What is Web 3.0? Blockchains, DAOs and the future as we know it.

Have you been hearing the entire fuss about “Web3”, Metaverse etc. and you’re wondering what it means? Let’s talk WEB today!

Photo by Lux Interaction on Unsplash

First, Web3 is not like an alternate world as seen in Sci-Fi movies e.g. Matrix 😂. Before we go ahead, let’s step back on the other webs before 3

In its simplest form, a genius once said;

Web 1.0 = read only

Web 2.0 = read + create

Web 3.0 = read + Create + Own / Monetize + Secured (+/- decentralized)

The first knowledge of the internet is largely from the first shared interactions computers using LAN, ARPANET and packet switching. Then IP/TCP went live as a collection of established connections on the same protocol in the 1980s. You can read more about the evolution of the internet here

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Web 1.0 — the first modern man exposure to the internet

This is an iteration from the earliest TCP/IPs and widely used from 1991–2004-ish (cos of propagation in emerging continents like Africa😬). During those days, we only go to the internet to “consume” static information largely in text or image format. If anyone can remember the old ugly websites we all explored in cyber cafes — mine was largely to read Thesaurus.

In Web1, we could only consume information, we weren’t able to dynamically contribute to what we read and our interaction was very very limited (static files were used) — the dark days of “Desktop publishing” etc.

Web 2.0 — the first attempt at a digital society

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Web 2.0 is the internet as we all popularly know it — we can read, contribute, connect dynamically, use mobile apps, social media platforms, share videos and every other shenanigan 😂😂. This time around, you don’t need to be a developer or “desktop publisher” to participate in the creation process.

However easy and interesting this may seem, making money on Web 2 requires a lot of ads (selling your data to get personalized service), ability to really monetize was in the hands of corporate individuals — dominated by Big Techs e.g. Google, Facebook or Meta, Twitter etc.

Your data is scattered across the world / different platforms you interact with and for the most part, you can’t control how it’s been used, stored etc. Your life online is largely controlled; from govts’ ability to track who you are, monitor your actions, conversations and even finances — freeze them at will or even disrupt your means of income whenever they deem fit to manipulate activities to suit their own policies. Your banks are now digital and centralized, which means a single attack to the centre can destabilize the entire economy — the global meltdown comes to mind which coincidentally is one of the motivations for Satoshi’s white paper that led to the development of cryptocurrencies.

Those are the reasons people are sponsoring and clamouring for a move to Web 3.0

Web 3.0 — the future of the internet, putting governance in the hands of individuals. A totally decentralized world?

Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash

The “hope” or “plan” is that power will be returned to private individuals & creators regardless of where or who they are. So it’s decentralization and democratization of the internet. We “will” or “may” be able to enjoy all features of Web 2.0 plus the fact that everything in Web 3 will be “trustless” — which simply means you don’t have to stress yourself about trusting anyone before communicating or transacting with them as everything is verifiable, self-governed as you won’t require anyone’s permission to participate and it will be super robust, distributed and well-integrated into our day to day activities/lives. Payments will be built into everything and will not be treated separately

Web 3.0 for creators, developers & “builders”

Whatever you’re building will have to be on open rail architectures, you won’t have to deploy on single servers or even store on “your database”.. all creations will have to be layered on the blockchain or peer-to-peer servers. We are/may be moving from apps to dapps (decentralized applications). GCP, Azure, AWS etc won’t have the sole power as tokens will be paid directly to the network operators/protocols.

How will creators make money?

Unlike how we all make money in Web 2.0, the incentives on Web 3.0 are cryptocurrencies as they will largely be backing the tokens (the money you make) while creating, governing, contributing or improving Web 3.0 projects.

Ethereum is one of the Kings in this decentralized native protocol but I think we now have a few like The Graph building utility protocols.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO)

If you’re a creative or company, you don’t have to wait till IPO before you get rewarded… from day 1, people can start participating, investing and contributing to companies, projects and which will reward everyone instantly. Smart contracts over tons of pages of legal documents and DD. Companies like these are known as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO). DAOs give you real-time ownership while making you liquid instantly. They erase the fear of equitable ownership (the board room scare of a tyrant majority etc). They’ll be super big because their ownership is unlimited, their market cap is also global, their “bank account” is transparent and open for all.

DAOs may be the future of everything; social media, charity/grants, schools (learning/education as we know it), art (music: there was a new album released as a DAO will different public owners, NFTs, etc), investments (ETFs, Index funds, investment clubs, the new mutual funds and pooled investments)

Future of Work in Web 3.0

Gig economy and remote work will be on steroids… you’ll be able to collaborate in real-time and may never even know who your colleagues are. You can work with different companies.. you’ll most likely not be identified by the company you work for but by the projects you work on — you’ll be paid in tokens. Get familiar with Ethereum, Crypto.

Understand how collections of art and creatives such as NFTs etc work. Developers can learn ether.js, python, solana dev, rust, anchor and phantom ( I don’t code so I don’t know a lot about this😂). Finance professionals should start learning about “micro-economies” and their future. Overall, learn how Blockchain is applicable to everything you do and the future of your work and world.

PS: Web 3.0 is still very nascent and some people like me are still trying to get a hang of it or even understand it — the most important part is to part of the “some people”. Gas fees are crazy at the moment, blockchain is hard to learn and all those excuses won’t matter if you get in early!