From Web3.0 to the Metaverse: The Evolution of Digital Connectivity

There are various indications that the concept of "Metaverse" does not seem to be so reliable at this stage. So, everyone turned their attention to a slightly more reliable concept - Web3.0.

According to data from Cointelegraph Research, the amount of investment in Web3.0-related fields will exceed 30 billion US dollars, and the number of investment mergers and acquisitions will exceed 1,300.

In addition to A16z, a well-known investment institution in the Web3.0 field, institutions such as Sequoia and Bain Capital have also entered the field one after another, which is regarded as one of the important development directions of the Internet in the next 10 years.

So, what exactly is Web3.0? What is the relationship between Web3.0 and the Metaverse?
 

What is Web3.0?

 
At present, there is still no precise definition of Web 3.0. The industry generally uses Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.0 as a comparison to describe the outline of Web 3.0.

Web3.0 is a new generation of value Internet, Web1.0 is "readable", Web2.0 is "readable + writable", and Web3.0 will be "readable + writable + own".

Web3.0 focuses on the attribution of data value, and has the characteristics of decentralization, data ownership, data interconnection, privacy protection, high intelligence and permanent storage.

In a broad sense, all products and applications based on blockchain can be regarded as products of Web3.0. Web3.0 generally has three major characteristics.

First, use blockchain technology.

This is the most basic element of a Web3.0 application, changing the way humans store value and record data. Blockchain is a distributed ledger that is not controlled by any government or organization.

Second, data ownership and interoperability.

Different from the Web2.0 era, where user personal information is stored in the centralized server of the platform, user personal information in the Web3.0 era is stored on the blockchain and held by the user.

On the one hand, users can decide with whom the information is shared. For example, when using e-commerce services, you can share your shopping records with the platform to obtain personalized recommendation services.

On the other hand, it is the user's ownership in the ecology. For example, creators who publish content on the platform, bring traffic to the platform, and create high-quality experience and interaction can also be regarded as part of the ecosystem, and can obtain profit sharing or corresponding token feedback.

Third, improve the trust mechanism and emphasize consensus.

In the Web.3 era, product founders, users, investors, and community participants all have equal and identical status, and the mechanism of product service operation is also transparent and trustworthy.

Currently, Web 3.0 is still in its early stages. According to A16z data, the current Web3.0 user scale (Ethereum address) is not much different from the Internet user scale in 1995, and it is estimated that Web3.0 users are expected to reach 1 billion in 2031.

Due to the high technical threshold, no killer application has yet appeared. Strictly speaking, most blockchain innovations on the market are still in the "Web2.5" stage, and have not yet achieved complete decentralization.

How does Web 3.0 relate to the Metaverse?

 
Both "Metaverse" and "Web3.0" describe the relationship between people and information in the future.

"Metaverse" focuses on describing the upgrading of the way people interact with information. In the context of the "Metaverse", the interaction between people and information will be more immersive, and the corresponding industrial support is the innovation of visual, tactile, olfactory and other sensory links in VR, AR, AI and other technological applications.

"Web3.0" focuses on describing changes in the ownership relationship between people and information. In the era of Web 2.0, users' digital assets are more in the hands of centralized platform companies, while in the context of "Web 3.0", users themselves control the ownership of digital assets and related derivative rights.

From a theoretical point of view, Web3.0 can also be understood as the infrastructure of the Metaverse.

"Web3.0: Empowering the New Era of Digital Economy", several core concepts actually constitute the entire infrastructure system of Web3.0:

The underlying technology is blockchain; the financial system is DeFi; digital goods are NFT; and the organizational paradigm is DAO.

All of these provide a complete set of infrastructure systems for the construction of the Metaverse.

The ultimate vision of the metaverse is to build a digital space-time that connects the "virtual world" and the "real world". Through specific technical forms, this entire infrastructure system solves many problems that have been difficult to solve since the beginning of the digital age, such as :

• How to create real and reliable "credibility" and "consensus" in the virtual space?
• How to establish the ownership and transfer of digital property rights?
• How to conduct decision-making and management of digital organizations in an orderly and democratic manner.

Web3.0 and Metaverse complement each other, forming one body with two sides. Metaverse is the superstructure and the future of application scenarios and lifestyles; Web3.0 is the infrastructure, and Web3.0 represents the direction of technological development.

Of course, there is still a long way to go, whether it is Web3.0 or the future development of the Metaverse. At the same time, we should also be alert to blind speculation caused by market hotspots.