Decentralized platforms
Neutralitity
minimizes suspicion and manipulation, fostering a level playing field where diverse parties can flourish.
Joera Mulders
Building new foundations for trust
In our increasingly polarized societies and an insecure world, we are searching for new foundations of trust—a new neutrality.
Over the next decade, many of the strained and fractured relationships between citizens and governments, consumers and companies, as well as fragile partnerships like those between donors and non-profits or volunteers and initiatives, will be reimagined from the ground up. These transformations will harness neutral platforms and cryptographic technologies.
We will learn to design neutral spaces where diverse interests can converge in transparent and productive ways, fostering new relationships that help guide our societies out of the current crisis of trust.
Cryptography
Ownership
civilizes the internet by forming the basis for identity and agency
Open Source
Interoperability
ensures good standards and low development costs, healthy rivalry, and accelerating innovation
Email exemplifies a technology that ranks high on the neutrality spectrum. It is not owned by any single entity, and users have the freedom to choose their level of autonomy in its use. Email operates as a protocol—a set of standardized agreements for transferring text. Millions of machines and applications adhere to these standards, functioning independently of any central authority.
In contrast, Web2 social media platforms have fallen short of their early promises. This disparity is not just about free access but, more importantly, about the ownership of user-generated content and data. Web2 platforms are characterized by an unequal power dynamic, rooted in a critical question: who controls the server-side code and, by extension, the infrastructure that collects and stores our data?
On neutral platforms, the management of infrastructure is so extensively distributed that concentrations of power become anomalies, immediately visible if they arise. It is inconceivable for any individual or group to manipulate the consensus, which is safeguarded by a broad majority. This cultivates trust—a level of trust akin to that found in democratic elections.
Similar dynamics exist in the relationships between citizens and governments, or consumers and companies. In these cases, a single party—the government or the company—controls the infrastructure and manages the data. We place trust in their ethical conduct, and while legal recourse may be available, it is often an expensive and time-consuming process for individuals. The core issue is that when trust is breached, these relationships prove fragile. They are inherently too imbalanced.
There are alternatives now. By utilizing neutral platforms, we can design trust relationships that are more equitable, with better balance. Trust functions more effectively when it is mutual, rather than when one party holds all the power.
We are accustomed to entrusting our property to third parties, like banks, which manage our finances on our behalf. This pattern has extended to Web2 platforms that control our identities and contact lists. Owning a home means you decide who holds the key to your front door, but with your finances and online identities, there’s always another party holding the master key. On paper, you’re the owner. In practice, you’re just a renter.
Cryptographic key pairs empower us to truly own our finances and online identities. They enable us to register our assets on a neutral platform, with access keys that remain solely under our control. While we can still choose to delegate management to a third party, the key difference is that this choice is entirely ours to make.
Digital wallets, built on cryptographic key pairs, will gradually replace all the accounts you've created with governments, healthcare providers, sports clubs, webshops, and more. Instead of receiving their first bank account from their parents, children will get their first digital wallet through one of the many games they play.
These wallets will be fully interoperable, allowing you to take them wherever you go. No more repeatedly entering your contact information, medical data, or clothing sizes. The core of your digital identity will shift to you, rather than being scattered across hundreds of silos—each with its own flawed yet costly security measures. Company- and institution-owned databases will become obsolete, eliminating data leaks and delivering significant cost savings. Even if full autonomy isn't your preference, the efficiency gains alone will win you over.
Full self-management might not suit everyone, but the innovation of online accounts being, in principle, your sole property and responsibility paves the way for clearer distinctions between private and public data, as well as anonymous and verified accounts—allowing the internet to mature and evolve.
Let's compare open source to cooking. Ingredients are available for purchase. Recipes can be found in cookbooks or online, where you can easily explore various interpretations of a dish, each prepared in a unique way. The potential to learn from others is endless. And, we can still profit—whether by working as a chef or authoring a cookbook.
Large parts of the internet were built on a similar principle: an endless array of modular, interoperable pieces of code. Web3 extends the open-source philosophy into areas where it hasn’t been widely applied yet—such as financial transactions, products, governance, intellectual property, and more.
We create and test individual Lego pieces, which are then assembled into larger and more robust structures. The resulting acceleration is immense and will undoubtedly surprise us as a society.
However, this efficiency boost is not the most revolutionary aspect. The true value lies in collaboration—collectively building our knowledge, strength, and productivity. We grow together, not at each other's expense. Of course, there will be winners and losers, and competition will exist, but the race is towards the top, not the bottom.
Are you an organization or initiative in the public sector interested in exploring how to organize around neutral spaces using decentralized platforms and cryptography? My offer is to provide advice, inspiration, and/or support in shaping the technical development.
What I expect from you is an existing community or a clear vision for building one, a commitment to shared values (to be agreed upon), and the curiosity and perseverance to understand the practical aspects of the technology.
Interested in a meeting? Feel free to email me at joera@joeramulders.com.
- Joera Mulders
- Nassaukade 169b 1053LL Amsterdam
- KVK 34329847
- NL131571163B01
- NL18 ING B0004 6309 15
- joera@joeramulders.com
- telegram: @joeramulders
- wallet: joera@p2p-citizen.eth