All You Need To Know About Web3 | Bixin Talk: Insight into Web3

Web3 — also known as “Web 3.0” or “Web 3” — is a term that has become increasingly popular and synonymous with the next stage of internet technologies. The new stage is exemplified by advances in the development of digital assets.

Web 1.0: Read-Only (1990–2004)
The original Internet provided an experience now known as Web 1.0. Websites were built using static HTML pages that could only display information. There was no way for users to change the data or upload their own. There was close to zero interaction between users and individuals seldom produced content.

Web 2.0: Read-Write (2004-now)
With Web 2.0, users were able to interact with websites through databases, server-side processing, forms, and social media. Web 2.0 brought an increased emphasis on user-generated content and interoperability between different sites and applications. Web 2.0 was less about observation and more about participation. Web 2.0 also birthed the advertising-driven revenue model. While users could create content, they didn’t own it or benefit from its monetization.

Web 3.0: Read-Write-Own
The term “Web3 “was coined by Gavin Wood, Polkadot’s founder and the co-founder of Ethereum in 2014. Gavin put into words a solution for a problem that many early crypto adopters felt: the Web required too much trust.

Web 3.0, while not fully defined, can leverage peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies like blockchain, open-source software, virtual reality, the Internet of Things (IoT), and more. Web 3.0 also aims to make the Internet more open and decentralized. In the current framework, users rely on network and cellular providers that access their personal data and information. With the advent of distributed ledger technologies, that soon might change, and users could take back ownership of their data.

Core ideas of Web3
Although it’s challenging to provide a rigid definition of what Web3 is, a few core principles guide its creation.
Web3 is decentralized: instead of large swathes of the internet controlled and owned by centralized entities, ownership gets distributed amongst its builders and users.

Web3 is permissionless: everyone has equal access to participate in Web3, and no one gets excluded.

Web3 has native payments: it uses cryptocurrency for spending and sending money online instead of relying on the outdated infrastructure of banks and payment processors.

Web3 is trustless: it operates using incentives and economic mechanisms instead of relying on trusted third-parties.
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In this issue, Bixin Talk interviewed two Web3ers from the top 100 universities in the world. The first is Jack, a Columbia University Alumni who is a crypto researcher. And the second is Leo, an UCLA Alumni who is a Web3er. They are both active members of the Bixin community.

Why is Web3 important?
Jack: Now Internet companies have a unique business model is to use free or extremely cheap products or services to attract users, and then get the user’s information by pushing ads to the user to make money, What is it like? The company has planted a lot of grass on this land to attract sheep to graze. While the sheep are grazing, the wool is pulled off their bodies and sold it .In this model, users are ok as sheep for a long time, because there is indeed a lack of good products in the market. There are too few delicious grasses, and sheep don’t care so much about themselves of wool. With the deepening of Web2 which is the mature development of the Internet, there will be more and more products. At this time, what is scarce is no longer grass, but becomes the data on users that is wool. That’s why someone proposed the concept of web 3.0. Humans need more ownership in users of data and freedom on the Internet.

Leo: Web2, which people are now experiencing, is the era of centralization, in which a large part of communication and commerce occurs on captive (closed) platforms and is owned by a handful of technology corporations, subject to centralized control by regulators and government agencies. Web3 emerged as the next iteration of the internet that aims to reduce dependency on large technology companies using decentralized protocols. Web3, therefore, can be seen as a power shift from big tech to consumers and the greater public.

What are the benefits with Web3?
Jack: Instead of relying on a single, centralized server, Web3 is being built on top of blockchain networks, powered by cryptography that makes it possible to store data across distributed devices (also known as “nodes”) around the world.
And such distributed devices can be anything — computers, laptops or even more robust servers. These devices serve as the framework of blockchain networks, communicating with each other to enable the storage, dissemination and preservation of data transactions without the need for a trusted third-party validator (such as an institution, corporation or government).

Leo: In Web3, self-sovereign identity and data ownership are managed by the indvidual users themselves via digital wallets such as MetaMask and BixinWallet. These digital wallets work more or less like a wallet in the real world. Thus, a digital wallet serves as proof of your Web3 identity, securely holding both your currency and your data.

This wallet is interoperable, meaning that it can easily be created on the internet and work with various products and systems, allowing the user to choose which decentralized applications have access to their data and identity.
What impact will Web3 have in the future?

Jack: Some of today’s popular social networking platforms have begun to make the transition to Web3. For example, Reddit is testing the virtual currency Karma points, and users who earn them can govern the Reddit subcommunities they belong to. However, there is still centralization here, as Reddit owns and controls the platform.

New decentralized social networks are also emerging. Aether, billed as a Web3 alternative to Reddit, is open-source, and user-governed, and users have the right to vote and impeach moderators. Users can also review whether the content in the platform is compliant, and obtain tokens through this contribution.

Leo:Today, individuals must use their Facebook or Google login to access many online applications, which forces them to hand over their data to these companies. In Web3, by contrast, individuals will own their digital identities. By replacing third parties with blockchain technology, Web3 unlocks entirely new business models and value chains where centralized intermediaries are no longer favored. Ultimately, Web3 takes power away from intermediaries and gives it back to individuals.

What are the current concerns with Web3?
Jack: Today, a lot of learning and experimentation is required in the average user’s journey in using Web3 technologies. The lack of current user-friendly design in Web3 applications hampers the user experience and results in a steep learning curve. In fact, such factors are a significant barrier to entry for most people.

Leo: It is indeed still early days for the Web3 industry, and everyone is in the exploratory stage. There may be many bad entrepreneurs, hackers, and industry bubbles. Some people remain skeptical due to the lack of government oversight, which is a very understandable stance. But this also means that everyone can compete on an equal starting line. There are no boundaries, no rules, or even clear definitions. Everyone is marching toward the better Internet that they have imagined.

The above is all the answers of the two interviewed guests in this issue. Web3 is an extremely important advancement to the functionality of the internet that allows users to participate in it beyond reading and writing by owning their personal content to reduce dependency on large technology companies. This has become possible through the use of decentralized protocols. It gives individual users power over their data, identity, digital assets, security, and transactions.

Thank you for reading. If you have your own opinion on cryptocurrency and are interested in sharing your own opinions, feel free to dm us on Twitter, and we may come to visit you next time!