141 - The Future of Decentralized Identity and Reputation with Scott Kominers from a16z crypto

In this episode of The Unstoppable Podcast, we’re talking to Scott Kominers. He’s a Harvard Business School professor and part of the research team at a16z crypto — a venture capital fund that invests in crypto and Web3 startups.We talk about identity and reputation in Web3, and Scott shares some of the stories that led him to become interested in these topics. Scott explains some of the key differences between Web2 and Web3, one of which is how the latter is more open and less dominated by siloes.We go on to discuss the ability to carry assets from one part of Web3 to another and why this simple concept is so important for the future of the web. Scott talks about the possibility of building a more global digital infrastructure that can benefit people in certain parts of the world.We also chat about sharing digital information — how much of our data do we really want to share online and where do we draw the line? Finally, we dive into the idea of associating reputation with online identity, what this can unlock, bringing off-chain information into Web3, and how far away we are from this.You can follow Josh on Twitter, Scott on Twitter, and learn more about Unstoppable Domains and our work here.Don’t forget to rate, download, and subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss an episode and we can keep producing awesome content for you. Check out https://unstoppabledomains.com