What is web3

Cryptocurrency

What Is Web3?

Web3 represents the next generation of the internet, one that focuses on shifting power from big tech companies to individual users

Web3 – also known as “Web3″ or “Web 3.0″ – is a term you may of heard thrown around a lot lately. It simply refers to the next iteration of the internet that promotes decentralized protocols and aims to reduce dependency on large tech companies like Youtube, Netflix and Amazon. But what is it, and why is it on everyone’s minds?

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What Is Web3?

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(Getty Images)

Cryptocurrency
What Is Web3?

Web3 represents the next generation of the internet, one that focuses on shifting power from big tech companies to individual users.
By Robert Stevens
Updated Jun 12, 2023 at 10:50 p.m.
Beginner
Web3 – also known as “Web3″ or “Web 3.0″ – is a term you may of heard thrown around a lot lately. It simply refers to the next iteration of the internet that promotes decentralized protocols and aims to reduce dependency on large tech companies like Youtube, Netflix and Amazon. But what is it, and why is it on everyone’s minds?
Quick Takes
Web3, the next stage of the internet, promotes decentralization and individual user empowerment, reducing reliance on tech behemoths such as YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon.
Unlike previous versions of the internet, Web3 allows individuals to have more control over their data and content, moving away from the "walled gardens" created by large tech companies.
Cryptocurrencies serve as the native payment system in Web3, enabling decentralized peer-to-peer transactions. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) offer a way to establish ownership and trade unique digital assets, aligning with Web3's focus on user control and decentralization.
Criticisms of Web3 include unequal ownership over blockchain networks, "decentralization theater," and high barriers to entry for creating blockchains, which are viewed as tasks for highly specialized engineers.

What is Web3 and how is it different from Web1 and Web2?

To understand Web3, it makes sense to understand what came before. The first version of the Internet – known as Web1 – arrived in the late 1990s and comprised a collection of links and homepages. Websites weren’t particularly interactive. You couldn’t do much apart from read things and publish basic content for others to read.

Web3 represents the next generation of the internet, one that focuses on shAfter a while, the general public became cognizant about the way their personal data was being harvested by tech giants and used to create tailored advertisements and marketing campaigns. Facebook, in particular, has had the spotlight shone on it innumerable times for breaching data privacy laws and was hit with a $5 billion fine in 2019 – the largest penalty ever issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC.)


Although Web2 has brought the world amazing free services, a lot of people have grown tired of the new “walled gardens” these huge tech companies have created and want to have more control over their data and content. This is where Web3 comes in.
Web3 can be understood as the “read/write/own” phase of the Internet. Rather than just using free tech platforms in exchange for our data, users can participate in the governance and operation of the protocols themselves. This means people can become participants and shareholders, not just customers or products.
In Web3, these shares are called tokens or cryptocurrencies, and they represent ownership of decentralized networks known as blockchains. If you hold enough of these tokens, you have a say over the network. Holders of governance tokens can spend their assets to vote on the future of, say, a decentralized lending protocol

Again, here’s Brooks: “The real message here is that what happens on the decentralized internet is decided by the investors versus what happens on the main internet is decided by Twitter, Facebook, Google and a small number of other companies.”

What can you do on Web3?

Web3 makes the proliferation of cooperative governance structures for once-centralized products possible. Anything at all can be tokenized, whether it’s a meme, a piece of art, a person’s social media output or tickets to Gary Vee’s conferences.

Crypto Prices
CoinDesk 20 Index
Cryptocurrency
What Is Web3?

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Cryptocurrency
What Is Web3?
Web3 represents the next generation of the internet, one that focuses on shifting power from big tech companies to individual users.
By Robert Stevens
Updated Jun 12, 2023 at 10:50 p.m.
Beginner
Web3 – also known as “Web3″ or “Web 3.0″ – is a term you may of heard thrown around a lot lately. It simply refers to the next iteration of the internet that promotes decentralized protocols and aims to reduce dependency on large tech companies like Youtube, Netflix and Amazon. But what is it, and why is it on everyone’s minds?
Quick Takes
Web3, the next stage of the internet, promotes decentralization and individual user empowerment, reducing reliance on tech behemoths such as YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon.
Unlike previous versions of the internet, Web3 allows individuals to have more control over their data and content, moving away from the "walled gardens" created by large tech companies.
Cryptocurrencies serve as the native payment system in Web3, enabling decentralized peer-to-peer transactions. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) offer a way to establish ownership and trade unique digital assets, aligning with Web3's focus on user control and decentralization.
Criticisms of Web3 include unequal ownership over blockchain networks, "decentralization theater," and high barriers to entry for creating blockchains, which are viewed as tasks for highly specialized engineers.
What is Web3 and how is it different from Web1 and Web2?
To understand Web3, it makes sense to understand what came before. The first version of the Internet – known as Web1 – arrived in the late 1990s and comprised a collection of links and homepages. Websites weren’t particularly interactive. You couldn’t do much apart from read things and publish basic content for others to read.
Brian Brooks, the CEO of Bitfury, put it smartly in a speech to the U.S. Congress in December 2021: “If people remember their original AOL account, it was an ability to look in a curated ‘walled garden’ at a set of content that was not interactive, but was presented to you on AOL, the way that Time Magazine used to show you the articles they wanted you to see inside of their magazine, just you could see it on a screen.”
Web2 came next. Some people call this the “read/write” version of the internet, in reference to a computer code that lets you both open and edit files rather than just view them. This version of the Internet allowed people to not only consume content, but create their own and publish it on blogs like Tumblr, Internet forums and marketplaces like Craigslist. Later, the emergence of social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram took content sharing to new heights.
After a while, the general public became cognizant about the way their personal data was being harvested by tech giants and used to create tailored advertisements and marketing campaigns. Facebook, in particular, has had the spotlight shone on it innumerable times for breaching data privacy laws and was hit with a $5 billion fine in 2019 – the largest penalty ever issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC.)
Although Web2 has brought the world amazing free services, a lot of people have grown tired of the new “walled gardens” these huge tech companies have created and want to have more control over their data and content. This is where Web3 comes in.
Web3 can be understood as the “read/write/own” phase of the Internet. Rather than just using free tech platforms in exchange for our data, users can participate in the governance and operation of the protocols themselves. This means people can become participants and shareholders, not just customers or products.
In Web3, these shares are called tokens or cryptocurrencies, and they represent ownership of decentralized networks known as blockchains. If you hold enough of these tokens, you have a say over the network. Holders of governance tokens can spend their assets to vote on the future of, say, a decentralized lending protocol.
Again, here’s Brooks: “The real message here is that what happens on the decentralized internet is decided by the investors versus what happens on the main internet is decided by Twitter, Facebook, Google and a small number of other companies.”
What can you do on Web3?
Web3 makes the proliferation of cooperative governance structures for once-centralized products possible. Anything at all can be tokenized, whether it’s a meme, a piece of art, a person’s social media output or tickets to Gary Vee’s conferences.
A great example of the paradigm shift is in the gaming industry. Gamers grumble endlessly about the bugs that developers leave in their favorite video game, or how the latest patch has upset the balance of their favorite weapon. With Web3, gamers can invest in the game itself and vote on how things should be run. Large Web2 companies, like Meta and Ubisoft, are creating virtual worlds powered in part by Web3. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will also play a huge role in reshaping the gaming industry by allowing players to become the immutable owners of the items they accrue.