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(Excerpt from The Domain Standard Issue No. 02. Read the full piece and more insights in the latest issue of The Domain Standard.)
Our digital lives have become inseparable from the identities we construct online. What began with simple email addresses and usernames has evolved into complex profiles that shape how we present ourselves, connect with others, and participate in society. Today, much of who we are is inseparable from how we appear online. Applying for a job without a LinkedIn profile or building a creative career without an Instagram presence is almost unthinkable. These digital profiles are no longer simple representations of our real selves. They have become infrastructures through which we actively build who we want to be.
Yet these identities are fragmented, mutable, and controlled by centralized platforms. Our access can be revoked at any moment, as seen in the case of journalist Alexa O’Brien, who found herself locked out of her Gmail, YouTube, and Google Drive due to a misclassification. This fragility reveals the core problem: centralized platforms ultimately own the identities we rely on. Web3 offers a new paradigm, one that reimagines identity as something users can own rather than borrow.
Web3 introduces decentralized digital identity systems grounded in blockchain technology. Instead of relying on corporations as identity providers, individuals can control their own identifiers, data, and digital presence. Web3 domains are central to this shift. A domain like username.eth becomes a wallet, a login, and a unified identity across decentralized applications. What makes these domains transformative is ownership. Unlike Web2 domains that require renewal and depend on registrars, Web3 domains are recorded on-chain and secured by private keys. No one can take them down, censor them, or revoke access.
This consolidation is meaningful in an online world where identity is scattered across platforms. Social handles, emails, and wallets live in separate environments. A Web3 domain brings order to that fragmentation by giving individuals a single, autonomous identity. For a digital artist like Lena, a Web3 domain such as lena.eth becomes her storefront, signature, and passport. She receives payments, hosts her portfolio, and logs into dApps through it. It is not merely branding but an anchor for her digital self.
Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) deepens this concept by asserting that individuals should control how identity is created, used, and verified. Christopher Allen outlines principles such as control, transparency, access, consent, minimal disclosure, and portability. These ideas frame identity not as a corporate asset but as a fundamental right. Web3 naming systems like Freename align with this vision, providing a foundation for individuals to reclaim their digital autonomy.
The rise of decentralized identity reflects a broader cultural question: who determines the self in the digital age? Classical philosophy explored the nature of personhood and selfhood. Today, we must consider the digital self. Web3 invites individuals to become co-creators of their digital environments rather than passive subjects of platform rules. Domain ownership becomes an existential claim, a way of asserting presence and authority in the emerging decentralized landscape.
As decentralized technologies mature, identity will evolve into something users own and shape actively. Web3 domains offer permanence, security, and independence. They eliminate reliance on centralized intermediaries and allow people to establish a consistent and trustworthy digital presence. In a digital world where recognition, opportunity, and community often depend on our online identity, controlling that identity becomes essential.
Web3 domains mark a shift from profiles owned by platforms to identities owned by individuals. They represent the possibility of a freer, more authentic digital life; one where users determine who they are, how they appear, and how they connect. The future of identity lies not in the hands of platforms but with the individuals who claim and protect their digital selves.
