Introduction
Digital assets have the potential to be a key part of Web3–the next-generation internet that will prevent the problems we face today, like providing power and privacy to centralized social media platforms and exploiting users’ personal data. Not only do blockchains ask for consistent consent on the distribution of their data, but they also spread their information across many, decentralized points.
Digital assets are a way for native digital currencies to enter the Web3 paradigm. Blockchain and crypto can help make Web3 more community-centered through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
What is the difference between Web2 and Web3?
The main evolution of the internet is often described as the qualitatively different phases called Web1, Web2, and Web3. In the Web1 era, users couldn’t change the information they found online or upload their own content to the sites that they were interacting with. The internet back then consisted mostly of static HTML pages that enabled simple one-way experiences, such as reading forums and articles.
In the early days of the internet, Web2 consisted mainly of static content that people could consume and very little interaction between users and machines. As the web continued to grow, new modes of online interaction arose. Facebook and Twitter were groundbreakers in this regard, with their hierarchically organized platforms facilitating more active user-driven engagement.
The Web2.0 ecosystem is changing and adapting to the needs of users again – which means addressing its issues, such as tracking and censorship.
Centralized companies have become especially powerful when they used it to ban specific users from their platforms. Web2 companies also use data to drive users back to their sites and create targeted ads for third-party benefits. However, such economic incentives can push the company to act not in a user’s best interest.
Tag: Relationship Between Blockchain and Web3
In order to create a better internet, Web3 wants to make our online platforms decentralized, trustless, and permissionless. It could also lead to digital ownership rights, digital-native payments, and new standards for internet content.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency are perfectly suited for becoming essential technologies of Web3, mainly because they’re decentralized. This means that anyone can upload things on-chain, tokenize assets, and create digital identities.
How do blockchain and crypto fit into the Web3 ethos?
Decentralization. As previously mentioned, one of the central problems of Web2 is the concentration of power and data in the hands of a few major players. Blockchain and crypto solutions can decentralize Web3 by facilitating a wider distribution of information and power. Web3 might employ blockchain-powered public distributed ledgers to allow for greater transparency and decentralization.
Projects built on the blockchain don’t require permission from traditional companies to interact with them, which makes them open and available to anyone worldwide.
By using blockchain and cryptocurrencies, there is no need to put trust in an entity like a bank or another intermediary. Web3 users can transact without having to trust any person but the network itself.
Digital assets like cryptocurrencies could serve as a digital payment infrastructure for the future. With digital assets, it’s possible to send money without borders and without expensive intermediaries.
Crypto takes care of all the uncertainty. Ownership is just another piece of the puzzle that can be solved with blockchain technology. Just like other tools, Crypto offers wallets that allow users to store their funds without intermediaries. They can also use wallets to make purchases using their crypto or showcase their digital items on a public ledger.
Censorship-resistance: Blockchain technology is specifically designed to be censorship-resistant, which means that no party can unilaterally alter the records of transactions. Once a transaction has been committed to the blockchain, it’s nearly impossible to remove it. This could come in handy for preserving all manner of speech from government and corporate censorship.
Are blockchain and crypto essential for Web3?
Web3, the new internet era, may well rely on technologies that don’t have anything to do with blockchain or cryptocurrency. For example, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), IoT, and the metaverse could become essential to Web3. They also may provide more immersive experiences for the internet and make it feel connected to worlds of the real world.
The internet of things could connect various devices through the internet, augmented reality could embed visual elements into the real world and virtual reality could construct computer-generated environments populated with items represented as digital assets. Finally scaling and bringing these technologies together could make a unified metaverse the reality of Web 3.0
Crypto has the potential to bring digital-native payment rails and more. Utility tokens can open the door to an endless number of use cases that are critical for Web3. Non-fungible tokens could also prove to be useful for identifying one’s identity and ownership without compromising personal control over their data.
What will Web3 with crypto and blockchain look like?
Blockchain technology is the foundation for a new Web3.0, but people might not even notice it. If users are presented with these new applications in a user-friendly and intuitive way, they won’t give the platform’s underlying infrastructure a second thought – much like we rarely consider the data servers and internet protocols that power social media while we’re on it.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) make digital collectibles secure and identifiable, as well as tradable or even transferrable, while also functioning in other ways. For example, they could underpin many key processes in online gaming.
Blockchain and crypto can transform the way Web3 users coordinate and enforce collective action through Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). DAOs empower people to organize around a shared interest without central decision-making authority. Instead, token holders vote for the best course of action together. In addition, all the activity and votes are visible on a blockchain. Therefore, DAOs can drive Web3 to be more decentralized, transparent, and community-driven.
Here are some final thoughts
Web3 is an emerging vision for how the internet will work in the future. But it remains largely aspirational rather than a tangible reality today. Still, technologies that will likely underpin the next iteration of the internet are already being developed by startups and tech giants alike, who are looking to find solutions to the big problems of today’s web.
Blockchain and crypto are often thought of as technologies that will make up the Web3 revolution because they are designed to make decentralized, permissionless, and trustless interactions possible. If a technology is designed to enable different users to interact with one another without relying on a third-party service provider, then it’s probably Web3-related. They also offer the most promising solutions when combined with other technologies, like AR and VR.
