What is Web 3.0?
Web 3.0 was an idea for a new
iteration of the World Wide Web (WWW) which incorporates concepts
such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based
economics. This is distinct from Tim Berners-Lee's concept
of the Semantic Web. Some technologists and journalists have
contrasted it with Web 2.0, in which they say user-generated
content is controlled by a small group of companies referred
to as Big Tech. 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. The concepts of web3
were first represented in 2013.
Critics have expressed concerns over the centralization
of wealth to a small group of investors and individuals, or
a loss of privacy due to more expansive data collection. Billionaires
like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey have argued that web3 only
serves as a buzzword or marketing term.
Background
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 1991
to 2004, where most sites consisted of static pages, and the
vast majority of users were consumers, not producers of content.
Web 2.0 is based around the idea of "the web as platform"
and centers on user-created content uploaded to forums, social
media and networking services, blogs, and wikis, among other
services. Web 2.0 is generally considered to have begun around
2004 and continues to the current day.
Terminology
Web3 is distinct from Tim Berners-Lee's 1999 concept of a
Semantic Web, which was also sometimes referred to as Web
3.0. While the Semantic Web envisioned a web of linked data,
web3 in the blockchain context refers to a decentralized Internet
built upon distributed ledger technologies. Some writers referring
to the decentralized concept usually known as "web3"
have used the term "Web 3.0", leading to some confusion
between the two concepts. Furthermore, some visions of web3
also incorporate ideas relating to the semantic web.
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."
In 2021, the idea of web3 gained popularity. Particular interest
spiked toward the end of 2021, largely due to interest from
cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investments from high-profile
technologists and companies. 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.
Concept
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). 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". 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."
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.
Some visions are based around the concept of
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). Decentralized
finance (DeFi) is another key concept; in it, users exchange
currency without bank or government involvement. 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.
Reception
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. Some have expressed the
notion that web3 could improve data security, scalability,
and privacy beyond what is currently possible with Web 2.0
platforms. 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". The New
York Times reported that several investors are betting $27
billion that web3 "is the future of the Internet".
Some Web 2.0 companies, including Reddit and
Discord, have explored incorporating web3 technologies into
their platforms. 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, 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.
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. 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. Some critics have raised concerns about
the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. 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. Others have expressed beliefs
that web3 and the associated technologies are a pyramid scheme.
Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter,
dismissed web3 as a "venture capitalists' plaything".
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.
Buzzword
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".
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."
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.
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."
Decentralization Concerns
Kevin Werbach, author of The Blockchain and the New Architecture
of Trust, 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".
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.
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. 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."
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.
Source 
|
