What you need to know about the relationship between Web3 and WordPress | What the future holds for Web3 experts

Web3 has room to make a big impact on entrepreneurs and companies, including WordPress. WordPress projects and plugin developments around this new technology have already started.

Dave Lockie held at the WordPress community event “WordCamp Europe 2022 (WCEU 2022)” to explore how WordPress will change shape with Web3, or what changes are happening now. I participated in the session “WordPress and Web3 Trends (Disruption, Challenges, Possibilities)” (in English). In this article, we share insights from this session on what Web3 means for the open source CMS (content management system) WordPress and its global community, to help you prepare for the near future. 

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Lockie, director of Web3 at Automattic, defines Web3 as “distributed digital technologies that enable new ways of organizing and collaborating.” And this “new form” will expand the possibilities of using and developing WordPress.

For example, the introduction of Web3 technologies has transformed the way website owners protect their content, how visitors purchase tickets, courses and products, and how users’ activities such as logging into websites have changed. may require different data. We will see changes in the way we develop for the WordPress platform and how we reward designers and creators.

Lockie sees Web3 as a technology that aligns fundamentally with WordPress’ mission to “enable anyone to publish a site or start e-commerce.” Speaking at the WCEU 2022 session, he said: “Web3 will enable free trade and create tools for borderless collaboration that has never been possible before. The combination of those freedoms and the tools will allow us to work together to scale our economies.”

To better understand the possibilities that Web3 and WordPress bring, let’s take a look at some examples of projects WordPress is working on and plugins that utilize Web3 technology.

Some use cases Lockie presented at the event on how Web3 works and how it can be effectively incorporated into WordPress and other open source software, and what Web3 WP is currently working on. Introduce the project. Web3 WP is a group of WordPress enthusiasts and companies with a mission to lead the WordPress community into the future of the decentralized internet. Lockie serves as an advisor to this group.

Writing NFT function

One of the benefits of using Web3 technology for WordPress is that articles created with WordPress can be published as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). In the blog platform “Mirror” that utilizes Web3, a function called “Writing NFT” has already been implemented for that purpose.

Bloggers don’t just publish content on their website, but features like this create even more possibilities. According to Lockie, “Because the blockchain is time-stamped, it makes it easier for creators to claim their rights and even sell them.” WordPress users will be able to mint (publish as NFTs) entire articles or images, videos and podcasts within articles.

“I think this is one of the key changes that Web3 will bring. Web3 will allow creators to push the boundaries of what they create.” (Lockie, WCEU 2022)

Supporting WordPress creators by utilizing NFT

“Speaking of NFTs, many people may think of the famous illustration of a monkey. We can turn it into an NFT,” says Lockie. NFTs can also serve as proof of charitable donations, course completion, reward payments for work performance, and financial support for creators. The use of NFT will not only stimulate the motivation of the entire WordPress community and provide a tailwind, but it will also lead to stronger support for creators who use WordPress.

According to Lockie, this is extremely important. “Because [creators] are the creators of everything. As the WordPress user experience improves, so does my business and the work of everyone here.”

Lockie explains why NFTs lead to stronger support for creators. “Using NFTs, it is possible to program copyright royalties. In other words, no matter which marketplace and which participant trades NFTs, a portion of the profits will always be distributed to creators and others. For example, you can choose to receive 1% of sales forever, or 10% of your first 5 transactions.”

token gating

Lockie introduced another area of ​​great opportunity: token gating. About token gating, also known as “Wallet First Experience,” he said, “It’s a concept that opens up possibilities for both online and real-world experiences by connecting Web3 wallets with different experiences. experience will be possible.”

For example, e-commerce businesses can use token gating techniques to offer exclusive merchandise, pre-sales, discounts, and product customization rights to high-value customers and community members, he said.

Tokengating also solves the bot problem facing the e-commerce industry. Many online stores are struggling with the current situation where bots buy up limited-edition products as soon as they go on sale. Bots will have a hard time hoarding,” says Lockie.

“Wapuu” NFT Collection

Wapuu is the (un)official mascot character of WordPress. Since the first goods were produced in 2011, it has been loved at WordCamps around the world. Web3 WP has gone a step further by creating 2,222 unique Wapuu and making them available as NFTs. These NFTs can be obtained within the same community and traded on the Ethereum blockchain.

Every time a transaction is made, the WordPress Foundation gets half of the royalties. Therefore, owning Wapuu’s NFT has a strong meaning of investing in the future of WordPress.

“Maybe one day it will be used for token gating. 

WordPress Core Contributor Coin

WordPress is open source software and relies on a community of developers and contributors for bug fixes, new feature development, and other improvements. WordPress has already implemented initiatives to support and reward contributors, such as the Five for the Future campaign and a credit/badge system.

To further this effort, Web3 WP is creating a “WordPress Core Contributor” coin that allows you to collect limited editions for 41 past major releases starting with version 0.7. Contributors will be rewarded with this rare collector’s item. By leveraging some of the capabilities of Web3 technology in this way, Web3 WP believes it can incentivize core contributors in ways not previously possible.

Several WordPress plugins utilizing cryptocurrencies and other Web3 technologies are already available in the official WordPress directory. Let’s take a look at some of them below (note that the links to each plugin are in English).

1.Unlock Protocol

Unlock Protocol is a free-for-all plugin that is ideal for monetizing the content of your WordPress site.

This plugin allows you to drag and drop an Unlock Protocol block into the Gutenberg editor to lock some (or all) of your article or page content. If the reader is not logged in, the content within the block will not be displayed and they will be prompted to enter their WordPress login credentials or log in with one click via a login button linked to their Ethereum wallet. Also, if the reader is logged in, they will not see the content within the block unless they purchase a key to unlock the content.

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2.EthPress _

EthPress is a free plugin that automatically adds a button to the WordPress login screen that allows users to securely login to MetaMask and other WalletConnect-enabled cryptocurrency wallets.

This plugin allows you to add custom logic using hooks for what happens after a user logs into a cryptocurrency wallet. For example, the login_redirect hook allows you to control which page the user is redirected to after logging in.

3. WordProof Timestamp

WordProof Timestamp allows you to automatically timestamp your WordPress content on any EOSIO blockchain. You can also display a blockchain certificate pop-up on your website and make it downloadable in PDF format as a Proof of Existence. Additionally, you can display a popup at the bottom of your content so that visitors can see the history of content changes.

These features will protect your copyright, ensure transparency for your readers, and prepare you for upcoming EU regulations.

4.LikeCoin _

Like Coin was developed to further LikeCoin’s mission to democratize publishing services. This plugin allows you to register your content’s metadata with the International Standard Content Number (ISCN) . ISCN is an immutable metadata registry that records the relationship between content and creators on the blockchain. Alternatively, ISCN-linked content can be stored in the distributed file system IPFS and made accessible for future use and distribution. The blockchain-based LikeCoin registry thus acts as the Single Source of Truth for digital content.

We also provide a function to grant LikeCoin tokens as rewards to creators who have created content and curators who have registered with the registry. This token can be exchanged for fiat currency, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, or traded on centralized exchanges. Creators are rewarded with more tokens when their content is “super-liked” by other users. You can access all these features using the LikeCoin button on WordPress.

5. Web3 Donations by DePay

Web3 Donations by DePay is the first free WordPress plugin that allows WordPress site owners to receive P2P (peer-to-peer) donations in cryptocurrencies on multiple blockchains.

WordPress site owners can easily add a donation button using the DePay Donations block and further customize it with CSS. Users can send donations via WalletConnect using MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and over 100 other cryptocurrency wallets.

Until now, there have been two common methods used by WordPress site owners to accept cryptocurrency donations. One is to use a centralized cryptocurrency payment gateway, but this method has the weakness of limiting the types of cryptocurrencies that can be accepted. The other is to provide the wallet address in plaintext, which is ugly and difficult to monitor. This plugin offers a great alternative to the traditional two methods.

You can see how the DePay Donations block is implemented on your WordPress site in the video below.

Web3 technologies (blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs) are already transforming how WordPress users log in, donate, and copyright their content. Already in the new era of the web, website owners, end-users and developers can expect more progress in the use and development of the platform.

Lockie concludes the WCEU session by saying: “Web3 will be chaotic and risky. I would appreciate it if you could share that thought with everyone.”

While there are many different views on Web3, it is important to start learning about the possibilities and risks that this new age of the Internet poses.