What it is, why it matters, why all the crypto people keep talking about it.

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If you’ve recently been to cryptocurrency forums or video game news, or spied on everything from New York Times job postings to goofy Twitter threads claiming the job interview traditional is about to be replaced by “blockchain-based quests, adventures and courses to prove your worth” – you may have come across the term “Web3.” The term, obviously, refers to a third generation. But is that just jargon, the latest shibboleth among people who trade cartoon monkey NFTs for hundreds of thousands of dollars and already design their virtual homes in the Metaverse? Or is Web3 – and the less concentrated version of the Internet that it represents – is something those of us who thought we were still living on Web2 should know? The answer to both is probably yes. The answers to your follow-up questions are here- of ssub.

What exactly is Web3?

Web3 refers to a potential new iteration of the internet that runs on public blockchains, the best-known record-keeping technology for facilitating cryptocurrency transactions. The appeal of Web3 is that it is decentralized, so that instead of users accessing the internet through services such as Google, Apple, or Facebook, it is the individuals themselves who own and control elements of the internet. Internet. Web3 does not require “permission”, which means central authorities do not dictate who uses which services, nor need “trust”, referring to the idea that an intermediary does not need to facilitate transactions virtual between two or more parties. Web3 also better protects user privacy, as these authorities and intermediaries do most of the data collection.

Of course, this is all just an idealized vision of Web3 sketched out by developers and blockchain boosters for the future, so it might not be so egalitarian in practice. One element of Web3 that is gaining a lot of popularity is decentralized finance, also known as DeFi, which involves doing IRL financial transactions on the blockchain without the help of banks or the government.

Meanwhile, a number of large corporations and venture capitalists are already investing huge sums of money to build Web3, and it’s hard to imagine that their involvement wouldn’t amount to some sort of centralized power.

What came before Web3?

Web1 and Web2 (more commonly known as Web 2.0) refer to older Internet eras. Web1 covers the 1990s and early 2000s, which were more decentralized and focused on open source protocols. It was more common back then to see static pages, basically sites that you can’t really interact with and that don’t get updated regularly. Web2 covers the period from the early 2000s to the present day, when big tech companies run the most popular internet hubs. Another marker of this era is the rise of user-generated content on galaxy-sized platforms, like YouTube videos or Facebook posts, which is fueling social media. The Internet has become a place of active participation rather than passive consumption.

Okay, but Web3 is a crypto thing, isn’t it?

NFTs, digital currencies and other blockchain entities are going to be crucial for Web3. For example, Reddit is making inroads into Web3 right now by trying to find a way to use cryptocurrency tokens to allow users to essentially own parts of the communities they participate in on the site. The idea would be for users to use tokens called “community points,” which they earn by posting to a certain subreddit. The user then accumulates points based on the number of positive or negative votes the post obtains from other users. (This is basically Reddit Karma on the blockchain.) These dots can essentially function as voting stocks, allowing users who have made valuable contributions to have more of a say when it comes to to make decisions that will affect the community. Because these dots exist on the blockchain, their owners have more control over them; they cannot be easily taken away and they follow you everywhere. Granted, this is just a use case, sort of an enterprise version of a Web3 concept known as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, or DAOs, which use tokens to return ownership and more equitable decision-making powers. Augur, a decentralized betting platform, is an example of DAO.)

Another cornerstone of Web3 is NFTs. They are essentially unique cryptocurrency tokens; Because each of them is unique, they are typically used as certificates of ownership for virtual items like artwork or basketball clips. (This is as opposed to a Bitcoin, one of which is interchangeable with any other Bitcoin.) If Web3 boosters are to be believed, the digital scarcity represented by NFTs will allow users of this new Internet to have everything. swap, from video game skins to medical records.

Why is there suddenly all this Web3 hype?

Much of the excitement seems to be coming from the cryptocurrency community, which would obviously benefit from an internet that is more reliant on their technology. Some of the buzz also has to do with a few notable companies, including Reddit, getting a head start on developing Web3 services and platforms. In late October, CoinDesk announced that GameStop was trying to hire a “Web3 Game Manager” and software engineers for an unannounced NFT platform. There has been a lot of talk that Web3 could increase video games by, for example, making it easier for players to buy and sell in-game items or earn tokens that will give them more power to play. determine how the game is performed. However, The Verge also argued that GameStop could simply use terms like “Web3” and “blockchain” in its job descriptions to inspire the same kind of viral support it was receiving from alternative investors in January. Perhaps a more prominent recent development was venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s Web3 lobbying campaign in Washington, DC in early October. The company, which has invested heavily in cryptocurrency and other blockchain technologies, said it has sent executives to Capitol Hill and the White House to promote Web3 as a solution to the consolidation of Silicon Valley and to propose regulations for the booming virtual ecosystem.

The hype around Web3 is fully measured and reasonable, isn’t it?

At the end of October, a 28-year-old artist posted a meme titled “Love in The Time of Web3,” which features a cartoon couple lying in bed and watching the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum. After billionaire Elon Musk reposted the meme on Twitter and garnered hundreds of thousands of likes, the artist was able to turn the meme into an NFT and sell it for almost $ 20,000. In other news, there is a group that produces NFTs attached to cartoon monkeys that aims to be a “Web3 streetwear group”. One of those cartoon monkeys recently sold for $ 3.4 million. So, to answer the question: No.

pic.twitter.com/pCO0wNNZtz

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2021

What does Web3 have to do with the metaverse?

The insidious idea of ​​”security” which continues to put us in danger

First of all, the metaverse basically refers to a future internet made up of three-dimensional spaces in virtual reality where users can interact with each other. This is the reason why Facebook recently changed its name to “Meta”. Some technologists are hoping Web3 will incubate a metaverse built using blockchain systems and open standards, and managed by a network of computers around the world, instead of a few large corporations. NFTs would facilitate commerce involving VR items, and traditional custodians would not be able to dictate what can and cannot enter the metaverse. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared to promote these ideals when he was poetic in a public letter in October that the metaverse will not be “created by one company” and will establish “a massively creative economy. greater than that limited by platforms and platforms today. their policies. It all sounds good, but given how hard Facebook has fought to maintain its dominance in the social media landscape, it seems likely that it will strive to be a powerful institution even in a potential Web3 era.

Future Tense is a partnership between Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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