By Hein Dauven Mar 28, 2023 - Rotterdam
The European Union's Data Act seeks to give people more control over what can be done with their data, particularly in relation to IoT. However, the legislation has been criticized for its "one size fits all" approach, with some arguing that it lacks clarity. One of the criticisms is that, once again, the technical side was not involved in the creation of the legislation, and this lack of knowledge is exactly why it lacks any clarity. This article will explore the potential introduction of a kill switch and pause functionality in smart contracts proposed in the act, analyzing how these features can both protect and impede innovation, and whether alternative solutions might be more appropriate.
The EU Data Act
The Rationale for a kill switch and pausing
The EU's desire for a kill switch and pausing functionality stems from the need to protect users from potential risks associated with smart contracts, particularly in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT). While the Data Act does not explicitly mention blockchain-based smart contracts, the lack of clarity in the legislation has raised concerns for those in the blockchain industry.
As the blockchain landscape continues to grow and becomes more intertwined with the traditional financial system, the potential for systemic risks increases. In this context, the introduction of a kill switch could be seen as a way for the EU to mitigate the risk of catastrophic failure in the financial system. By providing the means to rapidly respond to emergencies, the EU aims to maintain trust and security from their perspective while ensuring that the integration of blockchain-based smart contracts with traditional financial systems does not jeopardize the stability of the overall financial system. However, striking the right balance between regulation and innovation is crucial to avoid stifling the growth and potential benefits of blockchain technology.
Alternatives to the proposed functionalities
Despite the potential benefits, critics argue that kill switches and pausing functionality may introduce friction and limit the advantages of smart contracts. Alternatives could include greater reliance on social consensus, with control over smart contracts distributed among a variety of stakeholders. This approach could enhance trust while maintaining the decentralized nature of blockchain technology.
Who is in control?
The question of who should have control over kill switches and pausing functionality raises concerns about trust and centralization. Three main options exist: single user control, multi-signature (multi-sig) control, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Each option has its own implications for trust and the speed at which the kill switch or pause can be executed.
Single user control: In this scenario, one individual or entity has the authority to activate the kill switch or pause functionality of the smart contract. While this option allows for the fastest response time in case of an emergency, it centralizes power and control, potentially raising concerns about trust and vulnerability to malicious actions/actors. Moreover, the single user may not have the necessary expertise to make the best decision in every situation, which could lead to suboptimal outcomes. There’s also the risk of loss of the private key attached to this single user, which could make executing the functions impossible in the future.
Multi-signature (multi-sig) control: Multi-sig control requires multiple users to authorize the activation of a kill switch or pause functionality, usually through a predefined threshold of signatures, such as a 3-of-5 or 4-of-7 scheme where a majority of participants must approve actions. This approach distributes decision-making power and reduces the risk of misuse or errors. Trust is enhanced as no single user can unilaterally control the system. However, the speed of execution may be slower compared to single user control, as the approval process involves multiple parties and potential delays in coordinating their actions. In case of one of the users losing their keys, it’s still possible to get to a predefined threshold or to swap out users if need be if their key is lost for example, providing a layer of redundancy.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): DAOs involve a more decentralized approach to control, with decisions made by a collective of stakeholders who vote on proposals using predefined rules and governance mechanisms. This approach can enhance trust by distributing decision-making power among the community and/or companies, reducing the risk of centralization and malicious actions. However, the execution speed may be the slowest of the three options, as the voting process can be time-consuming and may require broad consensus before a decision is reached. DAOs are often unfamiliar to regulators, resulting in a gray area for liability and requiring education about their unique decentralized structure before decision-making processes can be effectively understood and managed. The US state of Wyoming is the first government body to recognize DAOs as legal entities.
Each option for controlling kill switches and pausing functionality in smart contracts has its own trade-offs in terms of trust and speed. Striking the right balance between these factors is crucial for ensuring that kill switches and pause functions can protect users without stifling innovation or compromising the benefits of decentralization.
Social consensus and its role in trust
Social consensus, a concept rooted in the idea of collective decision-making, involves the participation of various stakeholders in reaching an agreement on a specific issue. Social consensus can facilitate a democratic and transparent approach to managing key features such as the proposed kill switch and pause functionality, in favor of outsourcing it to a new bureaucratic entity with sweeping control over any deployed smart contract.
Social consensus can play a crucial role in building trust in systems with kill switches and pause functionality, particularly in the context of the Data Act and its goals. Distributing control over these features among various stakeholders can ensure that decisions are made in a more decentralized manner and transparently, fostering trust in both the regulatory benefits put forth by the Data Act and the decentralized nature of the blockchain ecosystem.
The Data Act aims to provide a framework that both safeguards users from potential data risks while ideally also preserving the innovative potential of smart contracts and other digital technologies. By incorporating social consensus into the decision-making process for kill switches and pause functionality, the EU can strike a balance between protecting users and preventing undue centralization of power that goes against the core ethos of the crypto community.
In a smart contract backed by a DAO/social consensus, the participants have a vested interest in ensuring the contract's integrity and security. Should the smart contract be hacked, contain a bug, or be used in a fraudulent way, the stakeholders can collectively decide to pause or activate the kill switch to protect their interests and prevent further damage. This approach aligns with the incentives of the participants, as they all share the responsibility of maintaining the contract's integrity and value.
Social consensus empowers the participants in a smart contract to act in their collective best interest, providing a robust safeguard against potential threats. It is an approach that would not compromise on the values espoused by the crypto community, while at the same time getting to the heart of the issue that the EU wants to solve with a kill switch and pause functionality. Good faith actors would choose to comply and create a vibrant and well informed community that can harbor the security of its own protocols.
Legal entities and liability
Involving legal entities in multi-sig or DAO arrangements can provide a layer of accountability and liability protection, helping to maintain trust in the system while still offering the benefits of decentralization. Within the context of the Data Act, companies can leverage the concept of a DAO or multi-sig to appoint the appropriate individuals within their organization, as well as external auditors, to oversee the kill switch or pause functionality of smart contracts.
For instance, a company could create a multi-sig arrangement where key personnel, such as executives or board members, along with external auditors or legal representatives, are designated as signatories with the authority to activate the kill switch or pause a smart contract. These individuals should be known and legally accountable for their actions, ensuring compliance with regulations and fostering trust in the system.
Another approach involves forming a DAO as a legal entity, making it liable for the functioning of a smart contract. This could be achieved by registering the DAO as a legal entity, such as a corporation or a limited liability company, subject to the jurisdiction and regulatory requirements where it operates. By doing so, the DAO would be held accountable for its actions, and the participants would be required to adhere to relevant regulations and legal obligations.
In either case, the involvement of legal entities in the governance of smart contracts under the Data Act can help strike a balance between the decentralized nature of blockchain technology and the need for regulatory compliance and accountability. By combining the benefits of decentralization with a framework of legal responsibility, companies can foster trust in their smart contract systems while ensuring adherence to the Data Act's requirements and protecting users from potential risks.
Implications for composability
Composability refers to the ability of smart contracts to seamlessly interact with one another, building upon each other's functionality to create more complex applications and systems. This property allows developers to create modular and reusable components that can be combined in various ways.
Introducing a kill switch or pausing function can pose risks to the composability of smart contracts, potentially leading to a cascading effect of affected contracts. When a smart contract is paused or terminated using a kill switch, it may disrupt the normal functioning of other contracts that depend on it, causing a chain reaction of disruptions throughout the interconnected system of smart contracts.
For example, consider a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform where multiple smart contracts are designed to work together, such as lending protocols, decentralized exchanges, and stablecoins. If a critical smart contract within this ecosystem is paused or terminated, it could prevent other contracts from executing their functions, leading to a breakdown in the entire platform. Users may be unable to access their funds or execute transactions, resulting not only in a breach of trust but potentially also a loss of funds. Something the Data Act is supposed to prevent, not cause.
Understanding these risks and their potential impact on innovation is crucial for striking the right balance between security and flexibility. While the implementation of a kill switch or pausing function may provide valuable safeguards against hacks, fraud, and unforeseen consequences, it is essential to consider the potential disruptions and unintended consequences that these mechanisms might introduce to the composability of smart contracts.
In order to minimize the risks associated with kill switches and pausing functions, regulators and developers must explore alternative solutions or implement safeguards that minimize the potential cascading effects while still providing a level of protection and control that could meet the regulatory goals of the Data Act.
Mutability versus immutability in the Data Act
The Data Act's impact on mutability and immutability of data raises important questions about the extent to which smart contracts can be modified. Striking the right balance between adaptability and security is essential for future innovation.
In the context of smart contracts, the immutability of the code and the tamper-proofnature of the transaction history are key features that ensure trust and security within the blockchain ecosystem. The code of a smart contract cannot be changed after it has been deployed, and the transaction history remains unalterable. However, smart contracts do carry state, which can be mutable. This means that the current state of a smart contract can be updated or modified, but the history of those changes remains unchangeable.
Although the code of a smart contract is immutable, developers can design contracts with a certain degree of flexibility, allowing for upgrades or modifications to adapt to changing circumstances, add features, to fix potential bugs or vulnerabilities. This can be achieved through mechanisms such as upgradeable contract proxies or contract modules that can be replaced or updated without altering the core contract logic.
In the context of the Data Act, balancing the mutable state of smart contracts and the immutability of their code and transaction history becomes crucial, as the legislation seeks to protect user data and maintain a secure environment. On one hand, allowing for some level of flexibility in the contract state enables developers to respond to unforeseen issues or regulatory requirements, ensuring that smart contracts remain compliant and functional. On the other hand, preserving the immutability of the code and transaction history is essential to maintaining the trust and security that blockchain technology offers.
On-chain and off-chain data
Understanding the distinction between on-chain and off-chain data is vital for implementing the Data Act. This distinction has implications for how data is stored, accessed, and regulated within the blockchain ecosystem and how dApps handle state.
On-chain data refers to information that is stored directly on the blockchain. This includes transaction history, smart contract code, and any other data that is recorded and maintained within the distributed ledger. On-chain data is immutable and transparent, ensuring the security of the blockchain. A contract can change its state, but this state change is recorded as history and observable.
Off-chain data, on the other hand, refers to information that is stored outside of the blockchain. This can include databases, file storage systems like IPFS, or any other external data sources. Off-chain data can be mutable and the change of data can be done in an untraceable way. It allows for greater flexibility and adaptability, which comes with trade-offs in terms of trust and security, as off-chain data is not subject to the same transparency and traceability as on-chain data.
In the context of the Data Act, the distinction between on-chain and off-chain data is crucial, as it has implications for the storage and regulation of sensitive information such as trade secrets. While the Data Act may require certain data to be kept confidential, it is possible for developers to circumvent these requirements by storing sensitive information off-chain. This approach can offer greater control over access to the data and help maintain trade secret protection. However, it also raises questions about the transparency and regulatory compliance of such systems. User data can be tampered with unbeknownst to them and with no verifiable trace.
The role of Zero-Knowledge Proofs and RegDeFi
Zero-knowledge proof enabled and Regulated DeFi infrastructures like Dusk Network can make compliance with the Data Act easier by providing selective disclosure, privacy and visibility. This technology can ensure that off-chain modifications are legitimate while still protecting sensitive data, such as trade secrets.
Dusk Network leverages selective disclosure to minimize the exposure of sensitive information, allowing only authorized parties to access specific data within a smart contract. Through the use of zero-knowledge proofs, Dusk enables trade secrets to remain confidential while still providing the necessary transparency for regulatory compliance. This approach ensures that sensitive information is not unnecessarily exposed, thus reducing the risk of unauthorized access or misuse.
Additionally, Dusk Network's built-for-compliance smart contracts introduce cleaner roles for auditors and other stakeholders, enabling them to selectively view parts of a smart contract that others cannot access. These roles can be, and in Dusk’s XSC standard are, extended to include roles that allow the pausing of smart contract execution.
Furthermore, the use of zero-knowledge proofs and selective disclosure in Dusk Network can help reduce fraud risks associated with smart contracts. By allowing only authorized parties to view and modify specific data, the technology minimizes the potential for tampering, unauthorized access, or manipulation. This ensures the integrity of the smart contracts and enhances the overall security of the blockchain ecosystem.
In summary, Dusk Network can help address the challenges posed by the Data Act by providing selective privacy, visibility, verifiable computation and built-for-compliance smart contracts. These technologies offer a balanced approach to maintaining the confidentiality of trade secrets and enabling auditors to perform their roles effectively while reducing fraud risks and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

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\"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” -Patrick Rothfuss
The desire for freedom is powerful, but the desire to protect family is equally powerful. The order of the World Government is powerful, accepted by citizens and enforced by the Marines. To disagree with the Government is to disagree with the World that they establish. This can force good people to make a choice between freedom and family. But when a man can enforce his own order, establish his family and their freedom through his own power, even against the World's status quo, he will always be able to live with those two great necessities in harmony.
The key to this is power. If an entity, whether an individual or a group, wants to be free, they must have the power to do so. The stronger you are, the freer you are. Your strength will scare off certain obstacles, power through others.
So, what must you become to be the world's freest?
The World's Strongest.

The Life of Edward Newgate

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Edward Newgate was born on Sphinx Island 74 years ago. At a young age, the orphan Newgate found his island too impoverished to pay the Celestial Dragon's tax, the Heavenly Tribute, and thus were denied membership with the World Government. To support his village, Newgate set out to sea as a pirate and used the treasure he gathered to help out monetarily. However, with no one to look forward to coming home to, all Newgate ever desired as a pirate was to have a family.
In his young life, Newgate joined the Rocks Pirates under captain Rocks D. Xebec. He stayed as one of the crew's members until Captain Rocks went after God Valley, an incident involving the Celestial Dragons. On God Valley, the Rocks Pirates were defeated by Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp and pirate Gol D. Roger, and the crew disbanded.
Newgate went on to form his own pirate crew, the Whitebeard Pirates, with him as their eponymous captain. Among the crew's members during the era preceding the Great Pirate Era were Marco "the Phoenix," "Diamond" Jozu, "Flower Sword" Vista and, for a time, the great samurai of Wano, Kozuki Oden. This crew was known as the only rival to Roger Pirates under Gol D. Roger, and would fight with the crew for days at a time. Newgate and Roger were well known as the greatest pirates of their time, with Newgate having gathered the reputation of "The World's Strongest Man," and were on good enough terms for Roger to borrow Newgate's "brother," Oden, and share the secrets of the Will of D. with Newgate, even offering to tell him where Laugh Tale was. But Newgate refused, as he already had what he wanted from life in his crew: a family.
When the Pirate King was executed, with "Golden Lion" Shiki's escape from Impel Down and disappearance, Newgate was the undisputed King of the Seas, the man closest to the One Piece. With the Great Pirate Era, the great pirate Whitebeard, alongside his former Rocks Pirates crew mates Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin and "The World's Strongest Creature" Kaido, became known as an Emperor of the Sea, an unbeatable force in the New World. Eventually, "Red Hair" Shanks rose to their status as well, and the four pirates were renowned as the Yonko.
Perhaps the most dangerous pirates to join the Whitebeard Pirates were the young "Fire Fist" Portgas D. Ace, the only son of the Pirate King, and Marshall D. Teach, the pirate who would one day be known as "Blackbeard." One day, the Whitebeard Pirates' 4th Divison Commander, Thatch, found the Yami Yami no Mi, a Logia Devil Fruit regarded as the most dangerous of all. Marshall D. Teach killed him in cold blood, ate the Devil Fruit and abandoned the ship to form his own pirate crew, the Blackbeard Pirates. Ace chased him down and was captured, then given over to the Marines. The Marines announced his execution.
​
And thus began the Paramount War.
The Whitebeard Pirates and their entire fleet invaded Marineford and fought in war against the Navy and the Seven Warlords of the Sea in a war that changed the world. With the additional support of "Straw Hat" Monkey D. Luffy, the Whitebeard Pirates freed Ace, but before he could escape the island, the Navy Admiral "Akainu" Sakazuki killed Ace. As Newgate's crew attempted to escape, the Blackbeard Pirates infiltrated Marineford and fought Newgate himself.
At the age of 72, with an incurable illness, no scars from cowardice and a bounty from the World Government of 5,046,000,000 Berries, the great pirate Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate died standing at the hand of Marshall D. "Blackbeard" Teach in the War of the Best at Marineford.
Whitebeard's death led to the rise of his former apprentice as the next Emperor of the Sea, the only man who ate two Devil Fruits and lived. All of his territories that he had protected were left to the hands of criminals. The home of the Marines was decimated and they moved their base closer to the New World. But it was the death of the man who stood in front of the throne of the Pirate King and his dying words that sparked a new light in the dying flame of the Great Pirate Era:
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A Full Analysis of the Power of the World's Strongest Man

\"It may well be us who will meet our end here today, for that man...\" -Fleet Admiral Sengoku
The great enemy of sailors and pirates alike is the anger of the ocean that separates land from land, the sea that traps men wherever they are. Laws will not stop the wave from crashing into the city; battleships will not deter the whirlpool's twirl; the hunger of the Blue will not be satisfied by pleas for mercy. If one is to fight pirates, they may become a bounty hunter that hunts the greatest of pirates to become a rich man. If one wishes to bring down the World Government, they may join the Revolutionary Army under Monkey D. Dragon. But no armies, no Ancient Weapon, no physical prowess will win a war with the sea. You may win every battle, but defeat is inevitable. Even the great powers offered by the Devil Fruits are rendered most useless against the ocean, with those who eat them losing their strength in the sea's presence. In this sense, those with powers are even more vulnerable to the ocean than the average man.
If a man held the power to command the waves, and ally himself with the power of the ocean, he would truly be seen as a monster among monsters, for he would possess the power of the world, and the power to destroy the world.
That is the power of the Gura Gura no Mi.
The Aqua Laguna that threatens the City of Water is a perfect example of this threat. Every action taken around retrieving Nico Robin and the blueprints for Pluton, both by CP9's superhumans and by the Straw Hats allied with Water 7, was based on the threat of the Aqua Laguna. In the end, CP9 had to leave ahead of the storm, and it took both Luffy and Zoro to successfully protect their sea train from crashing into the Aqua Laguna's waves. The dread of Aqua Laguna, at least until the invention of the sea train, was that the entirety of Water 7 would be destroyed, and it is exactly this that makes the ocean so terrifying. The unrelenting strength of the sea that gives life to all can take life on a scale unprecedented if given the inclination. An island with all its history and culture, countless families, unique flora and fauna, iconic landscape and powerful civilizations, can be totally wiped away and returned to sender if the wrath of Mother Nature is stirred in the wrong manner.
The Gura Gura no Mi offers its user the weight of tectonic plates, the might of continental landmasses colliding. It can trigger quakes in the earth or surrounding sea with impossible speed and scale, or all the energy therein can be focused directly onto a target. All it takes is a simple punch to disturb the atmosphere on other landmasses horizons away, to threaten islands from across the seas. All it takes is the swing of your arms to leave everyone who's feet touches the same earth as yours at the mercy of the world.
However, would this be enough to be seen by the world at large as the World's Strongest Man? The Emperor Blackbeard possesses exactly this cataclysmic potential in addition to a second Devil Fruit, an evil Fruit that cancels the Fruit abilities of all others upon touch, yet he does not enjoy such a reputation. What exactly is the apprentice lacking that the captain held?
Whitebeard was born with the rare advantage of the Haki of the Supreme King, or Conqueror's Haki. While all who work toward it can utilize Observation Haki, for superior sensing, and Armament Haki, for invisible armor, Conqueror's Haki allows a man to vanquish armies by the tens of thousands without moving a muscle. Haki is all but essential for those who wish to pass through the first half of the Grand Line and make a name for themselves in the New World. If you possess incredible Haki, then even those with the greatest of Fruit powers would be beneath your boot unless they could match your Haki with their own. Roger took the world by storm with just the might of his Haki, and both his partner Silvers Rayleigh and his apprentice Shanks managed to gain incredible reputations of their own without any Fruit powers. The World's Strongest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, was also not in need of superpowers to gain his title.
Whitebeard's Haki was advanced to its absolute limits, with there being direct proof of Whitebeard using the same advanced applications of Armament Haki (projecting the force of his attack outward, not needing to touch anything to damage it) and Conqueror's Haki (lacing his attack in the Haki, multiplying the strength of the attack) as Roger, both in style and strength. While it currently unproven that Whitebeard advanced his Observation Haki to the point of seeing the future, the same is true of Roger, and since it can reasonably be suspected that the Pirate King who conquered the world without a Devil Fruit is at least capable of basic Future Sight, the same should be suspected of his equal in Whitebeard who would not be able to properly match him with such a glaring disadvantage. The only Haki techniques that cannot be given to Whitebeard by benefit of the doubt are the internal destruction and Observation Killing techniques that have been demonstrated by only other elite Haki users.
The final supplement to Whitebeard's arsenal is his weapon. The naginata, Murakumogiri, is one of only a dozen Supreme Grade Blades in the entire world, other notable examples being Roger's Ace and Mihawk's Yoru. It is as tall as a small building and thus has incredible weight to back up its sharp blade. The durability of the weapon lasted throughout the decades as Whitebeard used it in combat to supplement his tremendous threat to even greater heights, making him just as lethal an opponent as any swordsman.
Even without the Gura Gura no Mi, Haki or Murakumogiri, Whitebeard is still an incredible force on account of his body alone. Standing 21'10, Whitebeard was stronger than the giants of War-Land Elbaf, proving such at the Paramount War against even the largest of Vice Admirals. Despite his size, Whitebeard could fight with impressive speed and leap incredible distances. But his toughness was of an unparalleled tier; in old age and sickness, Whitebeard fought through the entire Paramount War while taking hundreds of bullet wounds, stab wound, cannon wounds and even attacks from the Admirals that blew holes in his body and took half his head off, yet even after receiving enough battle scars to kill a small army, Whitebeard was only defeated once the Blackbeard Pirates entered the scene. He died with enough strength to stay standing. At his heyday, Whitebeard was known to hold fights for days without stopping and still be raring to go.
From every angle, Whitebeard can only be viewed as an elite among elites. Few could beat him in a purely physical sense, few possessed weaponry that rivaled his, few trained their Haki to the heights that he did, and few ate Devil Fruits that are as powerful as his own. No other character can lay claim to having peaked in every single one of these aspects the way that Whitebeard did. All these things in tandem are what make Edward Newgate known as the World's Strongest Man.

The Narrative Importance of Whitebeard

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Alongside Marshall D. Teach and Thatch, Edward Newgate is one of the three characters (besides Edward Weevil, his supposed son) that Oda trusted with pieces of the name of Edward "Thatch" Teach, known popularly in the real world as Blackbeard the Pirate. While Whitebeard is a direct reference to that name, Edward quite literally is the notorious pirate's name. But Edward is not the only important aspect of his name. Newgate can be seen as a reference to the character's importance in the world, with his death opening a New Gate for pirates in the world, changing the world with his demise in the same way the Pirate King did upon his execution. Doflamingo makes clear the necessity of Whitebeard to the order of the Great Pirate Era and directly ties the chaos of the new, worse generation to his absence.
Whitebeard has a direct narrative parallel with Shanks, as both Emperors (the only two introduced in the Great Pirate Era) were the mentor figures to the seed of the worst criminals in history, Roger's son Ace and Dragon's son Luffy, respectively. Both were the only Emperors to show up to Marineford, and the only moral ones anyway. While they aren't perfect reflections of each other, there are definite similarities. And besides Ace, Whitebeard was also the "mentor," or predecessor, of Blackbeard. Two of the most important pirates in the entire story, both under the banner of Whitebeard.
As far as the Yonko system itself goes, Whitebeard was the one who gave them their initial hype. When Garp introduces the concept of the Yonko system to the audience, he uses Whitebeard's name to establish just how impressive Shanks' membership in the system was. We are able to see this because being a Yonko isn't even the penultimate of Whitebeard's statuses; it is directly overshadowed by his reputation as the World's Strongest Man, which itself was only established well because he was Roger's equal. More simply, the hierarchy of Whitebeard's titles goes
The Pirate King's Rival > The World's Strongest Man/Pirate > An Emperor of the Sea
The only other rival to Roger was Garp, who himself was introduced in practically the same way as Whitebeard; other notable names include Shiki and Sengoku, but both were definitively overshadowed by Newgate and Garp. This puts Whitebeard among an exclusive duo: Edward Newgate and Monkey D. Garp.
The only other people to possess a World's Strongest title are Kaido, the World's Strongest Creature, and Mihawk, the World's Strongest Swordsman. This puts Whitebeard among an exclusive trio: Edward Newgate, Kaido and Dracule Mihawk.
And of course, the Four Emperors were a quintet: Edward Newgate, Kaido, Charlotte Linlin and Shanks (later "Blackbeard" Teach, Joy Boy and Buggy as a joke through Mihawk), with Whitebeard singled out as the senior and most notable of them all. On top of these titles, he was seen as the man closest to One Piece, the de-facto Pirate King essentially. No other character has enjoyed the quantity and quality of prestigious reputation that Edward Newgate did, and it is Whitebeard's elderly, sick power that offered the audience a true introduction to the Emperor's power.
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The introduction, of course, was the War at Marineford. To beat Whitebeard in a war was of such importance, was such a monumental task, that Sengoku had Warlords imprisoned merely for refusing to fight for them and gathered the largest force seen before or since just to hold off the Whitebeard Pirates, despite no pirate besides Newgate himself being remotely strong enough to defeat even a single Navy Admiral. Whitebeard fighting the Marines was the cause for worldwide panic and prayers, no doubt due to the god-like scale of his earthquakes. Whitebeard was not allowed by the story to enter the War until he had already been stabbed, and throughout he suffered heart attacks due to his disease. Everything done by Oda was to show that Whitebeard was no longer the same Pirate King's rival, the true monster he used to be.
And Sengoku knew this.
Yet he still put every single resource available, powers that could otherwise be used to protect the Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land, on Marineford, knowing the threat they faced better than perhaps anyone else in the Marines. The strongest Admiral, Sakazuki, learned this threat the hard way when he felt the wrath of a half-dead Whitebeard, effected more by just two of his island-devastating punches than the pirate was by his own head being melted away.

Conclusion

GURARARARARA!
Edward Newgate, the great pirate Whitebeard, possessed might that is rarer than generations. Inhuman physical prowess, world-class weapon, primed Haki and cataclysmic Devil Fruit co-existed in one man's body, the body of the pirate regarded as the strongest of them all. The Pirate King could not defeat him in combat; islands and their societies could not withstand his wrath. The world is his weapon as much as his naginata. This unmatched danger culminated in a bounty worth half a kingdom, annulled upon his world-changing demise.
It was this power that allowed Whitebeard to be free. It was this power that allowed Whitebeard to have a family. And it was his wise love for his family, their freedom, that allowed him to keep his strength.
This is the legend of the World's Strongest Pirate. His name:
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