Former Google CEO calls idea of a more decentralized Web 'very powerful'

Former Google CEO and chairman Eric Schmidt said he's interested in Web3, having also invested some money in cryptocurrencies. 

The billionaire technologist told CNBC that the idea of a more decentralized model of the internet is “very seductive” and “very powerful.”

Schmidt spent nearly two decades at Google and its parent company Alphabet, serving different roles, before leaving in 2020. Last December, he joined Chainlink Labs — the developer behind blockchain oracle solution provider Chainlink — as a strategic advisor.

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"[Web3's] economics are interesting. The platforms are interesting and the use patterns are interesting," Schmidt told CNBC, singling out the concepts like content ownership and compensating people. "[It] doesn't work yet, but it will."

The former Google executive argued that one of the biggest challenges that blockchain technology faces is that a lot of time is being wasted on preventing attacks.

Schmidt didn’t specify which cryptocurrencies he owned but said that if he was just starting a career as a software engineer “he'd want to work on AI algorithms or Web3."

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Catarina is a reporter for The Block based in New York City. Before joining the team, she covered local news at Patch.com and at the New York Daily News. She started her career in Lisbon, Portugal, where she worked for publications such as Público and Sábado. She graduated from NYU with a MA in Journalism. Feel free to email any comments or tips to [email protected] or to reach out on Twitter (@catarinalsm).