Web 3.0: Towards a decentralized and more robust internet?
The world has witnessed many innovations over the last two decades: incredibly powerful phones, increasingly technological applications, and even virtual currencies, namely cryptocurrencies! Today again, we are witnessing a new technological revolution that is sure to greatly change the world: Web 3 or Web 3.0!
What is Web 3? Why this new form of Internet? And what are the new perspectives and challenges that Web 3 will face?
Web 3: An Evolution of Web 1 and Web 2
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee developed a protocol called http that allowed to connect to a web page: the World Wide Web (www) or Web 1.0. The latter was made up of web pages of consultation, static and without interactions.
With the increase of new technologies and innovations, websites have become more interactive, dynamic, and collaborative. It is thus with the rise of the giants of the Web namely: Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Amazon that Web 2.0 was gradually born.
Web 2.0 is largely based on the idea of the “Web as a platform” and focuses preferably on user-generated content uploaded to social networking services, blogs, and wikis, among other services. Web 2.0 is generally considered to have started around 2004 and continues to this day.
However, the Internet was originally intended to be an open space, freely accessible and specifically decentralized. It is rather the opposite that happened: indeed, today, we can see that:
It is the web giants that control our data, from which they make huge profits reaching millions.
It is the platforms that have control over their users, not the other way around.
The coming of Web 3.0
The revolutionary power of Blockchain technology has been noticed, after many analyses, especially with the appearance of Bitcoin and its competitors. Since then, the foundations of Web 3.0 have gradually appeared.
The term “Web 3”, or “Web 3.0”, was coined in 2014 by Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum. It wasn’t until 2021 that the idea of We 3.0 gained popularity. Interest increased towards the end of 2021, largely due to interest from crypto-currency enthusiasts and investments from high-profile technologists and companies.
Web 3.0: What is it?
The term Web 3.0 has been described by Bloomberg as “fuzzy,” but again according to Bloomberg, it revolves primarily around the idea of decentralization and often incorporates blockchain technologies, such as various crypto-currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Bloomberg described Web 3.0 as an idea that would “build financial assets, in the form of tokens, into the inner workings of almost everything you do online.”
Web 3 or Web 3.0 is simply the gradual replacement of the various functions of the current internet with various rather decentralized forms. Whether it is: file storage, databases, web servers, computing power or web browsers, they will all probably be replaced by much more powerful and decentralized servers.
For example, with Web 3.0, web servers are being replaced by blockchains like Ethereum. Similarly, for data storage, Web 3.0 will use applications such as Filecoin, Arweave or Siacoin instead of Amazon or Dropbox. For video streaming, Web 3.0 will no longer use classical CDNs but preferably blockchains like Theta or AIOZ.
Finally, with Web 3.0, applications such as Spotify, Twitter or Facebook will be replaced by applications called dApps (decentralized Apps). These will have the ability to run in an automated way without the need for trusted intermediaries.
Advantages/Perspectives of Web 3.0
Web 3.0 represents a revolution of great scope, given the profound changes it could bring to everyday life. It will also bring a set of advantages that will probably be a respite for all the current Web 2.0 users:
- With Web 3.0, the platforms will be permissive platforms. That is, they will be open and accessible to anyone, without needing the green light from an external entity, a company, or a government. Indeed, with Web 2.0, users can be banned from the platform if they share content that does not comply with the regulations pre-established by the responsible entities.
- All Web 3.0 users will be able to take possession of their own data. Web 2.0, on the other hand, has control over the personal data of its users, which is somewhat dictatorial.
- All platform participants can hold a portion of the platform’s value in the form of tokens. Today’s internet allows entities to not only own the personal data of users, but also allows them to make huge profits from the exploitation of this data.
- With Web 3.0, the control of the system will not be concentrated in one single entity. It will preferably be democratic and distributed by DAOs: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations.
- Web 3.0 offers a superior and efficient navigation. With Web 2.0, finding the best result is a bit difficult. However, with Web 3.0, they will be further enhanced to allow finding semantically relevant results based on the search context and metadata. The result is a more convenient browsing experience that can help everyone find the exact information they need with relative ease.
- Web 3.0 also offers improved advertising and marketing. Admittedly, online advertisements are quite distracting especially when they appear en masse. However, if advertisements become relevant to the user’s interests and needs, they can become useful instead of annoying. Web 3.0 aims to improve advertising by leveraging smarter AI systems that would target specific audiences based on consumer data.
Ideas for Investing in Web 3.0 Crypto Projects?
With this technology set to be truly revolutionary, many would be inclined to invest in Web 3.0, which affects various aspects of the internet. With its rather multitasking side, Web 3.0 will probably give various investment opportunities:
· Investing in Tier 1 Blockchains
Blockchains provide platforms capable of creating the dApps of the future. We can rightly mention: Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Fantom, Harmony and many others.
· Investment in decentralized storage solutions
With the goal of Web 3.0 which is nothing but the decentralization of the current internet, it would probably be profitable to invest in some decentralized storage applications such as Filecoin, Siacoin or even Arweave.
· Investing in interoperability blockchains
Since Web 3.0 will eventually use multiple blockchains, it would be smart to invest in interoperability blockchains such as Polkadot, Cosmos and many others.
· Investing in Api Data solutions
One can choose to invest in applications for exchanging information between the various Blockchains or at least between the real world and the Blockchain world. One can use The Graph or ChainLink for this purpose…
Criticism and mistrust
Obviously, such a revolutionary Internet possibility — the foundations of which are already laid — is not viewed favorably by everyone, and inevitably gives rise to criticism and comments (positive or not). Deep analyses are made and many wonders if this revolution is just a myth.
Many personalities are suspicious of Web 3.0. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has publicly said that Web 3.0 is just a “marketing buzzword”. Pessimistic about this technology, the billionaire worries about what the future will be like in 10, 20 or 30 years with such a technological advance. For him, this is just a trend, just like the metaverse movement.
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has spoken out about the metaverse movement, which he believes will soon become part of our everyday habits. “Within two or three years, I predict that most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera grids — which I call the Hollywood Squares model — to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars.”
Conclusion
Web 3.0 is not only a technological approach but also a philosophical one that could solve the various problems of the current internet. It could also allow, with its revolutionary side, to return to the true mission of the Internet. However, can we totally believe that these drastic changes will have a positive impact for most of the users of the current platforms? With the evolution of Web 3.0 soaring, the answer doesn’t seem far off.
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