Everything I’ve heard about the Web3 Community
Recently my timeline has been filled with updates on Web3 development and technologies. How has the web grown so much that it now has a version 3? Are we even supposed to refer to it as that? What's all the fuss about web3? How would we interact with the internet now?
Well, I haven't found the answers to all of these questions, but I’ll definitely share what I've learned so far.
Recently the spread of web3 and other terms flooded our timelines words about the metaverse, blockchain, etc were in almost every conversation. In this article, I want to share with you, what I know about these terms and how they change the world wide web as we know it.
I'm guessing if this is all new to you, I might need to start from the First Web:
Web 1.0 was the early days. This was when you had to build your own website and create your own content. It refers to the static web. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, interactive website features redefined what could be accomplished in a web browser and marked a major point of evolution in the world of web development. In 1999, the web began undergoing a major transformation.
Then came Web 2. This is the phase of the Internet we are currently in and slowly drifting from. Everything is on a platform. Whether it’s YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or another social media site. A Web 2.0 website allows users to interact and collaborate with each other through social media dialogue, as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community. In the web2 world, you don’t have to be a developer to participate in the creation process. Many apps are built in a way that easily allows anyone to be a creator.
Web3 as we call it.
“Every new advent of the web is at first baffling,” Mat Dryhurst.
Web3 applications either run on blockchains, decentralized networks, or many peer-to-peer nodes (servers), a combination of the two that forms a crypto-economic protocol. These apps are often referred to as dapps (decentralized apps), and you will see that term used often in the web3 space.
When people talk about building Web3, they’re excited about solving the problems that surfaced in web1 and web2. In Web 3.0, an ocean of information will be available to websites and applications, and they will be able to understand and use that data in a way that is meaningful to the individual user.
Web3 platforms will have all the principles of Bitcoin, and allow users to do much more than just send and receive digital cash. Web 3.0 technologies are the next generation of internet technology that will push the internet forward. Web 3.0 includes blockchain and cryptocurrency
Ethereum will be the blockchain that powers all these different platforms. These platforms will be decentralized, ownerless, and secure. However, Ethereum also enables you to do so much more than just build decentralized platforms.
In a Web3 world, people control their own data and bounce around from social media to email to shopping using a single personalized account, creating a public record on the blockchain of all of that activity. Right now, the idea of the entire Internet reinventing may sound like some far-away digital utopia. But Web3 is driving new conversations — and generating lots of new money, particularly from crypto investors.
TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEB3.
DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)
DAO stands for decentralized autonomous organization. It’s nothing more than a way to coordinate individuals to a specific mission. DAOs are similar to companies. They both organize people toward a mission, generate wealth, and solve society’s problems. But DAOs have many advantages over companies.
- DAOs have no formal leaders
- They are community-driven
- Members have a shared economic interest
Most importantly, DAOs allow for on-chain governance. This means all important decisions come to a vote on the blockchain. The only way to change the outcome of the vote is to sway people‘s opinions before it happens.
DAOs are a powerful way to organize people. They entirely rely on voluntary effort from members. As opposed to companies who use wages and exclude employees from the company’s upside.
TOKENS
A token is just another word for “cryptocurrency” or “crypto-assets.” over time, it has taken on a couple of more specific meanings depending on context. All cryptocurrencies can be described as tokens. It can also be used to describe crypto assets that run on top of another cryptocurrency’s blockchain.
Given that you’ll come across the word a lot while researching cryptocurrencies, it’s useful to understand some common connotations. There are also some categories of crypto assets that actually have “tokens” in their names. DeFi tokens, Governance tokens, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Security tokens.
NFTs
One of the most exciting features of Ethereum is the ability to create NFTs. But what exactly are they?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. NFTs represent ownership rights to a unique digital or real-world asset.
NFTs represent digital ownership. The best example is a digital picture. a Jpeg. Let’s say you have an amazing picture. You can create an NFT for it. Then, you can send or sell the NFT. Right now, they’re only used for digital ownership. However, they can easily be used for physical ownership as well.
One of the most popular NFT projects is the Bored Ape Yacht Club. It’s a collection of 10,000 unique apes. In addition to owning a cool picture, you can get access to an interesting community. At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store extra information that makes them work differently from, say, an ETH coin. It is worth noting that other blockchains can implement their own versions of NFTs.
NFTs also play a big part in a new way to organize people. To get more Knowledge on NFTs, you can subscribe to this newsletter: NFTweeklyForecast.
SMART CONTRACTS
A smart contract is a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. Smart contracts render transactions traceable, transparent, and irreversible. The code and the agreements exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. Smart contracts refer to computer protocols that digitally facilitate the verification, control, or execution of an agreement. Smart contracts run on the blockchain platform, which will process all the transactions in a contract; hence, middlemen are not required for executing the transactions.
Similar to traditional contracts, smart contracts define rules and penalties around an agreement and automatically enforce those obligations. While they can work independently, many smart contracts can also be implemented together.
- Smart contracts refer to computer protocols that digitally facilitate the execution of an agreement, which are kept in public databases.
- They are a faster, cheaper, and more secure way of executing and managing agreements.
- The technical difficulty of making changes and the inability to handle complex transactions are some issues with smart contracts that need to be rectified to gain mass adoption.
DEFI APPS
DeFi is short for decentralized finance. It is an umbrella term for a variety of applications and projects in the public blockchain space which is geared towards disrupting the traditional finance world. Inspired by blockchain technology, DeFi is referred to as financial applications built on blockchain technologies.
DeFi consists of applications and peer-to-peer protocols developed on decentralized blockchain networks that require no access rights for easy lending, borrowing, or trading of financial tools. Most DeFi applications today are built using the Ethereum network, but many alternative public networks are emerging that deliver superior speed, scalability, security, and lower costs.
DeFi brought a plethora of opportunities to bring about a transparent and robust financial system that no single entity controls. But the turning point for financial applications started in 2017, with projects facilitating more functionalities in addition to just money transfer.
CONCLUSION.
When looking at the history of the Internet, the evolution of a more semantically intelligent web makes sense. Data was first statically presented to users, then users began to interact with that data dynamically. Now all of that data will be used by algorithms to improve user experience and make the Web more personalized and familiar.
The evolution of the Internet has been a long journey and will surely continue towards further iterations and changes. With the massively available data, websites and applications have the ability to transition to a web that provides a considerably better experience to an increasing number of users around the world.
