What the new Web 3.0 standard has to do with the Blockchain technology?

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Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology have a leading role in the new version of this network that controls almost all aspects of our lives: the Web 3.0. This new chapter of the Internet promises that users will be the true owners of their private data.

What is Web 3.0?

When we use the Internet in our day-to-day activities we don’t even think about its origin or the evolution of this communication technology. The truth is that this handy tool is already preparing for its version number 3.0 and its main feature is decentralization, based on blockchain technology. This implies the complete elimination of mediating organizations that control our information for their own benefit.

If we think about it from an objective point of view, the fuel we use to power the Internet is our data. We give our trust to organizations that literally profit from our identity as if it was a physical product or material. The primary objective of Web 3.0 is to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

What do cryptocurrencies have to do with all this? The answer is that decentralized finance (DeFi) will be one of the pillars of this new technology. Currently, high-level financial transactions are carried out without the need for mediating agencies, banking institutions or, worse yet, governments. Perhaps this is the reason why many banks and venture capital organizations are joining the race to enter Blockchain technology, in pursuit of their big piece of the centralization cake.

Where does Web 3.0 come from?

The good old World Wide Web, as we have already pointed out, has had a great impact on our lives and how we know telecommunications today. Millions of users every day transact information in one way or another on this network. Here we will see quickly how the internet has evolved in the stages prior to Web 3.0.

The beginnings of the internet and Web 1.0

Also known as the Syntactic or Read-Only Web, this is the first network or version of the Internet publicly available. As many already know, the Internet itself was created for military purposes, although at this stage it was not used openly.

We could estimate that the time frame of Web 1.0 went from 1991 to 2004. In this period the content that we saw on display was created by group of brilliant minds that through code and mathematical calculations conceived it and displayed as text or images.

The HTML language was the basis of Web 1.0. In this phase there were no databases, so all the content we saw was static or baked on the same page. This made all interaction with the website quite limited.

Web 2.0: The Internet as we know it today

This stage of the internet is defined mainly by the user’s interaction with the environment, social and community elements, giving rise to a whole new culture of technology. This was the evolution from a lifeless, static and lonely Internet to a highly social, dynamic and interactive Web 2.0 Internet.

Marketing and new business trends focus their attention on digital media to support their sales strategies, where causing the maximum possible user engagement is the most common objective.

The freedom of speech and sharing of thoughts take a new meaning in Web 2.0. The user experience is considerably improved with the appearance of video. There are also social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.

In this new web version, the programming languages used for interaction are standardized even more. Web 2.0 sees the birth of technologies such as ReactJs and Angular. The most used web programming languages are HTML, CSS and Javascript. These languages created the means for companies to make their brands and services transcend.

Some of the most relevant characteristics of Web 2.0 are:

Web Apps development to increase web traffic.
The greater the number of users on a page, the better.
Companies can generate even stronger and more diverse economic revenue streams.

How Web 2.0 works

Web 2.0 focuses on providing the best possible user experience. Design is a bit less flashy and simplistic, where content is king. Content creators primarily seek to capture as much audiences as possible and keep them engaged as long as they can.

The factor that suffers from the incidence of market fluctuations is the venture capital fund. This always demand changes in the processes, and these changes almost always affect the Internet user. We say they demand changes in the processes because normally the venture capital funds need to obtain a return on investment (ROI). This implies really short response times to recover the investment, which in turn translates into massive intensive marketing campaigns and, what not, sensitive user information being compromised or sold (a practice widely used lately).

User information is a resource that organizations masterfully exploit to make a more objective and accurate audience targeting. The more specific the information is, the more successful the online advertising campaigns will be. Social media companies like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter basically focus on engaging their users, or simply put, on how many clicks their posts receive, and that’s where their revenue comes from.

In Web 2.0 users abandon their right to their own information by giving it to huge corporations. Many deceptive practices came from the process of managing and storing user data. Actions like storing sensitive user information without their prior consent could ultimately end in temporary blocking, website shutdown or censorship, and even jail time, just as is happening in China today. Likewise, organizations give up the information of their users due to pressure from governments, to avoid being financially sanctioned and even expelled from the country.

In some countries, governments can choose to censor web pages through Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This happens because a legislation is created that grants them that power. The owners of these digital mediums can end up with their bank accounts frozen or imprisoned.

What is Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is the next step on the evolutionary ladder of the Internet. This is based on the protection of user data and privacy, decentralization, accessibility, and user experience.

In the early days of the Internet this approach had been idealized for implementation. Tim Berners-Lee, well known as the father of the Internet, suggested the terms decentralization and accessibility in 1990 as two of the fundamental aspects of the Internet. This unfortunately remained on paper.

Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the Internet

Also in 2001, Tim outlined the rudiments of the Semantic Web concept, on which Web 3.0 is based. At this moment, he recognized that computers did not have the capacity to process information as this scheme demanded. The Semantic Web proposed to separate the content structure from the software operation for a more advanced interaction and better user experience.

Today, Web 3.0 proposes much more than what started with the concept of Semantic Web. Web 2.0 has been the vehicle to achieve many of the technologies that were necessary to take the next step, although along the way it has been distorted a bit.

Characteristics of Web 3.0

We will never officially see any signs telling us that we are already using Web 3.0. However, there are some indicators that will give us the guideline that this new stage has already started:

Decentralization

This, as we had already noted, is one of the most relevant characteristics. In Web 2.0, the protocol par excellence is HTTP, which provides unique addresses as if they were folders to allocate information. The data is stored on centralized physical servers around the world. In Web 3.0 there will be no single location for information. Instead, it will be stored simultaneously at multiple points, without being mediated or captured by third parties.

Data centralization will be a thing of the past. Organizations like Facebook or Google will not own our personal information, much less will they have the mechanisms to profit from it. Now the power will be in the hands of users, giving them the ability to sell data in the form of digital resources on the network, as we see with the case of NFTs. Control over digital property will be even greater in Web 3.0.

The trust factor

This concept proposes that there will be no intermediaries to control the passage of data or access to information. Web 3.0 works on Blockchain technology, which in turn will use a combination of decentralized P2P networks to strengthen the platform, as we already see in decentralized applications such as dApps.

Deep learning and Artificial Intelligence

Computer systems will have the ability to learn and understand information, just as humans interpret it. This is part of what the concept of the Semantic Web and language processing proposes in this area. Deep Learning, for its part, imitates the learning capacity of humans through data processing algorithms, and improves the results in question with each iteration in a gradual and staggered process. Computers will provide answers to problems that have never been solved and will be the Achilles’ heel in applications within areas such as medicine and engineering.

Connectivity

Access to data will be easier because content will be more ubiquitous. This allows access to information with a more diverse number of devices and software.

Omnipresent

This is synonymous with being present everywhere in the world indistinctly and in the same way for everyone, without filters or detours.

3D-graphics

The internet is nothing like when the Web 2.0 standard started. The video made its big appearance and was exploited to the limit as far as possible. In Web 3.0, 3D generated graphics will be the new norm and will introduce a new level of immersion in the user experience, similar to what we have already started to see with the Metaverse.

The value of the Web 3.0 standard

Web 3.0 wants to return the favor of trust to users by providing more utility and protection. A better interaction and user experience will be the goal of this new standard, using the concepts of Semantic Web, AI and Deep Learning as its main tool.

The user will have greater control of their data through the decentralization of online services. Collecting personal information is a practice that we are even seeing as it is losing traction, with laws such as those established by the GDPR of the European Union. This will end once and for all the monopoly imposed by the big corporations that run the technology industry.

Of course, not everything is clear skies and rainbows. Many cybercrimes hide behind the anonymity that this new standard imposes. Likewise, controlling disinformation will now be a much more difficult task to manage, since everyone exercises their right to free expression. Decentralization is the enemy of law enforcement.

The role of cryptocurrencies in Web 3.0

It is almost a fact that the average Internet user already knows what Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. are. This will undoubtedly be the new form of commercial exchange in the Web 3.0 standard. At the core of cryptocurrency technologies is the Blockchain, the same one that the new Web 3.0 will use for information exchange protocols, to navigate the Internet, upload and store resources in the clouds, authenticate credentials, basically everything we do on the Web.

Web 3.0 standard and the Blockchain technology

Banks and other financial organizations will no longer be part of transactions between beneficiaries, eliminating intermediation. The three components of this new standard will be cryptocurrency, Blockchain validations and Non-fungible Tokens or NFTs. This technology has no limits in its implementation, for example, Reddit.com awards points in the form of tokens to users, which determines the seniority and relevance of a user on its platform. The greater the number of tokens, the greater the access to information and community management tools privilege.

Concepts such as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) arise from this new trend. Here the ability to make decisions within the group will be determined by the level of user contribution.

Conclusion on Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is a fact, but the truth is that there is still a long way to go for its concrete implementation. This new standard proposes changes that are too strong and there are many interests involved that could make this transition even slower.

On the other hand, we already see how technologies such as the metaverses begin to arise and climb in the acceptance of the public. It is only a matter of time to determine what will be the true future of the Internet in this new stage.