Maxthon, the global Internet browser company, has released the beta version of its Maxthon 6 browser, providing blockchain-based tools to change the way the Internet is used. This new Internet, and the Maxthon 6 browser, is only possible using the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain.
Since 2003, Maxthon has provided a state-of-the-art, multi-platform web browser that is one of the world’s most popular – serving as the default browser for over 670 million users. Since its inception, Maxthon has won many top honors in About.com’s Readers’ Choice Awards; has been nominated for PCWorld’s 100 Best Products; and received a 5-star award from CNET and named “Best Free Software.”
The new Maxthon 6 is designed to be a full featured browser. It combines unique features of the popular Maxthon 5 browser, and the best features of Google’s open source Chromium project. The Maxthon 6 beta version is available for download here.
Maxthon 6 is the first step towards a new Internet – known as the “Metanet” – which promises to:
• Give back to users (rather than online service providers) ownership of their data and content
• Enable users to monetize their data, content, online activity and even identity
• Eliminate the intrusive advertising business model of today’s Internet
• Inhibit bots and trolling, and encourage higher quality content
• Enable users to create a global identity for themselves which can be used across websites and applications
How so? The Metanet uses the Bitcoin SV blockchain to store high volumes of data and power Internet activity with millions of micropayments.*
Features in the Maxthon 6 beta will be implemented by:
• VBox – a blockchain identity manager created by Maxthon. VBox allows you to create “blockchain identities” and use it to login to all your online applications, make payments, and save their data and content to the blockchain. No more need to create a new account for every online service you use, and no need to depend on Google or Facebook logins for other websites. Unlike traditional online user accounts (which are owned and can be deleted by each online service provider), a blockchain identity is created and owned by the user (using public/private key cryptography), and is immutably saved on the Bitcoin SV blockchain so nobody can delete that identity. Maxthon believes giving users their own “blockchain identity” is the foundation of the new Internet.
• a new Maxthon “signing and payment API”. The Maxthon 6 browser will include a set of APIs for third-party developers to utilise VBox to easily create applications that interface with a user’s BSV-based “blockchain identity.”
• Extended protocol support. Maxthon 6 will provide extended protocols to support blockchain features for the new Internet. The beta version will include two new protocols: (1) the TX protocol, used to view data associated with any blockchain transaction; and (2) the NB protocol, used to visit websites created on the Bitcoin SV blockchain. (The NB protocol will interact with NBDomain,a project from BitRabbit PTE Ltd. which creates a new universal domain system for blockchain-powered websites).
Using these new features, protocols and APIs, Maxthon is currently working with a group of developers to create demo applications for end users to test. Future versions of Maxthon 6 may add even more features.
Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon, commented: “Consumer data issues have become a hot-button topic in politics, media and for everyday Internet users. I believe the future requires re-inventing the Internet in a manner that lets user keep ownership and control of – and actually monetize – their own data, content, online activity and identity. The Maxthon 6 browser delivers the first steps towards this powerful new future, which is only possible on the Bitcoin SV blockchain.”
*Why would I pay to use online services when I can do the same today for free?
i) The micropayment model inhibits online bots and trolls (unless they want to pay to troll)
ii) The payments can be tiny – mere cents, or even fractions of a cent each – and ‘what goes around comes round’ – for example, other users’ responses to you (such as a “like” or comment back on a social media post or online consumer review) will earn payments back to the posting users
iii) Online service providers do not need to harvest (and sell) user data
iv) No advertising needed; online service providers take a cut of micropayments paid by users, and the business model is self-sustaining
How does it work? Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the only blockchain massively scaling to support massive volumes of microtransactions, so users can pay tiny transaction fee amounts (cents, or even fractions of cents) to perform online interactions. Tiny fees enable online applications for users to quickly send, spend and earn back small amounts of money with their data and online activity. As a result, the BSV ecosystem has been exploding with new ventures that give consumers creative ways to use and earn BSV in microtransactions – such as for consumer reviews, social media posts, online games, and even to monetize your identity and consumer data. In the old Internet, users engaged in all this activity without being compensated, and it was only the online service providers who profited from user content and data. In the new Metanet, users can get paid for the online interactions and data they previously provided for free.
About Maxthon
Founded in 2005, Maxthon is a global software company that develops state-of-the-art web browsers that give users a seamless browsing experience across multiple platforms. Committed to high standards for innovation, the Maxthon suite of browsers supports a wide range of devices from computer to mobile. Maxthon browsers are used each month by more than 100 million people in 140 countries around the globe. Maxthon has offices in San Francisco, Hong Kong and Beijing. For more information, please visit: http://www.maxthon.com/
Ed Pownall
edpownall@hotmail.com