Why bandwidth needs a layer-1 blockchain, explained

Some people struggle to get access to bandwidth in the first place.

While higher bandwidth speeds are available in most first-world countries, bandwidth accessibility is certainly not available globally.

Bandwidth is typically distributed through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that manages the speeds provided to each customer. The ISP has complete control over how much bandwidth it chooses to distribute and at what price, often imposing artificial limits on what users can do with that bandwidth and even censoring access or throttling speeds. This problem varies in severity based on the country and local region.

Take China, for instance. The Chinese government is very strict regarding bandwidth usage, limiting and monitoring citizens’ usage. However, government-provided access might be the only way citizens can access the internet at a reasonable speed. 

Even in America, ISPs throttle bandwidth speeds on their “unlimited” broadband plans. With the world becoming ever-more connected with innovations such as high-resolution streaming and the metaverse, these limitations will only hinder such progress.

Sure, users can connect to a virtual private network (VPN), which masks their IP address and allows them to access the internet from any supported location. Those come with their own pitfalls. VPNs typically aren’t as fast as a traditional connection, and their usage might be illegal or blocked in some regions. Plus, it is questionable as to what a VPN provider is doing with user information. They could be selling it to advertisers, governments or exposing it to other vulnerabilities.