What Is Web3?

In 2014, Gavin Wood minted the term Web 3.0, shortened to Web3. Gavin James Wood is an English computer scientist and an influential contributor to blockchain technology. He’s well known as a co-founder and the CTO of Ethereum. In his vision, Web3 is the democratic version and future of the internet.

Web3 pursues the trustless framework of cryptocurrency. Some journalists and engineers have compared it to Web 2.0, where they claim that content and data are concentrated in a select few businesses that are frequently referred to as “Big Tech.” Currently, we must rely on those businesses to provide the services they claim. On the other hand, if Web3 products and services are decentralized and based on blockchains, we would need to trust the underlying algorithm to supply that product.

Web3 Explained

When asked about Web3 and what makes it different, Wood said “no one really has any advantage over anyone else, not in the same sense, at least, as you know, when you, for example, go to Amazon or you go to eBay or Facebook, where the company behind the service really has absolute power over what it is that they do in providing the service.”

Web3 refers to a potential new iteration of the internet that runs on blockchain technology. It is idealized by blockchain developers and innovators as

• Decentralized: instead of using services provided by companies like Google, Apple, or Facebook to access the internet, consumers can access the internet and own some of its services by owning fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
• Permissionless: central authorities don’t dictate who uses what services
• Trustless: virtual transactions between two or more parties don’t need an intermediary to be successful

In 2021, the term received a lot of traction. Big employers seeking Web3 expertise, news about multimillion-dollar investments, high-profile technologists and public figures discussing Web3 trended on the internet. The Bitcoin community, which would undoubtedly profit from an internet that is more dependent on their technology, seems to be the source of a lot of that enthusiasm.

Venture capital companies have invested more than $27 billion in crypto-related projects in 2021 alone, with a large portion of that funding going to Web3 initiatives. Some major technology businesses, such as Twitter and Reddit, have begun to experiment with their own Web3 initiatives. 

A portion of the buzz is also related to a few well-known businesses. Last month, Cronos, a public blockchain network backed by Crypto.com said that it has started a $100 million accelerator program to help developers working on new blockchain businesses.

Cronos Managing Director Ken Timsit expressed “Through Cronos Accelerator, we want to enhance the potential of projects that sincerely want to help grow the ecosystem by providing support in almost every area of their operations.

Development

Today, the ordinary user’s journey with Web3 technologies necessitates a significant amount of study and experimentation. The design is not exactly user-friendly which degrades the overall user experience and results in a steep learning curve. 

Although Web3 platforms might be challenging to use, it’s important to remember that this is only because the underlying technologies are still being developed by the majority of developers because the technology is so young. Notably, If the adoption increases and more big-tech companies sponsor the development of Web3, the present challenges will be addressed by exponentially more bright individuals who are capable of producing technologies to make Web3 possible.

For instance, instead of allowing tech corporations to acquire and use whatever they like with user data, the Databox Project intends to develop an open-source device that saves and controls personal data locally.

Web3 Regulatory Risk

There are also potentially major legal and regulatory risks associated with Web3. Due to the absence of centralized management and data access, cybercrime, such as online harassment, hate speech and human exploitation, is considerable. Governments are capable of forcing big businesses to uphold laws and regulations with the use of a centralized web. If a website’s materials were housed all over the world on a decentralized network, it wouldn’t even be obvious which country’s laws apply to it.

Web3 undoubtedly offers advantages and empowerment to internet users, however, it would necessitate some significant changes in the way we view the web and our role within it. If governments become increasingly eager to regulate the internet, Web3 may eventually provide a more liberal option that will entice enough customers away from the internet unicorns.