Welcome to the incredibly fascinating and complex world of Web3. Here be a sphere of unknowns, but hand-in-hand we will try to uncover the layer of Web3. Or not. Only time will tell. Shall we?
En route from Web1 to Web3
Since the inception of the web in the early 1990s, the internet has been an evolving space. Today, the internet continues to develop, and its most recent incarnation is what users call Web3.
Web3 is considered the future of the internet. To put Web3 into context and to know why it’s poised to change the way people interact online, let me offer a quick recap.
Web1: [static]; [Read only]; [decentralized];
In the 1990s, HTML and URLs made users navigate between static pages. Consider this the read-only environment.
Web2: [interactive]; [Read/write]; [centralized];
In the early 2000s, things started to change.
(A) The internet was becoming more interactive, then came social media; it was an era of user-generated content or the read/write web.
(B) The web2 era has been one of centralization. Network effects and economies of scale have led to clear winners. These big players have produced massive wealth for themselves and their shareholders by scraping users’ data and selling targeted ads against it; essentially, they sold our data without us realizing it.
As the web has grown up, centralized, and gone corporate, many have started wondering if there is a better future.
Web3: [future]; [Read/write/own]; [decentralized];
Promotors of Web3 are pitching it as the internet update that will correct the problems of Web2. Through blockchain technologies, decentralized storage, and self-sovereign identity in a community-driven setting, Web3 will take ownership from the Web2 giants and give it back to the users.
You get a stake worth something – you’re not a product but an owner. That is the vision of the read/write/own web.
Playground of Web3
So, what is web3? Web3 is a platform that uses blockchains, cryptocurrency, and NFTs to return power to users in ownership form. Web3 works by combining the decentralization of Web1 with the interactiveness of web2 in a user-friendly interface. Ideally, it gives users more control over their online experience and increased security through blockchain technology.
How does it work? Web3 is an extension of cryptocurrency, using blockchain in new ways to new ends. A blockchain can store the number of tokens in a wallet, the terms of a self-executing contract, or the code for a decentralized app (dApp). Not all blockchains work the same way, but generally, coins act as incentives for miners to process transactions.
Users will keep (keys to) all of their data and their identity in a cryptocurrency wallet like MetaMask, Venly, or TrustWallet. It allows them to interact with other types of blockchain apps and choose who can read their data and who can’t. Signing in with a crypto-wallet is like signing in with a Facebook account on other apps, but you own and control all of your data.
What are the advantages of the decentralized and user-owned Web3? Privacy, ownership beyond data, freedom of speech, security, no single point of failure, community, interoperability, user empowerment and democratization, and others.
What are the limitations? Young Web3 ecosystem, centralized infrastructure, technical barriers, accessibility, and others.
Putting Web3 to work
Web3 makes the proliferation of cooperative governance structures for once-centralized products possible. A meme, a piece of art, a person’s social media output, or tickets to Gary Vee’s conferences – anything and everything can get tokenized.
Predictions of what Web3 might look like at scale are just guesses, but some projects have grown pretty big. The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), NBA Top Shot, and the crypto gaming giant Dapper Labs have built large NFT communities. Clearinghouses such as Coinbase (for buying, selling, and storing cryptocurrency) and OpenSea (the digital marketplace for crypto collectibles and NFTs) have created Web3 on-ramps for people with little to no technical know-how
HCode has built products in the Ethereum and Flow blockchain and has expertise in building complex projects which give great business value. HCode has worked on NFT projects for the art community, fundraising, and carbon offsetting.One such project is F3rn. HCode has built a Web app F3rn an art-hosting platform for global artists. Artists find it difficult to showcase their art to the audience without losing the copyright while having control over the data. The app is built on lens protocol using Polygon blockchain. The app uses blockchain technology that empowers the creators to showcase their art in a completely different and innovative way and connect with their audience. In the future, creators will be able to leverage the commercial side of the art through the platform.
So many businesses are adopting Web3. 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
“One last thing, who’s getting more business value?
You or your competitor?
It was a nice moment.
LET’S NOT RUIN IT.”
Instead, why not you tryna do business with HCode?