Everyone has been talking about Web3 lately, but what on earth is it? Actually, it is nothing more or less than a new direction in which the Internet we know is heading.
We have experienced such a change on the wonderful Web before. First, as an Internet visitor you could mainly read and watch, but nowadays you can actively participate yourself by posting content.
From Web 2.0 to Web3
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube make it possible to interact with users around the world. Moreover, anyone can create their own content. This has been renamed Web 2.0. Slowly, the Internet continues to evolve into Web3.
Web3 will probably be mostly about who owns what. Whereas with Web 2.0 companies like Google determine a lot about what happens on the Internet, with “the new Internet” that will be decentralized. Among other things, blockchain will be used to store data.
Web3 (Image: Unsplash / Shubham Dhage)
From centralized to decentralized
If there is no central organization monitoring everything, who controls the Internet? In part, that can be done through smart contracts. These are digital contracts that are automatically executed when certain conditions are met. Because the rules are defined in the code, no one can change the contract.
For Web3 applications, you can further think of crypto tokens, NFTs, DAOs, dApps, DeFi and the metaverse. As with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, Web3 will undoubtedly change our lives.
Not all roses and sunshine
Sounds all well and good, but by no means everyone sees benefits in the possible transition to Web3. It is simply less accessible to the majority. For one thing, it is incredibly difficult for beginners to get started with Web3 and get everything done in a secure way.
Moreover, you have to take care of your assets all by yourself and are no longer protected by a central organization. Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, for example, thinks that Web3 is a big scam by rich people trying to lure the public to certain Web3 projects with nice talk. How it will really be, time will have to tell.
