web3:// (ERC-4804): Building a Censorship-Resistant Web on the EVM

Transcript

So, um hello everyone. I'm Jamie from Eth Storage. Um and Chang couldn't make it here, so I'm um representing him. Also, Eth Storage is a storage uh roll up built on top of Ethereum, supported by um ESP grant. So, today I will introduce the Web3 Access Protocol. It's a way to access content on-chain content directly from smart contracts. So, what is Web3 Access Protocol? It uses um HTTP-like URLs, but instead of locating centralized resources hosted by a server, it locates the decentralized resource hosted by smart contracts.

So, the protocol is defined in ERC-4804 and was developed in um proposed by Eth Storage team. So, the original motivation was the fully on-chain NFTs. So, um they moved all the data on-chain, but users may still rely on third parties like um you know, HTTP, DNS, IPFS. So, Web3 URL lets users locate or browse the on-chain images directly without third-party trust like DNS or HTTP. So, um OpenSea already supports Web3 Access Protocol for its NFT metadata.

So, CyberBrokers was um one of the uh great example. The team stored all data on-chain, so they never lose media files. Um the goal was to keep the media available on-chain without relying on a separate media hosting service. So, with Web3 URLs, users can access these images directly from the smart contracts. And there be also websites. So, we will uploaded a copy of Vitalik's entire blog, about 40 MB, to a smart contract on Arbitrum Nova.

Users can access this on-chain copy through web3 URLs. So, by reducing reliance on traditional web hosting and DNS, this can make access more resistant to censorship as well. So, how do we use a web3 URL? So, basically in in it it inherits most of our features of HTTP. So, first the authority um identifies a contract by full address or ENS name. And uh the URL tells a client how to call the contract using call data.

So, the file type can be different, JSON, JavaScript, images, or web pages. So, um our website web3url.io is one great example. So, this website is um the content is hosted on Ethereum and can be accessed through web3url. And how to access on-chain web content. So, one option is the web3url Firefox extension. It has support for web3 addresses, so users can explore on-chain content through a familiar browser interface.

Another option is uh native browser support. So, Even browser is a project on GitHub built specifically for web3 access protocol. So, it reads the URL, calls the contract, and displays a result without a separate extension. Uh we are actually working on more support from other native browsers. And there can be um more than just images and personal websites. So, applications uh can use smart contracts for multi-user interactions and web3 URLs to access their content.

So, examples include publishing platforms, file sharing, and collaborative tools. So, um we've had experimented like decentralized blogger, Dropbox, email, Craigslist. So, you can check out all this uh on our website web3url.io. But, there's one big challenge. Um storage on Ethereum is very expensive. So, one lower cost option was Arbitrum Nova with the AC, but we still needed a better on-chain storage solution.

Um so, either either storage takes this further. So, its goal is to scale Ethereum storage to the petabyte level at about 1,000th of the cost. So, um lower storage costs make a fully on-chain web practical. Um so, that's all, and thank you for listening. So, web3url, this is public, and you can try it out already. So, um you can find more information on this website web3url.io, and uh you can join the community for further um discussion with the team or um she who proposed this EIP. So, yeah, thank you everyone and

um can I take the questions after the talk? Yeah, sorry.