BRC-89

Web 3.0 Standard (at a high level)

Talk about a decentralised web rarely says concretely what the pieces are or how they fit. This sketches one: wallets, indexes, browsers and payments, and where each belongs.

About Network architecture, why the system is shaped the way it is, and how it scales.

AlsoWallet calls Chain watching

Ty Everett4 Aug 2024changed 20 Oct 20262 min read

Reference for an AI

Everything an assistant needs to answer questions about BRC-89 accurately, including what it depends on.

Why: The web relies on centralized servers for storage, identity, payments, and messaging, which limits user control and creates single points of failure.
What: BRC-89 is a high-level outline describing how blockchain storage, wallets, authenticated payments, and peer-to-peer messaging standards combine to produce a decentralized, serverless version of the web.
How: It calls for browsers to resolve domains to content hashes instead of IP addresses, embed a wallet API on the window object, replace the Fetch API with authenticated and payment-wrapped requests, and route messaging and transaction submission through overlay networks instead of app-specific servers.

What this lets you do

Resolve domain names to content hashes instead of server addresses
Access a wallet directly from browser JavaScript for signing and identity
Send authenticated, pay-per-request fetches instead of plain HTTP
Exchange messages peer-to-peer without a relay server owned by the app
Submit transactions and query state through federated overlay networks

Written by claude-sonnet-5 from the specification text. Where the two differ, the original is correct.

The specification

Read the original

Abstract

This BRC defines a high-level, high-level standard for Web 3.0, defining the integration of blockchain technology, federated ,[object Object] networks, digital wallets, and enhanced browser functionalities to enable a decentralized and serverless web experience. This evolves the current web standards to facilitate content and applications that are fully powered by blockchain, allowing users to interact and manage their identities, assets, and cryptographic keys securely and independently.

Motivation

The current Web 2.0 model relies heavily on centralized servers and client-server architecture. The move to Web 3.0 requires delinking the reliance on central servers by enabling a federated and decentralized infrastructure. This BRC aims to cobble together the necessary standards and protocols to achieve this, focusing on leveraging the previous work in wallet technology, overlays, and decentralized storage to enhance user control, privacy, and interaction on the web.

Specification

BRC26 Storage Overlay Network:
- Facilitates decentralized storage and retrieval of web content.
- Domain names point to file hashes rather than IP addresses.
- Integration with DNS via TXT records for domain-to-hash resolution (DNS TXT points to UHRP URL of index.html).
- UHRP URLs replace HTTP URLs for referencing scripts, stylesheets, and images inside HTML.
- Phase out HTTP URLs in a, img, video, link, and script tags in favor of UHRP URLs.
BRC56 Wallet Interface:
- Provides APIs for digital wallets embedded in browsers.
- Allows users to manage identities (signing, encrypting, certifying, verifying), assets (in baskets), and cryptographic keys.
- All identity resolution, permissioning, and certificate management features are supported.
- Securely interfaces with content and applications via a JavaScript interface on the window object.
Peer-to-Peer Communication:
- Based on BRC33 (PeerServ) for direct message exchange between users.
- Expose a JavaScript API for this on the window object.
- Enhances direct user interaction without intermediary servers.
- Supports real-time sockets.
Browser Modifications for Web 3.0:
- Support for executing local code and interacting with BRC56 Wallet API, and using Overlays for state coordination.
- Deprecation of Fetch API in favor of authenticated and monetized Fetch alternatives (BRC-31 and BRC-41 wrapped versions on all requests).
- New JavaScript APIs for overlay service queries (BRC-24), transaction submission (BRC-22), and peer-to-peer communications (BRC-33), all of which support federation across many providers at the browser level.
- Browsers now host digital wallets. Wallet data to be backed up across many providers.

Implementation

Incorporate BRC26 hash resolution capabilities, BRC56 wallet interface in the window object, and BRC33 message relay between users within web browsers. Replace HTTP and the Fetch API with wrapped versions incorporating BRC-31 and BRC-41 for standardized authentication and monetization of all backend systems.

References

[BRC22: Overlay Transaction Submission]
[BRC24: Overlay State Lookups]
[BRC26: Storage Overlay Network]
[BRC31: User authentication protocol]
[BRC33: PeerServ Message Relay]
[BRC41: Payments protocol]
[BRC56: Wallet Interface]

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