What is Web3 ?

There is a lot of buzz around Web3 on Tech Twitter, I'll try to put Web3 in simple words as follow:-

Web3 is a paradigm shift in the way we interact with others over the internet.

In order to understand Web3, let’s first understand the evolution of web over period of time:

Web1.0 (Approx 1995-2005) :

Web1.0 was all about creating the content by few sophisticated users and making it available to anyone over the internet. There were few creators (Mostly software developers) who wrote HTML code, in order to create the content, that was eventually consumed by everyone.

Web2.0 (Approx 2005-2020) :

Web2.0 was a great enabler for content creators, it was the time when tech giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter flourished. The content creation was now not just limited to developers but anyone on the internet can create content on these platforms(Youtube,Facebook,Instagram etc).

But there was a flip side too, these Web2.0 platforms (e.g. youtube, facebook, twitter, aws etc.) were mostly centralized in nature, no matter who creates the content, but the ownership & control of the content will always lied with the owner of the platform (i.e. a centralized entity). Every interaction between you and your friend over the internet is owned and controlled by a few centralized entities.

Web3.0 :

Web3 introduced pure decentralization. In Web3 the creation/storage/control of the information happens in a decentralized environment (i.e. Blockchain ).

If you want to learn more about blockchain, I wrote a simple explanation of blockchain here .

Blockchain enabled an environment for dApps ( decentralized application ) which facilitate peer to peer interaction over a blockchain network. Now everyone can not only participate & create but also claim ownership in the digital world. The decentralization of ownership is the most exciting thing about Web3.

Web3 also facilitates exchange of values in the form of cryptocurrencies. Hence the participants in a web3 environment can get rewarded for their work quickly, without the intermediaries ( Bank, Government etc) resulting in fast, permission less interaction on the internet.

A decentralized and shared nature of Web3 ensures transparency and integrity. Unlike Web2 where you have to rely and trust on a intermediary ( e.g. Bank, AWS, Google, Facebook etc )

Lets discuss some of the popular use cases of Web3

• deFI (Decentralized finance) :- The banks are broken, a typical person to person transaction in the current banking system involves many parties ( Bank, Payment gateway provider, central bank, government agency etc). The defi applications run on blockchain, facilitating transparent, secure, reliable peer to peer transactions.

• Digital Ownership (NFT) :- In a Web2 world, even if you own a digital product, the ownership of the product was not verifiable in a closed database (e.g. Digital Wallets etc). Blockchain solves the problem of proving digital ownership, now the record of ownership of a digital asset by you is always present on the blockchain network, anyone can verify it.

E.g.:- In a multiplayer game, even if you own a particular avatar, your ownership of the avatar was limited to a closed environment only. Now if you have a record of ownership of that avatar on a blockchain network, it remains valid in larger scope.

• Token Economics and DAO :- Web3 has changed the way Companies and Customers interact. In a web3 environment a customer is limited to user of the product/services that a company offers. Web3 has enhanced customer’s capability with the introduction of tokens. Now a customer can not only consume a product/service but also become owner of the company offering the product/services by owning a token

E.g. Lets consider a SaaS In a Web2 world you pay for SaaS products and use the service/product and that's it. Introducing SaaS DAO : How about a SaaS that offers to buy their product/services through their token. Owning a token let's a user, use the product/service as we do in Web2.0 . But in Web3.0 you can go step beyond, owning some more tokens may give the privilege to get a premium plan of SaaS or becoming part of any major product/service decision in future.

The list of Web3 applications is endless, we are just beginning.

PS : I write about my Web3/Web2 learning experience here,if you loved this, please follow for more such content in future.

This post is created with ❤️ by Shivam