Until 2009, the world knew nothing about decentralization, how it could be applied and used to better our current world. From the very beginning, all there was is centralization; a few people controlling the majority, seizing power, telling them what to do and what not. Everything from politics down to our schooling systems and even our social media have been centralized from the very beginning and most people saw nothing wrong.
I am a strong believer that man has no idea of what he doesn’t know except he lets his curiosity guide him. Living in a centralized world wasn’t a bad idea for us as we had no idea of the possibilities a decentralized world could possibly unlock. So, follow me as I distinguish both worlds.
Centralization is just as the word suggests it to be. It means that the control is focused in an area or a source. Centralization by definition should be the concentration of control under a single authority or location. Then a centralized world would be the one that gives only a few people power and makes the remaining majority their subjects.
Like I said earlier, Centralization is everywhere which does not leave out our social media networks. Our favourite social networks are centralized and it’s a pity the vulnerability of centralized networks is really high. I’m guessing you still remember the last twitter hack. The hack that saw the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos tweeting that they’ll double the amount of BTCs sent to their wallet addresses. Lol. The hack is rated as one of the Top 5 data breaches in this year and this happened because the network is a centralized one and all the hacker had to do was attack the source or database which is impossible with decentralization
What is Decentralization?
While one can easily say it means not-centralized, I’d like to talk extensively about it as it is the topic of consideration. Decentralization is an organized shift in power or structure where power and decision-making responsibilities are delegated to middle and lower subordinates. So basically, decentralization is the distribution of administrative powers or functions of a central authority for various reasons that include ensuring that power is not concentrated at a zone or place.
Clearly, the twitter hack would have been impossible if twitter was a decentralized platform. Why? Remember decentralization shifts power and this would mean that the database is not concentrated at a zone or an area. So, for anyone to successfully hack a decentralized platform, he would need to hack all the administrative computers at the same time to gain access to the database.
Currently, we are not in a completely decentralized world as a large part of the world is still unaware about decentralization itself which is what makes Status a strategy towards mass adoption of Ethereum and Decentralization. I believe “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and that it’s a process that will take time. Hence, I’d be talking about the applications of decentralization and how status puts it to use on the mobile app.
Politics
Decentralization has proven to be useful to us in a lot of ways that include politics, banking, storage et al but let’s talk about the politics use case. Usually, what we do during elections is get our voting cards and head to our various polling stations to vote in person and even with that, there’s the risk of it being rigged. All of these could end with decentralization. If decentralization were to be introduced into the world of politics, election processes especially, there would be more transparency because each individual would have their special ID which can’t be used twice for the same election. The figures of votes can’t be manipulated as well because the data is spread across a vast network of computers and of course, we all can go through the whole voting process from our homes.
Decentralization would indeed make the world a better place for Us all.
Status Network & How It Integrates Decentralization
The Status Mobile App is a decentralized world or space on its own. It is a decentralized mobile messaging app that has all features of the regular messaging apps and more. It doubles as a very secure cryptocurrency wallet that eliminates third parties and middlemen to put you in total control of your funds and of course, protect you from loss.
Unlike other social media platforms and messaging apps, Status has no access to your passwords and login information. This assures you no one else can get into your account and it also means you need to be more careful when saving your keys as it can’t be retrieved by the team since you’re the only one that has access.
Decentralized Push Notification Market
Like all the messaging apps out there at the moment, Status needed a way to notify users of the new messages they get when they are offline. So, Status used the help of Whisper V5 Protocol to delegate nodes to do the offline inboxing, storing of messages for offline users and later, they extended the ability to support push notifications.
This helped Status create or bring to life a decentralized market for push network providers. One that needs users or stakeholders to deposit some Status Network Token (SNT) to any provider they choose. The chosen notification providers can now charge for notifications and message storage but really, you can choose not to use the service to maximize your privacy or you may just continue with it depending on what is more important to you.
As a stakeholder, you can also consider providing push notification services in the market, this is where the power of decentralization is. Any stakeholder can choose to be a push notification provider once you have what it takes.
DApp Access
Status gives you access to all the Decentralized Applications (DApps) on the Ethereum Network. This part of the mobile app is something I’ve explored and can definitely say has a very good interface when compared to other Ethereum clients or Apps. Using the DApp directory is quite easy as everything has been grouped based on category and ratings to enable anyone to navigate easily. Besides giving access to DApps, Status provides a way for stakeholders in the network to discover the most useful DApps which are mostly by the votes of community members.
Lastly, it would interest you to know that Status created a room for developers to extend their DApps by integrating some or all of the functionalities of their DApp into the Status Mobile
Have a taste of what being in control feels like. Be a part of the Decentralized world on Status. Available on Playstore, Applestore, and APK
