It’s crucial to remember that Web3 is still in its early stages before we get started. As a result, it is evolving quickly and will continue to do so for a while. Although Web3 won’t be fully realized or take its final form anytime soon, we have a good grasp of its guiding principles. It is specifically concentrated on an ecosystem of technology initiatives that are:
- Decentralized
- Trustless
- Permissionless
- Interoperable
What is Web 1.0?
Web 1.0, which existed from the middle of the 1980s and the early 2000s, was the Internet’s prehistoric era. Then, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency started researching protocols enabling computer communication over a distributed network. Modern internet applications are built on a number of these early web protocols, including HTTP (Web), SMTP (email), and FTP (file transfer).
Most Internet during Web 1.0 comprised a collection of pages connected via hyperlinks. As a result, Internet users could not interact with or respond to the information they encountered and were merely passive recipients of it.
What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is a version of the Internet that enables everyday users to create, share, and publish content. Users can use an e-commerce site to make payments, track their orders, post reviews, request refunds, and more. Platforms like Google, Spotify, Amazon, and Facebook, capture nearly all the value — in the form of data and money. Ultimately, it became more profitable for these platforms to make it more challenging for organizations to communicate directly with one another, and intermediaries shifted from being a conduit to being a roadblock.
The internet intermediaries control everything in Web 2.0. They control all of our data and impose restrictions on our internet behavior. Additionally, they have the authority to block our access to platforms immediately. Most internet-based tools and services are centralized in places like Amazon’s AWS cloud computing services.
What is Web 3.0?
Web3 refers to the most recent version of the Internet. It highlights the use of algorithms in a decentralized setting after 2014. Decentralization, which underpins Web3, depends on the salient characteristics of the blockchain industry.
Web3 is aiming for a decentralized platform where advanced technologies are accepted. Web2 consumers, in contrast, favor centralization or authorization from significant institutions. The phrase “internet” is frequently emphasized to meet user expectations. Web3 uses web3 technology to fill the available space on the Internet.
What Decentralization and Trustlessness Signify
Web3 is based on blockchain-powered crypto networks that allow data to be stored among distributed devices (often referred to as “nodes”) instead of depending on a single centralized server. These distributed devices might be anything, including desktop or laptop PCs or even larger servers. They act as the structure of the blockchain, interacting with one another to make it possible to store, distribute, and preserve data without needing a reliable third party.
What do Interoperability and Permissionless Mean?
Through digital wallets like Phantom or MetaMask (for Ethereum and ETH-compatible blockchains), this self-sovereign ownership is possible (for the Solana blockchain). A digital wallet acts as your Web3 identification and functions much like a “wallet” in the real world by securely storing your money and data.
You may pick which decentralized apps have access to your assets thanks to this wallet’s interoperability, which enables you to move it around the Internet and use it with different systems and goods without any issues. Additionally, all interactions and transactions on the blockchain are permissionless, which means they can be executed without the involvement of a reliable third party.
What Issues Does Web3 Have?
With significant changes comes significant risk. The Web3 space is still a Wild West, filled with bad actors. You are fully responsible for keeping your data safe without relying on a centralized authority. This means practicing proper wallet safety, constantly being alert for phishing schemes, and never (never) giving out your seed phrase.
What Links Web3 to the Metaverse?
Although “Web3” and “Metaverse” are frequently synonymously, they shouldn’t be. They do not compare.
The easiest way to describe the Metaverse is as a fusion of the real and virtual worlds. According to proponents of the Metaverse, such a future is unavoidable, and people will eventually spend most of their waking hours in an enhanced version of reality.
Web3 does not include enhancing the physical world; it is a decentralized version of the Internet. Web3 is not the Metaverse, even though many Web3 technologies, like NFTs or peer-to-peer bitcoin transactions, may be employed there in the future.
Web 3.0 is the Internet for People
Gavin Wood, a co-founder of Ethereum, came up with the concept of “Web 3.0” immediately after Ethereum launched in 2014. Gavin articulated a solution to a concern shared by many early cryptocurrency adopters: the Web demanded too much trust. In other words, most of the Web that people currently know and use depends on their faith in a select group of private firms to behave in the public’s best interests.
Web 3.0 refers to the most recent version of the Internet. It highlights the use of algorithms in a decentralized setting after 2014. Decentralization, which underpins Web3, depends on the salient characteristics of the blockchain industry. Any decentralized networks or crypto-economy protocols known as Dapps can execute applications.
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)
On Web 3.0, a platform and data ownership is conceivable and facilitated through tokens. The tokens function as corporation shares. DAOs do away with conventional VC and encourage innovative methods of fundraising. The purpose of DAO is to give consumers asset ownership and self-sovereignty through cryptocurrency usage.
What benefits does Web 3.0 offer?
New internet technology, known as Web 3.0, is currently in development. So how can Web3 help us in our daily digital lives? Here are the benefits of Web3:
Data Ownership
On Web 3.0, everything belongs to the user. NFTs represent ownership. The currency, which is a cryptocurrency, is also decentralized. Everything on the Web 3.0 internet can be tokenized thanks to cryptocurrencies. Tokens like Bitcoin, ETH, Sol, and many others can be used for transactions, to put it briefly. However, the producers of every digital asset own it, which is impossible in the current Web 2.0 environment.
Access
Through decentralization, people can remotely access an environment and activate their data. If you don’t change the data, you can maintain it safe and secure. Users have a limited advantage when creating or purchasing premium items in game applications. In Web3, users can offer to sell before buying premium things using NFTs in an open world or reconnect with their old accounts.
Digital Identity
The decentralized Web increases the security of identity by accessing digital identification. Individuals are in charge of the data they must reveal and which they choose not to. By granting end users access to the ENS profile, Web3 technology addresses the issue of holding multiple accounts. Compared to web2, which needs users to generate a new identity for each platform or service. Web3 will be more secure and censorship-resistant.
Final Thoughts
Web3 is a brand-new version of the Internet that incorporates numerous web3 technologies to protect users’ personal information. These features enable a permissionless, safe, and trustless web as opposed to web2. But can Web3 continue providing safe, decentralized, and user-friendly features? Only time can call. So, stay tuned for more articles about Web3 and its upcoming updates.