In recent months, you may have heard the term “Web3” or “Web 3.0.” To put it simply, it’s a new version of the internet. But what exactly is it, and why should crypto enthusiasts care?
For this to make sense, let’s go back and understand what web 1.0 and web 2.0 were. If you remember the internet of the 1990s, it was meant to read and publish basic content. If you wanted to read an article on the New York Times website, you were supposed to simply click on the link, read the article, and that was it. When web 2.0 came, it was a “read, write and interact” version of the internet. It allowed people to consume content, publish, and interact with the world. The birth of the social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram revolutionized how the internet operates.
However, web 2.0 has a problem that is a burning issue these days — privacy. After years of interacting with people across the world on the internet, people realized that their personal data was being used by big tech companies like Google, Facebook, etc., for advertisement and other purposes. Facebook was fined $5 billion in 2019 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating data privacy laws.
Web 3 comes into play here. It’s a “read, write, interact and own” phase of the internet. It involves an updated version of the World Wide Web-based on blockchain technology, with token-based economics and decentralization features. It is a major jump from the current generation of the internet (Web 2.0), in which data is largely centralized.
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, called it the Semantic Web in the beginning and envisioned it as a more open, autonomous, and intelligent internet. In Web 3.0, users will be able to sell the data generated from various sources, including mobile phones, tablets, desktops, and much more, through decentralized data networks, retaining ownership control. And since Web 3 applications will run on blockchain networks, such apps will be called decentralized applications or dApps.
This might sound familiar to you since there are several early-stage Web 3.0 applications available today. Not only can users write, read, interact with the world, but they can also own and monetize their content. That’s what we see right now on Decentraland, where users buy, sell, make and own digital plots. But what we’re seeing in the DeFi world or dApps is just the tip of the iceberg.
However, there are some potential downsides.
Web 3 could have one potential downside, and that lies in its structure. The idea of decentralization poses a risk of legal and regulatory risks. The damage cybercrime, hate speech, and fake news have caused to society are well known. If there’s a complete lack of control, the idea of decentralization could backfire. The question of how to balance ownership and regulation will be interesting as there is a lot to be done in the web 3 space, as the token economy, decentralization, and technology will merge soon.