The future seems unimaginable without the internet—especially after all the advancements in business technology, software, applications, and devices.
Still, from the perspective of tech enthusiasts, the internet is still in its early childhood days, as—even though it has evolved in a relatively short time—it still possesses a scope for significant enhancements.
Therefore, we could say that, at present, we have only scratched the surface of its potential. Indeed, any business transformation in the near future is extremely likely to depend on the internet for its evolution.
In this post, I will highlight the revolutionary, decentralized, and open version of the web known as Semantic Web or Web 3.0. At the same time, I’ll talk about the applications of Web 3.0, underlining the distinctions between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 development and highlighting why Web 2.0 developers need to learn development for Web 3.0.
Features and Differences Between Web 3.0 and Web 2.0
There are so many new features that help Web 3.0 stand apart from what we have experienced with Web 2.0. The most significant factor that defines the entire approach to Web 3.0 is decentralization.
In other words, Web 3.0 has everything needed to improve the internet by working on certain revolutionary advancements that could be the essence of the digital revolution. These include:
- Open: Allowing open-source development by an accessible and open community of developers. In other words, “open” can be defined as an ethos that transforms accessibility, community governance, and equitability into web service and protocol.
- Trustless: Allowing public and private network interactions without any trust concerns or involvement from a trusted third-party source. To simplify, “trustless” refers to a network where users can rely on network performance and output without having any restrictions to trust anyone else involved in the network.
- Permission-free: Allowing users and suppliers to participate in public or private projects without any governing body involved. Such a network environment would allow the secure and flexible transfer of information.
The apps that are developed in Web 2.0 are created and deployed on a single server, and the data is often stored within a single database that is hosted by a cloud service provider company.
On the other hand, Web 3.0 apps are likely to be built on decentralized networks operating through a large number of peer-to-peer servers—as I will discuss in more detail later in this post.
Essentially, Web 3.0 would require developers to compete on yielding the highest quality service and establishing a highly secure decentralized network. This is closely related to the blockchain concept where the Web 3.0 network protocols would be established over decentralization.
In other words, anyone who has contributed to the development or governance of the projects can receive financial incentives or rewards such as crypto tokens. And when we say network protocols, these include provisions on bandwidth, computation, hosting, identification, storage, and other services that were earlier managed by cloud service providers.
Since the current web structure needs users to pay for using the protocol, just like using the services offered by cloud providers, Web 3.0 would work by distributing money directly to the developers and network participants.
Therefore, developers who are familiar with Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 could earn a living by participating in protocol development by sharing any technical or non-technical skill set that can improve Web 3.0.
Such a structure would not only aid decentralization but potentially help cut intermediaries, thus passing all profit to developers directly. Moreover, to ensure that network participants get rewarded for their contribution, many web infrastructure protocols provide utility tokens to dictate protocol function. This concept of reward is similar to the one used by Ethereum and other native blockchain technologies.
Why Do Web 2.0 Developers Need to Learn Web 3.0?
The web has extensively changed over the past few years. The same could be clearly witnessed from the fact that decentralization, crypto, and AI have already disrupted the way business formation and transactions work.
Since the potential of the web is still unrecognizable as a progressive technology, moving towards a decentralized world makes it crucial for developers to align with Web 3.0. From earning opportunities to taking ownership of what is developed for the web, Web 3.0 is a go-to technology for developers who need to grow.
Let us quickly jump on two of the most significant and potential reasons why developers need to learn Web 3.0 before we discuss it in more detail.
The Decentralization Wave
Decentralization is the essence of Web 3.0, and it has extensive potential when it comes to the web and beyond. Thus, having developers who understand innovation and have a knack for enabling decentralization is the key to creating a high-quality ecosystem.
This could allow developers to make the most of their careers with Web 3.0. They can have access to direct ownership on developments made, thus having better earning opportunities with no third parties involved.
Ownership, Tokens, and More
Web 3.0 has compensation and data ownership as some of the most significant benefits developers could yield while using it. On top of that, decentralization and blockchain technology will likely get more scalable.
If you are a developer who reacted to the buzz and started moving towards a decentralized future, learning Web 3.0 is necessary. In short, working on Web 3.0 could drive financial output as well as give a chance to the developers to contribute and own the contributions made to the Web 3.0 era.
Upgraded Identity Features
When we say IDs or identity in Web 3.0, we are referring to a completely different function compared to the previous versions. The IDs in Web 3.0 are the wallet address book containing details of the users interacting with the app.
This is done to overcome the challenge of Web 2.0, where users define their identity using emails and passwords, making it easy to lose information or need frequent updates to keep things secure.
With Web 3.0, the IDs or wallet addresses of users are completely anonymous unless a user chooses to share their identity publicly. Moreover, Web 3.0 would allow users to smoothly transfer their ID from the same wallet to different decentralized apps.
Such a model as Web 3.0 would require developers to use identity protocols like Ceramic or IDX to bypass identity layers and conventional authentication while allowing self-sovereign identification. Additionally, the process requires an effective check on working on an approach that overcomes the privacy issues involved with conventional identification, thus opening doors for much greater opportunities with Web 3.0.
To aid security, organizations like the Ethereum Foundation are working on RFP (Request for Proposal) that can help simplify the documentation to take Web 3.0 further. With such convenience, Web 3.0 allows users to experience open, trustless, and permissionless applications.
Web 3.0 and the Applications
There is no doubt that Web 2.0 has been huge and has taken the world closer to the next dimension of the internet. The previous decade also held a paradigm change calling for Web 3.0 growth.
Here’s are a few significant points that can help you have a better idea of the entire Web 3.0 concept:
- Web 3.0 or Semantic Web made way for revolutionary applications. Web 3.0 is a medium to connect humans and technologies like AI to create a more reasonable and personalized web. In other words, Web 3.0 will harness the potential of AI and ML to process information just like humans do with the use of NLP and other concepts of the Semantic web.
- Since Web 3.0 is concerned with challenges originating from the internet of the past, it compliments the need for coordination, thus incentivizing content providers, data, services, and work. The biggest predictable challenge that Web 3.0 will likely cover is with open, trustless, and permissionless concepts is instability.
- Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 are both distinctively organized. Web 2.0 took us closer to the cloud networks while making the world more mobile and introducing the power of social media. On the other hand, Web 3.0 is more about AI and decentralization. Hence, a world using Web 3.0 is something that cannot be handled by a single corporation monitoring the global network.
- Web 2.0 made way for data centers to organize, store, and use data generated from a large number of users. Web 3.0 has the potential to replace data centers with decentralized internet, allowing appliances, cars, laptops, mobile devices, and sensors to hold the data. Such a change could allow expanding bandwidth to hold 175 zettabytes of data available in the global datasphere by 2025.
- The decentralized networks on Web 3.0 would allow people to take ownership of their data. From health reports to wellness data, anything available on the web will be under complete control of the user, giving them authority to eliminate third-party organizations and have the command to share ownership and privacy.
- Since AI and ML technologies have reached an intelligence level where they can aid in life-saving predictions, integrating the technology into a decentralized environment could help bring more data in to allow big advancements through precise predictive modeling.
All in all, Web 3.0 calls for a future that allows people and machines to interact with each other on data or passing value without involving any third parties. It can even help to create a futuristic web that is human-centric and preserves the privacy of its users with a peer-to-peer network model.
Keeping all that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the most effective applications of Web 3.0 that can make way for the next web revolution.
Built-in Seamless Payments
Over the years, the entire idea of payments and transactions has changed. Especially, the use of tokens has made payments a completely borderless process, with brands like PayPal and Stripe delivering the much-needed seamlessness between payer and payee.
As a downside, these methods are complicated and potentially inefficient, and risky, as they demand the use of personal data, which can be easily compromised.
However, Web 3.0-based payment applications are based on the crypto concept, which makes borderless transactions extremely simple and safe without giving up sensitive data or personal details. A common example is Solana, a network that allows transactions in fractions of milliseconds at a very minor cost without making the user share their personal information.
Such a transactional process does not even involve any of the forms or procedures that are part of networking in the present modes of transactions. Web 3.0-based crypto wallets only need users to install an application and simply send/receive money, bypassing any gatekeeping or third-party networking services that collect user information.
Business Formation Redefined
Since crypto and tokens are a significant part of the defining protocols and the development of Web 3.0, tokenization can also aid in creating the token economy. A quick example of using Web 3.0 for business formation can be perceived in the form of token-based investment.
In other words, using tokenization could help prevent business loss, especially when most businesses these days get funding in form of liquid money through hired venture capitalists in exchange for business equity.
Such a business structure often calls for legal issues when an investor wants to step out or move in. For instance, businesses that have an investment in the form of money in exchange for stakes find it difficult to dilute when people start to experience a change in priorities.
But businesses that are formed on the Web 3.0 concept can create value from digital currency like tokens which are easier to split on ownership. Unlike liquid investments, where a stakeholder invests in time, money, and labor with no confirmed returns, with tokenization, the investors could get the returns reflected immediately in the form of tokens that grow in value.
Though it may appear like a more futuristic approach to business formation, this would allow anyone on the web to invest in the business idea or construct it. It can even facilitate an organization’s growth, as anyone who needs to leave the organization could get a certain number of tokens—allowing no dilution of the business.
Moreover, stakeholders could vote on their tokens to facilitate changes in future projects, or people could hold up to their share of tokens, to begin with, some new initiatives.
Web 3.0 Has Already Arrived!
An approach like Web 3.0, which drives decentralization, can even help foster transparency, allowing stakeholders to be informed of every sale and purchase made on the business stocks in a Web 3.0 space. And surprisingly, the same is already happening in the Web 3.0 era.
Radicle, a GitHub alternative based on the decentralization concept, is one such app that allows stakeholders to work on the governance model of the business.
Moreover, Gitcoin is another initiative that allows developers to get compensated for participation in open-source projects. Brands like Audius, The Graph, SuperRare, and Uniswap have already started issuing tokens in exchange for ownership, participation, and governance.
Apart from this, there are Decentralized Autonomous Organizations that provide a unique Web 3.0-based investment approach for people who have thought of the corporation and need to garner investment from venture capitalists or developers.
The organizations work on the tokenization model, where the entire organizational structure is created and run on real and equitable ownership. Furthermore, the ownership distributed between stakeholders is then used to distribute incentives in more fascinating ways.
Though the whole concept of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations or DAOs is extremely wide, the future of building businesses or things gets an extraordinary vision with Web 3.0. Therefore, it is vital that Web 2.0 developers should make the most of the decentralization concept making the internet a more personal space for the users.
Web 3.0: A Highly Equitable Internet
Web 3.0 can create a highly equitable internet where everybody—from users to developers—will experience sovereignty. Whether it is control over the information, time, resources, or profit, Web 3.0 can help cultivate a secure ecosystem on the web.
Besides, contributing to the blockchain protocols in Web 3.0 could help developers and users to get compensated for all the investments they make on the web, right from their development to defining the protocol.
In a nutshell, Web 3.0 is the doorstep to overpowering the exploitative web, which involves unlawful practices that not only capture the user data on centralized repositories but restrict the profit and growth for all.