Today’s internet life is spectacular and gives people lots of possibilities. However, the Web 2.0 we are using today does not seem so perfect to many users. The dominance of big tech companies and their control over our data is what Web 3.0 is supposed to change. And technologies associated with cryptocurrency may help.

The meaning

Web 3.0, or web3, yet only a concept, is the third iteration of the internet that can be described in the following terms: decentralized, blockchain-powered, and user-specific. It is based on the idea of a completely decentralized interconnected system of networks owned and governed by different users. This is what makes web3 similar to the concept of digital tokens.

The difference

The first iteration of the internet was a bunch of read-only, static web pages. In the mid-2000s, Web 2.0 added the ability to interact and produce content and introduced social media, online banking, and shopping — but this is all owned by large and powerful corporations such as Meta, Amazon, or Google.

With web3, people can build and govern their own decentralized, more democratic networks on the internet. We’re already seeing the first iteration of such networks in DAOs — decentralized autonomous organizations.

The web utopia

Web3 users will create their own self-governed platforms, profit from them, share posts and photos via nodes instead of Instagram, interact directly with each other without middlemen, and be sure their data is safe thanks to blockchain. Most likely, we’ll be able to tokenize everything we publish on the internet to protect our intellectual property.

Next-gen websites will also interact directly, without intermediaries like Google. This will create a more decentralized internet and reduce the influence of corporations and personal data leaks.

Web3 is also expected to boost the global economy by introducing accessible services to far-flung communities in various regions. Today, half the world’s population is excluded from the digital economy, and some don’t want to trust their data to Google. Another bonus for the global economy would be the greater adoption of fast and safe blockchain transactions.

The third iteration of the internet is slowly but surely becoming a reality. We will probably not notice the moment when we started living on web3 so that the transformation will be truly natural.