to platforms at any time and for any reason. We’ve all seen the power of these intermediaries when platforms like Twitter suspend accounts like that of former US President Donald Trump.
The middlemen also control who we can interact with and when, selling our time and attention to the best advertiser. In addition, most of the tools and services we use on the internet are centralized through places like Amazon’s AWS cloud computing services. If you aren’t aware, almost a third of the internet runs through AWS.
People who are worried about data privacy, who are afraid of the great power that comes with having everything in one place, or who have to build their businesses using social networks and commerce marketplaces, should be very worried about Web 2.0.
Enter the blockchain and Web3.
What is Web3 and why you should care
In 2014, Gavin Wood coined the term “Web3” to describe the next stage of the internet, which was previously known as Web 2.0. Web3 is focused on shifting power away from big tech companies and towards individual users, in order to undo the problems that came about in Web 2.0.
Web3 is built around a group of technologies that function without needing permission or trust, can work together seamlessly, and are not centrally controlled. This is important because it provides an alternative to systems that are currently controlled by a small group of people or institutions. Web3 technologies have the potential to democratize the internet and make it more accessible to everyone.
The meaning of decentralization and trustless
In contrast to relying on a single server, Web3 gets its power from blockchain-based crypto networks. This allows data to be stored on many different devices ( called “nodes”) all around the world. These devices can be anything ranging from computers to laptops or even larger servers. They act as the framework for the blockchain, exchanging information with each other to store, distribute, and protect data without needing to rely on a third party.
Nodes are responsible for keeping the blockchain consistent and complete. Without them, there would be no decentralized proof of ownership. The blockchain is a new way of keeping track of ownership that is much more reliable than previous methods.
The rise of Web 2.0 has forced us to entrust our data to large tech companies such as Google and Facebook. We have had to rely on AWS for many of our tools and services. Furthermore, we have needed to trust that these parties will use this data ethically. However, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal demonstrates, it is easy for our data to be used against us, with potentially far-reaching implications for society and politics.
Reasons like this emphasize how important it is for data and identity to be owned by the person themself, rather than by a central authority.
The meaning of interoperability and permissionless
This text explains how digital wallets can be used to achieve self-sovereign ownership. A digital wallet is like a “wallet” in the real world, holding your currency and data safely.
This wallet is designed to work with various products and systems across the internet, allowing you to choose which decentralized apps have access to your property. All transactions and interactions on the blockchain are permissionless, meaning they don’t require approval from a trusted third party to be completed.
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