🖥 Web3: What is it and why is it important?

Learn about Web3, its core principles, and its advantages over previous web versions.

If you are here now and reading our material, we can hazard a guess that you are an active user of the network. However, the online environment you’re in now is vastly different than it was 5 or 10 years ago.

In the past, centralization made it possible to connect many people to the Internet, giving them access to a stable and reliable infrastructure. On the other hand, this infrastructure has been monopolized by large organizations that now decide what can and cannot be allowed on the World Wide Web.

What if we said that the idea of ​​a decentralized Internet, like in “Silicon Valley”, is materializing bit by bit? Now Web3 is not serial fiction, but the likely future of the World Wide Web, which is about to arrive.

The dreams of the Internet by the people and for the people are potentially realized through Web3. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is so much noise around this concept. Today we offer you to understand what Web3 is and how we got there.

⏳ An excursion into the past of the World Wide Web

To people, and especially to those who have not come across the “old” Internet, it may seem that the network is something fixed and unchanging. Something that accompanies us in its modern form through the years. In fact, all this time the World Wide Web developed dynamically and its evolution can be conditionally divided into three stages: Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.

Web 1.0 is a read-only network

Web 1.0 is the first milestone of the Internet that lasted from about 1990 to 2004. Back then, only website creators, in other words, their developers, had all the authority to create and publish content. Interaction with users was minimal, they could only browse the content of the pages.

Data and page content were served not from a database, but from a static file system, so websites at that time were not interactive. So you can think of Web 1.0 as a read-only network.

Web 2.0 is a network both for reading and for creating content

The network we use now dates back to 2004, when the first social networks appeared. Web 2.0 offers the interactivity that the previous version of the Internet lacked.

Now, in order to create content, it is not necessary to be a developer, because the latter have already made sure that anyone can become a creator. So if you want to share your thoughts, photos, videos and more with the world, now you can easily do so.

Web 2.0 is really easy to use and advanced in many ways, but there is still work to be done to achieve perfection. It is worth mentioning the emergence of monopolistic companies that control a large amount of traffic in the network. And also about a new revenue generation model that focuses on advertising and arose as a result of the development of Web 2.0.

Web 3.0 is a network for reading, creating and owning your content

The idea of ​​Web 3.0 or Web3 was proposed by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood back in 2014. This new network should solve the problems of Web 2.0, among which, in particular, control over user data.

That is, instead of using free platforms or applications in Web 2.0 that collect information about users, the future Web 3.0 will make every person the owner of their data.

📡 What is Web3?

Web3 is a catch-all term for the new, better Internet. This future network, like cryptocurrencies, metauniverses and NFTs, will use the principles of decentralization and openness. In particular, Web3 will use blockchain technology, and in this way, the network will belong equally to every user and developer.

Potentially, Web3 will take many forms, including decentralized social networks, play-to-earn games, or NFT platforms. The ideal development of Web3 will generally mark a revolution in the network, destroying the influence of monopolies and ushering in a new digital economy without intermediaries.

⚙️ Basic principles of Web3

Although Web3 at first seems like a rather ephemeral concept, this network uses several fundamental principles:

⛓ Decentralization. Unlike Web 2.0, where the World Wide Web is controlled by large centralized companies, ownership in Web 3.0 is evenly distributed between each user and developer.
⛓ Availability. Each user has equal access to the Web3 network.
⛓ Trust. In Web3, trust is built through the use of economic mechanisms and blockchain technologies, so users do not need to rely on verified third parties.
⛓ Own payments. Web3 uses cryptocurrency to make transfers. Thanks to this, users do not need to rely on intermediaries such as banks.

🌝 What is the advantage of Web3?

Web3 is about freedom in the network and the opportunity to be the master in it. Unlike Web2, where a significant share of the Internet’s monetary value is captured by monopolies, in the “new” network everyone will have ownership. So, the advantages of Web3:

Property right

In Web3, only you are the direct owner of digital assets, and this is realized through NFT. To understand exactly how it works, we will give you a simple example.

Let’s imagine that you play Counter Strike and buy certain items there that are directly linked to your account. In theory, CS developers can remove your account, and therefore all purchases will be lost. In the Web3 world, such a loss is not possible, because no one, not even the developers of the game, has the right to take your property (NFT) away from you.

Payments without intermediaries

With Web3, you no longer need to rely on intermediaries such as payment systems, banks or other financial institutions. The network of the future will use crypto tokens for transactions.

Privacy

In a decentralized network, you can control what information about you is available to others and who can access it.

High level of security

Unlike today’s Web 2.0 network, where information can be easily copied or stolen without the user’s knowledge, blockchain technology is protected from such manipulations. In Web 3.0, it is impossible to freely change or hack data.

☄️ Has the Web3 era already begun?

With the development of blockchain technologies and NFT, the crypto industry can already offer the first Web3 projects.

In particular, this is the game Axie Infinity from the game studio Sky Mavis. It uses NFTs and cryptocurrencies based on the Ethereum blockchain to reward players for completing in-game goals.

In Axie Infinity, players are able to breed characters called Axies and use them in battles against other players. In addition, here you can buy virtual land plots in the form of NFTs and earn from them as well.

In addition to blockchain games, Web3 also has other projects. An example of this is Helium, a wireless network that works on the basis of cryptocurrencies. Registered users can share Wi-Fi bandwidth with Helium, which is rewarded with native network tokens.

🦩 Results

For now, Web3 is in its infancy, and it is still worth waiting for the mass development of the network. However, even those projects that we see on the market reflect the main advantages of this new Internet. With Web3, users will have full control over their digital content and data, and experience the true security and privacy of blockchain technology.