Bitpush Exclusive Interview: How Elastos is Building the SmartWeb

At Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, Bitpush sat down with Rong Chen, founder of Elastos and 40-year veteran in the operating systems space, for an exclusive interview about how Elastos is building the SmartWeb. Topics of discussion included why Web3 is broken, the capabilities of the SmartWeb, and Elastos’ recent innovations and launches.

Elastos was launched in 2018 to revolutionize internet infrastructure. At its core, it seeks to create a “Smart Web” or “Internet of Things” by combining its operating system with a unique blockchain architecture. The design features an L1 blockchain for security and transactions, supplemented by sidechains and L2s for running decentralized applications and enhancing scalability. The native coin, ELA, is used for transaction fees and staking and is merge mined alongside Bitcoin to strengthen security. 

The idea for Elastos was conceived in 2000 when Rong hoped to create “an operating system for the Internet.” Though the design and features have changed since then, the original vision still stands. Elastos acts as a place for applications to be executed in a trustless environment in a decentralized Internet: “If there’s a world computer, what’s the operating system?” 

One of the goals of this world computer is to be fully inclusive, a problem Rong sees with the current Web3 world: “Web 1.0 was read for everyone, Web 2.0 was read and write, but Web 3.0 is for crypto maniacs only … Read Write Own should be for everyone, it’s all of the above.” For this reason, Rong calls his version of the Internet SmartWeb.

Rong sees a primary goal of the SmartWeb is to create better digital rights management (DRM) for non-physical assets. As he explained, “Say I own a copyright; I can say the copyright belongs to me. The thing is, can I rent it out? Could I buy a virtual limited edition copy of a movie? How can I guarantee that there are only 500 copies?” He identified the existing system of online movie distribution as incredibly centralized and reliant on a few significant players, like Netflix and Amazon, because you must trust them to honor your ownership and stream the movies to renters in a way they cannot duplicate. Even with ownership, which could be provided by smart contracts, monetization and distribution remain an issue: “I can only trust Netflix because I don’t trust individuals…I cannot sue everyone.” In the current system “the middlemen receive the keys and deliver them to the device.” The only way to ensure the end user cannot get the decryption keys to access the media is by sending the key to the OS: “you don’t debug Windows, only Microsoft debugs Windows … the information is decrypted in a trust zone, where apps cannot access.” Elacity is a project built on Elastos to solve this problem, and it is live now with a library of content available for streaming or purchase.   

The recently released BeL2 layer 2 solution hopes to foster greater interoperability and be the “decentralized clearing network service for native BTC DeFi.” As Rong explained, the BeL2 is a place where individuals can interact with one another trustlessly by staking BTC in smart contracts as a replacement for escrow services. He cited the example of a SmartWeb e-commerce store, where funds would only be delivered to a merchant upon delivery receipt. There has been a recent surge in popularity for Bitcoin L2s, with dozens of different projects competing to be the first to reach $1 billion in TVL and becoming the go-to chain for Bitcoin DeFi activity. BeL2 aligns with the Bitcoiner's interest in full trustlessness by using cryptographic proofs to ensure all “Bitcoin-related settlements must be settled on the Bitcoin mainnet.” It uses zero-knowledge proofs to allow BTC to be used in DeFi without ever leaving the Bitcoin mainnet.

Though the ELA token is down 97% from its 2018 all-time high, it is clear that the team has yet to give up on the project and is still chasing product-market fit. From their presence at Bitcoin 2024 to their pivot to a Bitcoin L2, Elastos is maintaining relevancy in the ever-expanding Bitcoin ecosystem and establishing itself as a time-tested solution for the operating system of the internet. Whether Elastos and BeL2 achieve these lofty goals remains to be seen, but their ambition and drive must be acknowledged.

By Lincoln Murr

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