Erik Zhang, co-founder and core developer of Neo, has published an article outlining a broader vision for OneGate, repositioning the Neo N3 wallet as a platform for decentralised identity, permissions, and digital rights rather than primarily a transaction tool. The article, titled “Why OneGate Matters,” argues that Web3 should extend user autonomy beyond finance and into everyday digital life.
Zhang frames the piece around a central critique: while Web3 succeeded at establishing digital asset ownership, the industry stopped there. He wrote:
“Yet today, when people hear Web3, they still tend to think first of tokens, prices, trading, and yield. A Web3 user is usually treated as a holder, trader, or investor before they are seen as a player, reader, creator, or member of a community.”
The financialisation of user experience, Zhang argues, has left Web3 unable to compete with traditional platforms on the terms that actually retain users. “Rewards can generate an initial wave of registrations, check-ins, and transactions. They rarely make people love a product. When the rewards stop, the users leave.”
Platform power and disappearing rights
Zhang builds the case for decentralised identity by examining how traditional platforms exercise control over users. He describes a pattern where accounts, data, relationships, and distribution are all managed by the platform, and can be revoked at will.
He cites several examples: the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 investigation describing major social media services’ data practices as “vast surveillance,” Sony’s announcement ending physical disc production for new PlayStation games in January 2028, and Ubisoft’s shutdown of The Crew servers, which rendered purchased games unplayable. He notes that PlayStation’s Terms of Service explicitly state that “own” and “purchase” do not mean ownership has transferred.
“Digital domination rarely announces itself as domination,” Zhang wrote. “More often, it is packaged as a convenient account, an uncannily accurate recommendation, or a set of terms nobody finishes reading.”
OneGate as identity gateway
Rather than competing on financial features, Zhang positions OneGate as a gateway that manages identity, authorisation, and digital rights. Under this framing, users carry a decentralised identity controlled by them, not by OneGate or any platform, and grant permissions on a request-by-request basis rather than surrendering all rights at once.
“Access to a service should not be conditional on surrendering every right at once,” he stated.
Rights recorded on a public network persist even if a platform deletes an account, Zhang argues, extending the concept of ownership beyond assets to identity itself. He envisions applications across social platforms, gaming, content, education, and productivity tools, all sharing a common identity layer rather than maintaining separate closed account systems.
Zhang is clear that the technology alone is not enough. “People stay with a product because the game is fun, people they care about are in the community, the writing is worth reading, or the tool solves a real problem. No matter how elegant an identity protocol may be, it cannot substitute for any of those things.”
Built on the NEP authentication stack
The vision draws directly on infrastructure Zhang finalised earlier this year. In April, he completed a three-layer authentication stack: NEP-20 for cryptographic challenge-response authentication, NEP-21 as a unified dAPI standard for wallet-application communication, and NEP-33 for mobile authentication transport. All three were implemented in OneGate v2.0, released on April 28.
These standards are not just wallet features, they form the identity infrastructure underlying Zhang’s broader vision. NEP-21 in particular functions as an open standard, meaning any compatible wallet can interact with applications built on it. Zhang directly addresses the gatekeeper concern this creates: “OneGate can connect products and users. It must not trap either side by controlling accounts, rights, or the ability to leave. Otherwise, blockchain would merely produce another gatekeeper.”
Developer tools and ecosystem value
Zhang also introduces developer-facing capabilities including Browser Mock for simulated testing and remote debugging for on-device troubleshooting. Developers can integrate AI tools such as OpenAI Codex to inspect page state, analyse code, and iterate through a continuous development cycle, capabilities Zhang describes as particularly valuable for small teams and independent developers.
For the Neo ecosystem, Zhang frames OneGate’s value in terms that extend beyond transaction volume. He wrote:
“For Neo, OneGate can bring more than transaction volume. It can bring real users and everyday use cases. People will not use a service simply because it runs on Neo, nor should they have to understand Neo before they begin.”
Success, Zhang suggests, should be measured not solely by asset activity but by whether people come for communities, games, content, and tools, with transactions becoming “only one use among many.”
The full article can be found at the link below:
https://x.com/erikzhang/status/2087773735717654837
