Introduction to Web3
Introduction
to Web3
Centralization has helped onboard
billions of people to the World Wide Web and created the stable, robust
infrastructure on which it lives. At the same time, a handful of centralized
entities have a stronghold on large swathes of the World Wide Web, unilaterally
deciding what should and should not be allowed.
Web3 is the answer to this
dilemma. Instead of a Web monopolized by large technology companies, Web3
embraces decentralization and is being built, operated, and owned by its users.
Web3 puts power in the hands of individuals rather than corporations. Before we
talk about Web3, let's explore how we got here.
The early Web
Most people think of the Web as a
continuous pillar of modern life—it was invented and has just existed since.
However, the Web most of us know today is quite different from originally
imagined. To understand this better, it's helpful to break the Web's short
history into loose periods—Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
Web 1.0: Read-Only (1990-2004)
In 1989, at CERN, Geneva, Tim
Berners-Lee was busy developing the protocols that would become the World Wide
Web. His idea? To create open, decentralized protocols that allowed
information-sharing from anywhere on Earth.
The first inception of
Berners-Lee's creation, now known as 'Web 1.0', occurred roughly between 1990
to 2004. Web 1.0 was mainly static websites owned by companies, and there was
close to zero interaction between users - individuals seldom produced content -
leading to it being known as the read-only web.
Web 2.0: Read-Write
(2004-now)
The Web 2.0 period began in 2004
with the emergence of social media platforms. Instead of a read-only, the web
evolved to be read-write. Instead of companies providing content to users, they
also began to provide platforms to share user-generated content and engage in
user-to-user interactions. As more people came online, a handful of top
companies began to control a disproportionate amount of the traffic and value
generated on the web. Web 2.0 also birthed the advertising-driven revenue
model. While users could create content, they didn't own it or benefit from its
monetization.
Web 3.0:
Read-Write-Own
The premise of 'Web 3.0' was
coined by Ethereum co-founder
Gavin Wood shortly after Ethereum launched in 2014. Gavin put into words a
solution for a problem that many early crypto adopters felt: the Web required
too much trust. That is, most of the Web that people know and use today relies
on trusting a handful of private companies to act in the public's best
interests.
What is Web3?
Web3 has become a catch-all term
for the vision of a new, better internet. At its core, Web3 uses blockchains,
cryptocurrencies, and NFTs to give power back to the users in the form of
ownership. A 2020 post on Twitter said it best: Web1 was read-only, Web2
is read-write, Web3 will be read-write-own.
Core ideas of Web3
Although it's challenging to
provide a rigid definition of what Web3 is, a few core principles guide its
creation.
- Web3
is decentralized: instead of large
swathes of the internet controlled and owned by centralized entities,
ownership gets distributed amongst its builders and users.
- Web3
is permissionless: everyone has equal
access to participate in Web3, and no one gets excluded.
- Web3
has native payments: it uses
cryptocurrency for spending and sending money online instead of relying
on the outdated infrastructure of banks and payment processors.
- Web3
is trustless: it operates using
incentives and economic mechanisms instead of relying on trusted
third-parties.
Why
is Web3 important?
Although Web3's
killer features aren't isolated and don't fit into neat categories, for
simplicity we've tried to separate them to make them easier to understand.
Ownership
Web3 gives you
ownership of your digital assets in an unprecedented way. For example, say
you're playing a web2 game. If you purchase an in-game item, it is tied
directly to your account. If the game creators delete your account, you will
lose these items. Or, if you stop playing the game, you lose the value you
invested into your in-game items.
Web3 allows for direct ownership
through non-fungible
tokens (NFTs). No one, not even the game's creators, has the
power to take away your ownership. And, if you stop playing, you can sell or
trade your in-game items on open markets and recoup their value.
Censorship resistance
The power dynamic between
platforms and content creators is massively imbalanced.
OnlyFans is a user-generated
adult content site with over 1-million content creators, many of which use the
platform as their primary source of income. In August 2021, OnlyFans announced
plans to ban sexually explicit content. The announcement sparked outrage
amongst creators on the platform, who felt they were getting robbed of an
income on a platform they helped create. After the backlash, the decision got
quickly reversed. Despite the creators winning this battle, it highlights a
problem for Web 2.0 creators: you lose the reputation and following you accrued
if you leave a platform.
On Web3, your data lives on the
blockchain. When you decide to leave a platform, you can take your reputation
with you, plugging it into another interface that more clearly aligns with your
values.
Web 2.0 requires content creators
to trust platforms not to change the rules, but censorship resistance is a
native feature of a Web3 platform.
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)
As well as owning your data in
Web3, you can own the platform as a collective, using tokens that act like
shares in a company. DAOs let you coordinate decentralized ownership of a
platform and make decisions about its future.
DAOs are defined technically as
agreed-upon smart contracts that automate decentralized decision-making over a
pool of resources (tokens). Users with tokens vote on how resources get spent,
and the code automatically performs the voting outcome.
However, people define many Web3
communities as DAOs. These communities all have different levels of
decentralization and automation by code. Currently, we are exploring what DAOs
are and how they might evolve in the fut
Traditionally, you would create
an account for every platform you use. For example, you might have a Twitter
account, a YouTube account, and a Reddit account. Want to change your display
name or profile picture? You have to do it across every account. You can use
social sign-ins in some cases, but this presents a familiar problem—censorship.
In a single click, these platforms can lock you out of your entire online life.
Even worse, many platforms require you to trust them with personally
identifiable information to create an account.
Web3 solves these problems by
allowing you to control your digital identity with an Ethereum address and ENS
profile. Using an Ethereum address provides a single login across platforms
that is secure, censorship-resistant, and anonymous.ure.
Native payments
Web2's payment infrastructure
relies on banks and payment processors, excluding people without bank accounts
or those who happen to live within the borders of the wrong country. Web3 uses
tokens like ETH to
send money directly in the browser and requires no trusted third party.
Web3 limitations
Despite the numerous benefits of
Web3 in its current form, there are still many limitations that the ecosystem
must address for it to flourish.
Accessibility
Important Web3
features, like Sign-in with Ethereum, are already available for anyone to use
at zero cost. But, the relative cost of transactions is still prohibitive to
many. Web3 is less likely to be utilized in less-wealthy, developing nations
due to high transaction fees. On Ethereum, these challenges are being solved
through network
upgrades and layer 2 scaling solutions. The technology is ready, but we need higher levels of adoption on
layer 2 to make Web3 accessible to everyone.
User experience
The technical
barrier to entry to using Web3 is currently too high. Users must comprehend
security concerns, understand complex technical documentation, and navigate
unintuitive user interfaces. Wallet providers, in particular, are working to solve this, but more progress is needed
before Web3 gets adopted en masse.
Education
Web3 introduces
new paradigms that require learning different mental models than the ones used
in Web2.0. A similar education drive happened as Web1.0 was gaining popularity
in the late 1990s; proponents of the world wide web used a slew of educational
techniques to educate the public from simple metaphors (the information
highway, browsers, surfing the web) to television
broadcasts. Web3 isn't difficult, but it is
different. Educational initiatives informing Web2 users of these Web3 paradigms
are vital for its success.
Ethereum.org
contributes to Web3 education through our Translation
Program, aiming to translate important
Ethereum content to as many languages as possible.
Centralized infrastructure
The Web3
ecosystem is young and quickly evolving. As a result, it currently depends
mainly on centralized infrastructure (GitHub, Twitter, Discord, etc.). Many
Web3 companies are rushing to fill these gaps, but building high-quality,
reliable infrastructure takes time.
Adecentralized future
Web3 is a young
and evolving ecosystem. Gavin Wood coined the term in 2014, but many of these
ideas have only recently become a reality. In the last year alone, there has
been a considerable surge in the interest in cryptocurrency, improvements to
layer 2 scaling solutions, massive experiments with new forms of governance,
and revolutions in digital identity.
We are only at the beginning of creating a better Web with Web3, but as we
continue to improve the infrastructure that will support it, the future of the
Web looks bright.
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ReplyDeleteGood intro to WEB 3
ReplyDeleteGood Work
ReplyDeleteGreat👍
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