What is Web 3.0?
Web3 is the name some technologists have given to the idea of a new kind of internet service that is built using decentralized blockchains — the shared ledger systems used by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and many other decentralized applications.
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Proponents envision web3 taking many forms, including decentralized social networks, “play to earn” video games that reward players with crypto tokens, and NFT platforms that allow people to buy and sell fragments of digital culture. The more idealistic ones say that web3 will transform the internet as we know it, upending traditional gatekeepers and ushering in a new, middleman-free digital economy._
But some critics believe that web3 is little more than a rebranding effort for crypto, with the aim of shedding some of the industry’s cultural baggage and convincing people that blockchains are the natural next phase of computing. Others believe it’s a dystopian vision of a pay-to-play internet, in which every activity and social interaction becomes a financial instrument to be bought and sold.
But the web3 boom also reflects the amount of capital, talent and energy pouring into crypto startups on the heels of a years long crypto bull market.
How is Web3.0 different from Web1.0 and Web 2.0?
Web1, in the traditional telling, refers to the internet of the 1990s and early 2000s. It was the internet of blogs, message boards, and early portals like AOL and CompuServe. Most of what people did on web1 was passively read static webpages, and much of it was built using “open protocols” like HTTP, SMTP and FTP.
Web2, was the next phase of the internet, starting around 2005 or so — the one characterized by social media behemoths like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In web2 (or Web 2.0, as it was usually called then), people began creating and posting their own content, actively participating in the internet rather than passively reading it. But most of that activity ended up being distributed and monetized by big companies, which kept most of the money and control for themselves.
Web3,will replace these centralized, corporate platforms with open protocols and decentralized, community-run networks, combining the open infrastructure of web1 with the public participation of web2.
What’s an example of a web3 app that exists today?
An oft-cited example is_ Axie Infinity_, a video game developed by Vietnamese game studio Sky Mavis, which uses NFTs and Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies to reward players with real money for achieving in-game objectives.
Top comments (1)
What do you think web3.0 streaming services will look like? Will they be DAOs in which the users chose (vote) which movie productions to license? And which music artists to support? Do you think they have a chance against Netflix and Spotify?