Is Web3 The Future of the Internet?
Here are the basics, the comparison & the future directions
A lot is being talked about these days about "Web 3". If you still don't know what it means, then don't worry, you are not alone.
The term "Web 1.0" referred to the period between 1991 and 2004 when most websites were static pages, and users tended to be consumers of content, not producers.
"Web 2.0" is a concept based around the notion that "the web is a platform." It includes user-created content uploaded to social networking services, blogs, and wikis. According to consensus, Web 2.0 began in 2004 and continues today.
The "Web 3.0" ecosystem is a decentralized online ecosystem based on the blockchain. Rather than a central gatekeeper, users will own the platforms and apps built on Web3 by contributing to their development and maintenance.
Here is a comparison table —
History of Web 3.0
Etherum co-founder Gavin Wood coined the term Web 3.0 in 2014.
The concept gained popularity in 2021 when global interest in cryptocurrencies increased.
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz sent executives to Washington, D.C., in October 2021 to propose this idea as a potential solution to policymakers' concerns about Internet regulation.
Web3 Foundation
Gavin Wood formed Web3 Foundation to fund companies that would like to build applications running on the Web3 stack.
Web3 Foundation states their mission as —
Our mission is to nurture cutting-edge applications for decentralized web software protocols.
Our passion is delivering Web 3.0, a decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data, identity and destiny.
To date, Web3 foundation has been supporting the following projects —
Polkadot
Polkadot enables cross-blockchain transfers of any data or asset, not just tokens.
Data can be transferred between permissionless and permissioned blockchains with Polkadot.
Applications can get permission data from a private blockchain and use it on a public blockchain. For example, a school's private, permissioned academic records chain could send proof to a smart contract for degree verification.
Kusama
Kusama is a scalable network of specialized blockchains built on Substrate, using the same code base as Polkadot. Teams who wish to innovate fast and on Kusama or get ready for deployment on Polkadot can use the network for experimental development.
Gavin Wood, the founder of Polkadot and former CTO of Ethereum, founded Kusama in 2019.
There are more than 300 applications currently working under the Web3 foundation grants.
Web3 Technology Stack
The technology stack for Web3 looks like as shown in the below diagram
The L0 layer is the foundation of the Web3 technology stack; it defines how the nodes communicate and can be programmed at the lowest level.
The L1 layer provides the ability to distribute and interact with data.
L2 extends the Layer 1 capabilities with increased scaling, encrypted messaging, and distributed computing.
L3 consists of a variety of languages that can be used to develop applications without dealing with actual bytecode, such as Solidity and Vyper (Ethereum), Plutus (Cardano), and Rust (Substrate). Several frameworks are available to make it easier for applications to interact with a blockchain, including ethers.js, web3.js, and oo7.js.
L4 consists of a program used to interact directly with the blockchain without knowing implementation details. Examples would be like MetaMask or MyCrypto wallet managers. If you are familiar with NFTs, you might know of these managers.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- All the network users have access to the service, which means that permission is not needed.
- You can program almost anything on Ethereum since it is Turing-complete.
- A native token, ether (ETH), is built in to facilitate payments.
Cons
- Due to web3's decentralized nature, transactions are slower. State changes, like payments, must be processed by miners and propagated throughout the network.
- It may be necessary to use additional steps, software, and education to interact with web3 applications.
- Most users find web3 inaccessible due to its lack of integration with modern web browsers.
Where do I learn more about Web3?
There are plenty of resources to read about the topic, but here is a list of resources that I found very useful —
- Web3 Blockchain Fundamentals MOOC
- Web3 Foundation Research Papers
- The Architecture of a Web 3.0 application
Conclusion
Taking a look at the work done thus far, it appears promising. It remains to be seen if we will be successful in implementing Web3 in the near future.
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