What is Web 3.0? One potential future iteration of the web is Web 3.0, which would use public blockchains—a ledger system primarily associated with Bitcoin transactions—to record and verify transactions. Web 3.0’s allure lies in its decentralized nature; in this model, users do not connect to the internet via intermediaries such as Google, Apple, or Facebook, but rather, individual users own and control their portions of the internet.
Web 3.0 does away with “permission,” which means that centralized authority can’t decide which users gain access to which services, and “trust,” which means that multiple parties can conduct virtual transactions directly with each other without a third party. According to proponents of Web 3.0, moving data collection to these third parties strengthens privacy safeguards for users.
A rapidly expanding part of Web 3.0 is decentralized finance or DeFi for short. It comprises doing actual monetary transactions on the blockchain decentrally, apart from governmental or banking intermediaries. At the same time, a lot of big companies and VC firms are investing in Web 3.0, and it’s hard to imagine that their involvement won’t lead to a concentration of power. Everything from the history of the web to its current state, its applications, its role in cryptography, its plans, and the significance of Web 3.0 will be covered in this essay.
What is Web 3.0?
From 2010 forward, the web will be referred to as Web 3.0, Semantic Web, or the read-write-execute era. Thanks to advancements in AI and ML, computers can now evaluate data just like people. This allows for smart contract development and distribution tailored to each user’s demands.
Decentralization is fundamental to both Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. However, there are some essential differences between the two. It is unusual for Web 3.0 developers to build and release apps that rely on a single database or server, primarily when the server and database are hosted and controlled by several cloud providers.
Alternatively, Web 3.0 applications are constructed using blockchains, which are decentralized networks comprised of several server nodes operating in tandem or some combination thereof. In the Web 3.0 sphere, these applications are commonly referred to as decentralized apps (DApps). Developers and other network members are incentivized to provide top-notch services in order to create a trustworthy decentralized network.
What is Web 3.0 in Crypto?
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies come up a lot when people talk about Web 3.0. The reason behind this is the heavy reliance on cryptocurrency by many of the Web 3.0 protocols. Alternatively, it provides a financial incentive in the form of tokens to everyone interested in helping to establish, manage, contribute to, or enhance one of the projects. Digital assets linked to the goal of building a decentralized Internet are known as Web 3.0 tokens. Cloud companies could supply computation, storage, identity, bandwidth, hosting, and more with these protocols.
Livepeer connects streaming apps and video infrastructure providers via an Ethereum marketplace. Helium also uses blockchain and tokens to encourage consumers and small companies to provide wireless coverage and transfer data from network devices. There are several technical and non-technical ways to make money with the protocol. Like Amazon Web Services, consumers pay to use the protocol. Decentralization often eliminates inefficient intermediaries.
Additionally, digital money, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and other blockchain entities will be crucial to Web 3.0. For instance, Reddit is trying to break into the Web 3.0 space by coming up with a way to use cryptocurrency tokens so that users may effectively own a piece of the communities they’re members of on the site. “Community points,” which users earn by posting to a designated subreddit, are central to the idea. The user’s point total is then multiplied by the number of likes or dislikes a post receives.
Members who have made significant community contributions can use their points as voting shares to influence choices that affect everyone. The blockchain makes points more secure, more complicated to steal, and easier to manage, giving owners more outstanding agency. The corporate version of Web 3.0, DAOs, employs tokens to distribute ownership and decision-making power.
Properties of Web 3.0
Web 3.0 is gradually replacing Web 2.0, and most people aren’t even aware of it. While the front end and back end of Web 3.0 apps are visually the same, the latter’s underlying architecture is significantly different.
The future of Web 3.0 brings universal applications that are accessible and usable by a diverse array of devices and software types, streamlining our work and play. In contrast to Web 2.0’s centralized nature, widespread monitoring, and exploitative advertising, new technologies like distributed ledgers and blockchain storage will make it possible to decentralize data and create an environment that is both transparent and secure.
When decentralized application platforms and infrastructure replace centralized tech businesses, people will have the power to control their data in a decentralized web. To help us understand the nuances and complexity of Web 3.0, let’s take a look at its four qualities.
Semantic web
For Web 3.0 to work, the “semantic web” features heavily. Tim Berners-Lee described a web of data that computers can analyze.
The two phrases have different syntax but are semantically equivalent. Those two lines convey the same feelings as the previous example, which is relevant to the field of semantics, which deals with the interpretation of facts. The semantic web and AI are the two pillars upon which Web 3.0 will be built. Through the usage of the semantic web, computers will be taught the meaning of the data, which will enable AI to create practical use cases that can make better use of the data.
The basic idea is to construct a knowledge spiderweb throughout the web that can help with word meanings as well as content creation, sharing, and connection through analysis and search. Semantic metadata will allow for increased data transmission in Web 3.0. Consequently, the user experience advances to a more connected state that makes use of all available data.
3D graphics
As the web progresses from its current two-dimensional state to a more realistic three-dimensional cyberworld, it will undergo a radical transformation known as Web 3.0. Web 3.0 services and websites heavily utilize 3D design; examples include online gaming, real estate, and e-commerce.
Strange as it may sound, thousands of individuals from all around the globe are actually chatting here right now. Take online games like World of Warcraft or Second Life as an example. Players care far more about their virtual avatars than they do about their actual selves.
Artificial Intelligence
Thanks to AI, websites will have the ability to filter and provide users with the finest information. In this age of Web 2.0, companies have started to ask for client opinions to figure out how good a product or service is. Think of a website like Rotten Tomatoes, where people can provide reviews and ratings for movies. We tend to think of higher-scoring films as “good movies.” Using these kinds of lists, we can bypass the “poor data” and go right to the “good data.”
We have previously established that peer reviews are one of the most important aspects of Web 2.0. Human recommendations, however, are not immune to corruption, as is well known. In order to boost a movie’s ratings, a group of reviewers might conspire to give it overwhelmingly positive reviews. We can trust the information that artificial intelligence provides us because it can learn to differentiate between good and bad data.
Ubiquitous
Ubiquitousness is the quality of existing or being present in more than one place at the same time. In Web 2.0, this function is already present. Consider Instagram and similar social media platforms; users capture pictures with their phones, edit and share them online, and eventually own the rights to those photos. The picture gets visible everywhere once it’s posted.
Web 3.0 will soon be available anytime, anywhere, thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices and internet connections. The internet will soon be accessible from any device, not only desktop computers or smartphones, as it was in Web 2.0. It will possess immense strength. One possible name for Web 3.0 is the “web of everything and everywhere,” in reference to the widespread use of internet connectivity in everyday life.
Preparing your Brand for Web 3.0?
Web 3.0, also known as the Spatial Web, is as far in the future as it sounds, but its early applications are already here. Executives in charge of companies should familiarize themselves with the coming computer age now so they can predict how it will change their industry and create value.
Additionally, by studying current and realistic Web 3.0 business models, individuals should be ready to understand how some of the more experimental and well-established ones will succeed in the future. The sections that follow provide a list of some of the methods.
Issuing a native asset
There is a direct correlation between the price of native assets—which are essential to the network’s functioning—and the security they offer. As the price of these assets rises, the cost for malicious actors to launch an attack also rises, which in turn increases demand for the currency, which in turn drives up its price. This led to an exhaustive evaluation of the value of these local assets.
Building a network by holding the native asset
Making more money was the exclusive focus of some of the initial crypto network companies. Essentially, the resulting business strategy reads as follows: “grow their native asset treasury; build the ecosystem.” With its BTC balance sheet, Blockstream, one of the biggest Bitcoin Core maintainers, generates value. Equally impressive is ConsenSys’s 1,000-strong workforce, which is building vital Ethereum ETH $3,310 ecosystem infrastructure and increasing the value of ConsenSys’s own ETH.
Payment tokens
In response to the proliferation of token sales, a slew of new blockchain projects have centered their operations on in-network payment tokens, creating bidirectional marketplaces and mandating the use of native tokens for all transactions. Assumptions state that the restricted native payment token will see an increase in value due to rising demand as the network’s economy expands.
Burn tokens
There is no guarantee that businesses, initiatives, or communities built with tokens will be able to distribute their profits to token holders. For instance, among the features of the Binance BNB $569 and MakerDAO MKR $2,193 tokens, the concept of buybacks/token burning generated considerable interest. With the influx of funds from Binance trading fees and MakerDAO stability fees, the project is able to buy back native tokens from the market and burn them, reducing the supply of tokens and driving up their price.
Taxation on speculation
Organizational frameworks such as derivatives providers, custodians, and exchanges for these local assets were the focus of subsequent business model iterations. All of these platforms share a common purpose: to facilitate user speculation in these high-risk assets. Due to the open and permissionless nature of the underlying networks, companies such as Coinbase are unable to establish a monopoly by offering “exclusive access.” Nonetheless, defensible moats are created over time by the liquidity and brands of such enterprises.
Advantages of Web 3.0
Because intermediaries are no longer involved in Web 3.0, user data will no longer be controlled. This minimizes the likelihood of government or corporate censorship, as well as the effectiveness of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
More extensive datasets supply algorithms with more information to evaluate as more products become connected to the internet. This will allow them to deliver more accurate information that is tailored to the individual user’s demands.
Before Web 3.0, finding the most refined result on search engines was a difficult task. They have, however, improved their ability to discover semantically relevant results based on search context and information over time. As a result, web browsing becomes more convenient, allowing everyone to get the specific information they require with relative ease.
Customer service is critical for a positive user experience on websites and web applications. However, many successful web firms are unable to scale their customer support operations due to the high expenses. Users can have a better experience engaging with support personnel by using intelligent chatbots that can talk to several consumers simultaneously, which is possible due to Web 3.0.
Also Read: Web3 Protocols: A Complete Guide 2024
