Blockchain startups received $33 billion in investments in 2021. Many of these projects are directly related to the development of Web 3.0, the Internet of the future. At the same time, forty top corporations invested about $6 billion into blockchain startups between September 2021 and June 2022. Now we are entering the era of Web3, in which data and its value will move easily across decentralized platforms with distributed ownership and control. Read on to learn more about the Web 3.0 concept.
Table of contents:
- What is Web 3.0?
- Why has Web 3.0 appeared?
- Advantages of Web 3.0
- Comparison of Web 3.0 vs. Web 2.0
- Blockchain at the core of Web 3.0
- Prospects for the development of Web 3.0
What is Web 3.0?
Web 3.0 is taking shape right now as you read this article.
Web 3.0 is a concept of the Internet in which new “people’s” social networks, search engines, and trading platforms are emerging with no host companies. Blockchain, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, and metaverses are key technologies in the new Web 3.0 era.
Signs of Web 3.0 are:
- Decentralization
- Blockchain
- Use of cryptocurrency as the primary currency
- Semantic Web
- NFT and Metaverses
- Virtual and augmented reality
- Privacy protection
- IoT
It’s also worth noting that Web 3.0 goes far beyond the Internet and can fully penetrate the real world. Web 3.0 is an attempt to fundamentally change the financial system and the principles of interaction between people, form new rules for companies, and build a new world. The author of the Web 2.0 concept, Tim O’Reilly, proposed to define Web 3.0 as the interaction of the Internet with the physical world.
Web 3.0 is not live on centralized servers that belong to specific people or companies. They can be replaced by a distributed database that is stored differently. If we are talking about your classic apps (Apps), they are transforming to decentralized apps (dApps).
We conditionally divide dApps into several parts:
Your application has a Frontend – UI, the application logic itself (and the application in general) which are smart contracts. That is, conditionally you can interact with contracts even without a UI (if you turn it off at all) – this is called decentralization.
And dApps also have a BackEnd – it is for the most part intended only for analytics, there is nothing there that would affect the operation of the application itself. It only indexes, caches data from the blockchain, and saves it to the database for quick display on the UI to improve the UX. But that is another topic for discussion.
Why has Web 3.0 appeared?
The World Wide Web 1.0 was a set of static Web pages with downloadable information with no interactive content. Connectivity meant dialing through modems while blocking phone lines. The big companies were AOL, MSN Messenger, AltaVista, and Ask Jeeves. Everything was insanely slow. Streaming video and music? Forget it.
And then Web 2.0 came along, and not many people remember the minimal interfaces and 16kbps speeds anymore. Faster Internet speeds paved the way for interactive content. The global exchange of information spawned the rise of social networks. YouTube, Wikipedia, Flickr, and Facebook gave voices to ordinary people and became a common place for like-minded people.
But what’s wrong with Web 2.0 now?
Right now, the Internet that most of us use is dominated and controlled by a few big players in different industries. Centralization is now affecting all layers of Web 2.0.
The physical layer of Web 2.0 (the wires and devices that connect everything) is more centralized than one might think. Millions of people can lose access to the Internet just because one company makes a mistake. It doesn’t matter where you’re physically located when you’re visiting websites and what Internet connection you have. What matters is where the computer or mobile device connecting to the web page is located. If the server goes down, the website usually doesn’t work either.
According to Statista, the number of internet users in July 2022 was over 5 billion. In 2000 the figure was about 738 million. That’s an unfathomable amount of data that is a precious asset, and only a small number of servers collect them. Moreover, as we mentioned earlier, they can stop working at any moment.
Website domain names also take a hit. DNS, which allows you to enter a domain name and refer to a website, is controlled by one group – ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). It can help governments censor online content by disabling or redirecting DNS requests.
Advantages of Web 3.0
Who will pay for Web 3.0? Advertising currently pays for and gives life to most content on Web 2.0. This has led to monopolies and a hegemony of Internet advertising that controls the flow of information.
New models of monetization should be used to eliminate this unhealthy control over the “funding” and “organization” of the Internet. Cryptocurrencies and instant microtransactions will allow everyone to pay for Internet content directly.
Advantages of Web 3.0 are:
- More privacy
- No central point of control. Intermediaries are removed. Blockchain gives a platform on the principle of “trust no one” (which leads to consensus), where rules are unbreakable, and data is fully encrypted.
- Data ownership. End users will have full control over their data and provide encryption. Information can then be divided into private and authorized. Users can share their information if they want.
- Reduced hacking and leakage of “data banks” – centralized data storage
- Apps will be easily customizable and adaptable to all devices, working on smartphones, TVs, smart home devices, etc.
- Uninterrupted access. Anyone can create an address and interact with the network.
- Uninterrupted service. Suspension and denial of service are greatly reduced. Since there is no single point of failure, service disruptions will be minimal.
Web 3.0 will shift power from the big Internet corporations to the users and creators of the Internet. At IdeaSoft, we can help you safely implement Web 3.0 technology in your project, whether it is a crypto project, a fintech product, or a B2B solution. Having over 5 years in blockchain development under our belts allows us to work on the most complicated tasks.
Moving to Web 3.0 and implementing this technology in your project will allow you to: have data safety thanks to new mechanisms, reduce hacking risks thanks to decentralization, and eliminate users` or companies’ data theft. And this isn’t even the entire list of advantages you will get by adapting to Web 3.0. But most importantly, you should understand that companies that adapt to Web 3.0 will have a great advantage over their competitors.
Comparison of Web 3.0 vs. Web 2.0
Now let’s discuss the key differences between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.
Now you fully understand the differences between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.
Why is blockchain at the core of Web 3.0?
Blockchain fully reflects the idea of Web 3.0. Anyone can create and record information of any kind and content. It is up to them to decide how to use it, where to distribute it, sell it, and how to value it. Cryptocurrency also supports Web 3.0 and will be its main component. The user can earn cryptocurrency online, purchase it, store it, and use it at their discretion.
NFTs, as a particular digital phenomenon of the art of blockchain, are also part of the future Web. This is partly because the creation, sale, and distribution of NFTs is not centralized. It all depends on the owner of a particular NFT and its demand. There are tons of NFTs worldwide, and they are all different.
There are also many NFT marketplaces where people can sell and buy NFTs. They are highly popular, and their current supply isn’t enough for the market demand. By the way, at IdeaSoft, we have already developed a few.
Prospects for the development of Web 3.0
Web 3.0 implies using blockchain, AI, IoT, AR, VR, and other technologies. Web 3.0 prospects are about personalization and are user-oriented.
Web 3.0: Safety
Blockchain technology is the key in terms of data safety. It stores personal data ensuring a high-level security with no tampering or immutability. The Blockchain technology concept itself contributes to this as well as cutting-edge encryption algorithms.
Web 3.0: NFTs
NFTs can be used instead of cookies in Web 3.0. All the data about a person can be stored in an NFT token, and the user has ownership of it. Only he or she will decide whether to provide specific companies or websites with their private data. This contributes to the safe Internet concept, especially concerning the development of the Metaverse.
This concept has influenced tech giants such as Apple to become more appreciative of their users’ data and they have banned data tracking. They have developed several tools that allow people to limit app access to their files.
Web 3.0 is about increased privacy, the value of all information, and the security of all users regardless of their rank in society or the size of their wallet.
Web 3.0 : VR
Companies like Meta (Facebook) are supporting metaverses to adapt to the changes coming with the introduction of Web 3.0. Developers decentralize the creation of their virtual and augmented worlds in which users can act as individual characters, interact with other characters, get local currencies and spend them within the metaverse.
Conclusion
The era is evolving with game developers, smart home experts (yes, that too is part of Web 3.0), and tech giants like Apple, Google, and Meta moving Web 2.0 in the right direction. At the same time, the popularization of NFTs and cryptocurrencies is keeping decentralization alive.
Businesses that have followed Web 3.0 have an advantage over competitors. First, it is getting increased attention from target audiences. Second, it will provide increased data security which will also attract new clients. Third, there are new opportunities like the Metaverse where brands can sell or service virtually. Fourth, businesses get more precise targeted ads thanks to AI use.
The transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 is seamless and invisible to users. But behind the interface, the structure connecting users to digital services will be noticeably different. Prospects for the development of Web 3.0 are bright.
Our team can bring these prospects to you.
