Web3 (also known as Web 3.0 [1] [2] [3] ) is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. [4] Some technologists and journalists have contrasted it with Web 2.0, wherein they say data and content are centralized in a small group of companies sometimes referred to as "Big Tech". [5] The term "Web3" was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capital firms. [5] [6] The concepts of Web3 were first represented in 2013. [7] [8]
Critics have expressed concerns over the centralization of wealth to a small group of investors and individuals, [9] or a loss of privacy due to more expansive data collection. [10] Billionaires like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey have argued that Web3 only serves as a buzzword or marketing term. [11] [12] [13]
Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 refer to eras in the history of the World Wide Web as it evolved through various technologies and formats. Web 1.0 refers roughly to the period from 1989 to 2004, where most sites consisted of static pages, and the vast majority of users were consumers, not producers of content. [14] [15] Web 2.0 is based around the idea of "the web as platform" [16] and centers on user-created content uploaded to forums, social media and networking services, blogs, and wikis, among other services. [17] Web 2.0 is generally considered to have begun around 2004 and continues to the current day. [16] [18] [5]
Web3 is distinct from Tim Berners-Lee's 1999 concept for a Semantic Web. [19] In 2006, Berners-Lee described the Semantic Web as a component of Web 3.0, which is different from the meaning of Web3 in blockchain contexts. [20]
The term "Web3" was coined by Polkadot founder and Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood in 2014, referring to a "decentralized online ecosystem based on blockchain." [1] In 2021, the idea of Web3 gained popularity. [21] Particular interest spiked toward the end of 2021, largely due to interest from cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investments from high-profile technologists and companies. [5] [6] Executives from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz traveled to Washington, DC, in October 2021 to lobby for the idea as a potential solution to questions about regulation of the web, with which policymakers have been grappling. [22]
Specific visions for Web3 differ, and the term has been described by Olga Kharif as "hazy", but they revolve around the idea of decentralization and often incorporate blockchain technologies, such as various cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). [5] Kharif has described Web3 as an idea that "would build financial assets, in the form of tokens, into the inner workings of almost anything you do online". [23] A policy brief published by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge defined Web3 as "the putative next generation of the web's technical, legal, and payments infrastructure—including blockchain, smart contracts and cryptocurrencies." [24] According to Liu, Zhuotao, et al (2021), three fundamental architectural enablers of Web3 were identified as a combination of decentralized or federated platforms, secured interoperability, and verifiable computing through distributed ledger technologies. [25]
Some visions are based around the concept of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). [26] Decentralized finance (DeFi) is another key concept; in it, users exchange currency without bank or government involvement. [5] Self-sovereign identity allows users to identify themselves without relying on an authentication system such as OAuth, in which a trusted party has to be reached in order to assess identity. [27]
Academic researchers, such as Tomer J. Chaffer and Justin Goldston in 2022, have described Web3 as a possible solution to concerns about the over-centralization of the web in a few "Big Tech" companies. [28] [5] [22] Some have expressed the notion that Web3 could improve data security, scalability, and privacy beyond what is currently possible with Web 2.0 platforms. [29] Bloomberg states that skeptics say the idea "is a long way from proving its use beyond niche applications, many of them tools aimed at crypto traders". [23] The New York Times reported that several investors are betting $27 billion that Web3 "is the future of the internet". [30] [31]
Some Web 2.0 companies, including Reddit and Discord, have explored incorporating Web3 technologies into their platforms. [5] [32] On November 8, 2021, CEO Jason Citron tweeted a screenshot suggesting Discord might be exploring integrating cryptocurrency wallets into their platform. Two days later, and after heavy user backlash, [32] [33] Discord announced they had no plans to integrate such technologies and that it was an internal-only concept that had been developed in a company-wide hackathon. [33]
Some legal scholars quoted by The Conversation have expressed concerns over the difficulty of regulating a decentralized web, which they reported might make it more difficult to prevent cybercrime, online harassment, hate speech, and the dissemination of child pornography. [34] But, the news website also states that, "[decentralized web] represents the cyber-libertarian views and hopes of the past that the internet can empower ordinary people by breaking down existing power structures". Some other critics of Web3 see the concept as a part of a cryptocurrency bubble, or as an extension of blockchain-based trends that they see as overhyped or harmful, particularly NFTs. [32] Some critics have raised concerns about the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. [6] Cryptocurrencies vary in efficiency, with proof of stake having been designed to be less energy intensive than the more widely used proof of work, although there is disagreement about how secure and decentralized this is in practice. [35] [36] [37] [38] Others have expressed beliefs that Web3 and the associated technologies are a pyramid scheme. [6]
Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, dismissed Web3 as a "venture capitalists' plaything". [39] Dorsey opined that Web3 will not democratize the internet, but it will shift power from players like Facebook to venture capital funds like Andreessen Horowitz. [9]
Liam Proven, writing for The Register , concludes that Web3 is "a myth, a fairy story. It's what parents tell their kids about at night if they want them to grow up to become economists". [40]
In 2021, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed skepticism about Web3 in a tweet, saying that Web3 "seems more marketing buzzword than reality right now." [11]
In November 2021, James Grimmelmann of Cornell University referred to Web3 as vaporware, calling it "a promised future internet that fixes all the things people don't like about the current internet, even when it's contradictory." Grimmelmann also argued that moving the internet toward a blockchain-focused infrastructure would centralize and cause more data collection compared to the current internet. [10]
Software engineer Stephen Diehl described Web3 in a blog post as a "vapid marketing campaign that attempts to reframe the public's negative associations of crypto assets into a false narrative about disruption of legacy tech company hegemony." [41]
Kevin Werbach, author of The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, [42] has said that "many so-called 'Web 3.0' solutions are not as decentralized as they seem, while others have yet to show they are scalable, secure and accessible enough for the mass market", adding that this "may change, but it's not a given that all these limitations will be overcome". [43]
In early 2022, Moxie Marlinspike, creator of Signal, articulated how Web3 is not as decentralized as it appears to be, mainly due to consolidation in the cryptocurrency field, including in blockchain application programming interfaces which are currently mainly controlled by the companies Alchemy and Infura; cryptocurrency exchanges which are mainly dominated by Binance, Coinbase, MetaMask, and OpenSea; and the stablecoin market which is currently dominated by Tether. Marlinspike also remarked that the new web resembles the old web. [44] [45] [46]
An Ad Age article from 2022 stated "early adopters want to make a new internet that alleviates the problems of the old one" but said if companies put the same type of people in charge as on the earlier version, and those people had similar attitudes, the same problems would happen. [47] Another article in the same issue of the magazine quoted Alex Smeele, co-founder of Non-Fungible Labs, who said companies that wanted to participate in Web3 were "actually going to have to rethink their entire business model." [48]
Ana Constantino, founder of meetup platform Nowhere, said the metaverse did not really welcome everyone, because owners of NFT virtual real estate on sites such as Decentraland could keep people out who did not have the assets. [47]
Chris Dixon is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and previously worked at eBay. He is also the co-founder and former CEO of Hunch. He was #1 on the Midas List in 2022. Dixon is known as a cryptocurrency and Web3 evangelist.
Coinbase Global, Inc., branded Coinbase, is an American publicly traded company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. Coinbase is a distributed company; all employees operate via remote work. It is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States in terms of trading volume. The company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. In May 2020, Coinbase announced it would shut its San Francisco, California, headquarters and change operations to remote-first, part of a wave of several major tech companies closing headquarters in San Francisco in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization. It is open-source software.
A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), sometimes called a decentralized autonomous corporation (DAC), is an organization managed in whole or in part by decentralized computer program, with voting and finances handled through a blockchain. In general terms, DAOs are member-owned communities without centralized leadership. The precise legal status of this type of business organization is unclear.
A blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of records (blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. Since each block contains information about the previous block, they effectively form a chain, with each additional block linking to the ones before it. Consequently, blockchain transactions are irreversible in that, once they are recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.
Consensys is a private blockchain software technology company founded by Joseph Lubin and based in Fort Worth.
Cardano is a public blockchain platform. It is open-source and decentralized, with consensus achieved using proof of stake. It can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with its internal cryptocurrency, ADA.
A cryptocurrency bubble is a phenomenon where the market increasingly considers the going price of cryptocurrency assets to be inflated against their hypothetical value. The history of cryptocurrency has been marked by several speculative bubbles.
Video games can include elements that use blockchain technologies, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), often as a form of monetization. These elements typically allow players to trade in-game items for cryptocurrency, or represent in-game items with NFTs. A subset of these games are also known as play-to-earn games because they include systems that allow players to earn cryptocurrency through gameplay. Blockchain games have existed since 2017, gaining wider attention from the video game industry in 2021. Several AAA publishers have expressed intent to include this technology in the future. Players, developers, and game companies have criticized the use of blockchain technology in video games for being exploitative, environmentally unsustainable, and unnecessary.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded. Initially pitched as a new class of investment asset, by September 2023, one report claimed that over 95% of NFT collections had zero monetary value.
Decentralized finance offers financial instruments without relying on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks by using smart contracts on a blockchain, mainly Ethereum. DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds from others, speculate on price movements on assets using derivatives, trade cryptocurrencies, insure against risks, and earn interest in savings-like accounts. DeFi uses a layered architecture and highly composable building blocks. Some applications promote high-interest rates but are subject to high risk. Coding errors and hacks have been common in DeFi.
MetaMask is a software cryptocurrency wallet used to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to access their Ethereum wallet through a browser extension or mobile app, which can then be used to interact with decentralized applications. MetaMask is developed by Consensys, a blockchain software company focusing on Ethereum-based tools and infrastructure.
Stacks, formerly Blockstack, is a blockchain platform for smart contracts, decentralized finance ("DeFi"), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized apps ("DApps"). Stacks blockchain is a layer for bitcoin similar to the Lightning Network.
Solana is a blockchain platform which uses a proof-of-stake mechanism to provide smart contract functionality. Its native cryptocurrency is SOL.
ICON is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. ICX is the native cryptocurrency of the platform.
Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs is a 2022 documentary film written and directed by Canadian YouTuber and video essayist Dan Olson on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrencies, the metaverse, and Web3. The video was published to his YouTube channel Folding Ideas on January 21, 2022.
Molly Allen White is an American software engineer, Wikipedia editor, and crypto skeptic. A critic of the decentralized blockchain (Web3) and cryptocurrency industries, she runs the website Web3 Is Going Just Great, which documents malfeasance in that technology space. She has appeared in Web3-related news, consulted on federal legislation for regulating the crypto industry, and successfully proposed that the Wikimedia Foundation cease to collect crypto donations. White additionally volunteers as a Wikipedia editor and is among the site's most active women. She has edited a range of articles on right-wing extremism.
Polygon is a blockchain platform which aims to create a multi-chain blockchain system compatible with Ethereum. As with Ethereum, it uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism for processing transactions on-chain. Polygon's native token is named MATIC. Matic is an ERC-20 token, allowing for compatibility with other Ethereum cryptocurrencies. It is operated by Polygon Labs.
Injective Labs is a research and development company co-founded by Eric Chen and Albert Chon in 2018. Injective Labs focuses on creating Web3 infrastructure and finance technologies. It is one of the core contributors to Injective.
The Aave Protocol is an open-source, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain and released in 2020. It is one of the largest cryptocurrency liquidity protocols. The Aave Protocol uses smart contracts to automate processes, including distributing funds and handling collateral.
Contrary to the spirit of DeFi, [proof-of-stake] tends toward centralization in that, theoretically, one entity—or person—flush with cryptocurrency, could single-handedly shape the blockchain.
Critics say these alternatives may be less secure than proof of work.