Introduction to Web3: how the Internet of the new generation is developing

According to Statista, in 2022 the number of Internet users overcame the line of 5 billion. Of these, 4.7 billion people possess accounts in social networks – more than half of the world’s population.

Significant segments of the World Wide Web are controlled by large technological companies that censored user content and earn a lot of money on personalized advertising.

In response to the prevailing oligopoly, the Internet of the new generation is confidently developing – Web3. It is based on decentralization and is designed to endow the power of ordinary people, making them full owners of digital content and eliminating censorship.

• The WEB3 concept originated several decades ago, but interest in it revived in recent years amid the popularity of cryptocurrencies, Defi and NFT.
• The basic principles of the “new Internet”: decentralization, general access, native payments and the lack of need to trust a third party.
• On the way to the mass acceptance of Web3 there are a number of barriers. But the developers are working on improving user experience, scaling, component, eliminating dependence on centralized services and reducing technical barriers to ordinary users.

Excursion into the past

The Internet is firmly rooted, becoming a familiar element of modern life. It seems to many that it has existed for centuries. However, the current format of the World Wide Web is strikingly different from the original. To better understand the essence and distinctive features of Web3, you should turn to history.

In 1989, working in CERN on the internal system of document exchange of Enquire, Tim Berners-Li proposed a global hypertext project, now known as the World Wide Web. The project was approved and implemented.

The first version of the World Wide – Web 1.0-began to gain popularity in the early 90s, after the introduction of the communication protocol and http. The sites of this version were available “only for reading” static pages with text, links and images.

Web 2 era.0 began in 2004 with the advent of social networks, interactive platforms and services. Sites turned into web applications that users began to use independently, interacting with other participants in the World Wide Web.

Cloud services also occurred. The largest provider of the latter is the American company Amazon.

“As more and more people have connected to the Internet, several leading companies began to control the disproportionately large amount of traffic and the cost generated on the network,” Ethereum experts noted.Org.

According to them, Web 2.0 also gave rise to an advertising-oriented income model. Within the framework of the latter, users “could create content, but did not own them and did not receive benefits from its monetization”.

The next generation Internet concept was born back in the 90s. In 2014, shortly after the launch of Ethereum, Gavin Wood published an article. In it, he described Web3 as a more decentralized version of the network built using blockchain. His proposals concerned primarily changes in the data storage system and increase the level of anonymity of users.

“Gavin expressed in words the solution to the problem that worried many early followers of cryptocurrencies,” the Internet demanded too much trust, ”the authors of the article on Ethereum emphasized.Org.

Interest in the new concept revived in 2020-2021 amid the growth of the popularity of decentralized applications and NFT.

The term web3 itself is quite blurry, because of which confusion often occurs in the community, and the idea itself is criticized.

Has Anyone Seen Web3? I can find find it.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2021

“Someone saw Web3? I can’t find him, ”Ilon Musk syronized.

The term has become a kind of universal definition of a new, better Internet. Perhaps, the Equation Capital Khim Gadzhriy has best revealed the essence of Web3.

Web 1: Read
Web 2: Read-Write
Web 3: Read-Write-C

– Him.ETH (@HimGajria) May 29, 2020

“Web 1: Reading
Web 2: Reading
Web 3: Reading-Signing-Vocational, ”he wrote.

To better Will Brown Rudnick understand the features and identify the main differences from previous iterations of the World Wide Web, the following principles can be distinguished:

• decentralization. The ownership of the content is possessed by users, not large corporations;
• public access. Everyone has equal access to Web3, no one cannot be excluded from the ecosystem;
• native payments. The use of decentralized protocols instead of banks and payment systems based on outdated infrastructure;
• lack of need to trust a third party thanks to the use of various economic incentives and other mechanisms.

Now we will consider the main Killer-fitsy web3, which determine the importance of a new concept.

Web3 unprecedentedly gives users ownership on their digital assets.

Suppose you play some kind of web2-game. The acquired intra -game item is tied directly to the account. If the publisher removes your account, you will lose it. If you stop playing, you can lose the cost invested in a digital object

Web3 opens the possibility of direct ownership of objects through non -replaceable tokens. In this case, neither the creators of the game, nor anyone else can deprive you of digital property. If you stop playing, you can sell intra -game items on the market, having compiled by the money spent.

Web 2 platforms.0 require confidence in themselves from the creators of content. The latter should also follow certain rules. An important distinguishing feature of Web3 platforms- Censorship resistance.

In addition to reliable data in the new ecosystem, you can also act as the owner of the platforms. For this, control tokens are used that perform functions similar to shares of companies.

Tao allow everyone to take part in the development of projects, voting for a variety of solutions – from integration with new blockchains to changes in monetary policy.

The schedule below illustrates that the most extensive category Games I resisted – the number of active users has decreased insignificantly.

The rest of the segments were significantly sagged in this indicator. The fall in Defi and NFT (Collectibles). The growth in High risks and Gambling.

During the year, the total number of users (in all categories) decreased by only 3.5%. The weekly volume of transactions increased by 8.13%.

On the other hand, the total turnover of Web3 platforms sank by more than 85%.

Ethereum is still the leader in TVL, with a huge margin of advanced competing ecosystems like BNB Chain, Tron and Polygon.

The rapid increase in the number of addresses in the Near Protocol ecosystem is noteworthy. Similar dynamics is observed in the daily volume of transactions and metrics of developers’ activity.

Against the background of the widespread fall of TVL among ecosystems, the TRON indicator has grown by more than 50%.

The volume of funds in the applications of the platform supported by Justin San began to grow confidently after the collapse of Terra and almost simultaneously with it the launch of the USDD algorithmic stabilcoin.

Coinmarketcap and Tokeninsight experts noted an ecosystem growth based on the second -level solution from Optimism – 161.62% per quarter. According to their observations, the platform significantly reduced the separation from the leader of the segment – Arbitrum.

Researchers also came to the conclusion that against the background of the bear market, stablecoins began to be more actively used as provision in landing protocols.

Key theses of Dappradar analysts from the report of October:

• The dynamics of unique active wallets in the Web3 segment demonstrates signs of recovery, but the indicator is still 31% lower than the marks of year ago;
• Arbitrum and Optimism due to integration with LIDO increased the number of active wallets by 501% and 83.31%, respectively; Positively affected the key indicators of the latter – the number of active wallets increased by 1332.85% compared to September;
• Despite a significant drop in the volume of trading and sales of NFT, the number of unique traders tokens in October increased by 18%.

The developers work, despite the price dynamics.

The WEB 3 concept attracts not only crypto projects and startups, but also traditional Web 2 players.0 – large technological companies.

In May 2022, Google Cloud announced the beginning of the development of instruments for blockchain developers. The ex-chairman and head of Google Eric Schmidt called the idea of ​​Web3 interesting and identified two changes that the new generation of the Internet will bring-the content of the content by users and the payment of compensation for activity for activity.

In November, the cloudy platform announced the launch of the Node in the SOLANA network and adding blockchain support to the service for Web3 developers Blockchain Node Engine.

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lyubin noted the potential for decentralization and transformation of the usual business models that provides the “new version” of the Internet.

YouTube plans to introduce Web3 elements in its products. Support for decentralized applications at a native level is developed by the Opera browser team.

Despite the mass abbreviations of employees and the huge losses of Reality Labs divisions, the META Corporation is still considering the metavselnaya as the future of mankind.

According to Grayscale, the growth of the annual income of the metavselnaya sector will reach $ 1 trillion. Famous companies like Uniswap Labs, Pantera Capital and Dragonfly Capital created venture units focused on Web3.

According to the Electric Capital study, in 2021 the number of new Internet developers increased by 75%.

conclusions

Web3 is a young, developing and extensive ecosystem. Although the origins of the “new Internet” lead in the 90s, the concept became truly relevant relatively recently.

Large companies invest significant funds, experiment with NFT and meta -sales, evaluating their potential. Developers work on solutions for scaling and decentralized data storage, improve the user experience of applications. New forms of management and organizations are being tested everywhere, SSI is being introduced.

However, on the way to the mass acceptance of Web3 there are still many barriers. One of the important problems is dependence on centralized platforms. Many projects are trying to fix this, but to build a reliable foundation for those who do not require confidence, web3 applications require significant efforts and time.

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