When web3 interoperability breaks

Hi frens,

Web3 interoperability at application layer is awful, and it seems that very few builders take good care of it.

Web3 started from interoperability. That enables tremendous value across different parties. That resembles a lot from the early web1, where various web browsers with different browser engine led us to the shared web world.

However, on the developer side, browser compatibility is painful. Even til today, we have a website called “Can I Use” to check whether some technology standard has been widely adopted or not.

The same scenario happens in the web3 world, and that’s even with the most popular browser extension, MetaMask, and the most popular hardware wallet, Ledger.

I’ve heard rumors that Ledger doesn’t work well with MetaMask. One case started with Firefox and MetaMask connection issues. Then I’ve come across another issue that MetaMask failed at signing with Ledger, “MetaMask - RPC Error: Unknown error code: -32603 and message: ‘Unknown error’”. The issue has been existed for over three months and not resolved. Besides, there’re still 62 open issues related to Ledger. Ouch.

When interoperability breaks, we revert to centralized, integrated solutions like the Ledger Live app with Ledger hardware wallets. This is problematic as it often leads to vendor lock-in and a less competitive market.

We have W3C as a platform for browser vendors to resolve web compatibility issues. ChatGPT helped me look back at how the web has been evolved. We have similar mechanisms like Ethereum Improvement Proposal to address issues in various web3 layers. Wallet vendors have to stand up and negotiate compatibility issues, or get pressured by the community.

Your friend,

Denken

P.S. You may be curious why I used a Ledger? For researching. What assets do I use with Ledger? I won’t tell, and no one could easily tell. That’s the magic and the beauty of a decentralized crypto world.