Web3.0 is an upgrade of the traditional Internet. It uses decentralized protocols and community ownership to replace the over-centralized intermediary monopoly. It is very attractive to those who believe in encryption technology. However, 2023 must also recognize that:
Web3.0 is still a niche emerging technology field, far from reaching large-scale application. The bottleneck of blockchain expansion is one of the most frequently mentioned reasons, but I personally think that this is just one of the many superficial reasons why Web3 cannot enter the daily life of ordinary people.
Other important reasons are as follows:
1. Most people do not understand the connotation of web3.0
People just think of web3 as a concept, with obscure technical terms. For ordinary people to understand the value of Web3, it needs to be linked to concrete use cases in the real world. The characteristics of decentralization, anti-manipulation, immutability and transparency of Web3 can be applied in many fields, such as digital identity, digital assets, decentralized finance, supply chain management, copyright protection, etc. At the same time, in order for Web3 technology to truly realize value for society, it is necessary to solve problems such as technical bottlenecks, user experience, privacy protection, laws and regulations, standardization, and publicity and education. Through comprehensive promotion in many aspects, Web3 can truly serve the innovation and progress of human society.
2. Serious financialization and immature non-financial applications
The main application scenario of Web3 is decentralized finance (DeFi). DeFi expands the functions of digital tokens, not limited to value transfer, but can also be used in financial scenarios familiar to users, such as lending, trading and hedging risks.
Although financial innovations such as DeFi, stablecoins, and RWA have exploratory significance, ordinary people do not necessarily care about financial products and services, and they are more concerned about carrying out commercial activities around them. Therefore, some people will have doubts about the prospect of Web3, and think that Web3 should provide functions such as news, social interaction, video, and e-commerce like a typical Internet.
Non-financial applications of Web3 are still in their infancy, but there is already some clear momentum, such as decentralized social media platforms. These platforms use decentralized protocols that allow users to truly own their online profiles and social graphs, and to transfer them across different applications. These decentralized social media have the potential to become very powerful Web3.0 applications. Other tracks that may become killer apps include creator economy, games, Metaverse or DAO, etc.
3. Poor user experience
The theoretical user experience of Web3.0 should far exceed the current Internet, because users can use a unique private key for authentication, and the private key is common to all Web3 applications, and users can truly own their own data and directly access applications. However, in reality, users are faced with various incompatible authentication standards, management of private keys and mnemonic words, debugging of different blockchains, etc., which leads to a very poor user experience.
4. Regulatory obstacles
One of the obstacles facing the development of Web3 is the lack of clear legal framework and policy guidance, which limits the global expansion of Web3. Without a clear legal framework and policy guidance, traditional institutions and organizations cannot participate in and invest resources in the Web3 ecosystem. Working together with industry to create legal frameworks and policy guidance while protecting innovation can make it more likely that institutions and organizations will actually commit to the cause of Web3. Although we don't want to curb the innovation of Web3 ecology, if Web3 has been in an unregulated state similar to the "Wild West", it is not a long-term solution.
looking to the future
The development of Web3 has a long way to go. Like any emerging technology, Web3 also faces some challenges and obstacles. These difficulties must be overcome before large-scale application can be realized.
In 2018, Peking University ICNlab proposed "Intelligent Ecological Network (IEN)" as a knowledge-driven future value Internet infrastructure. IEN improved the network structure of the information center, integrated distributed artificial intelligence analysis decision-making and blockchain consensus computing technology, Constructing a hierarchical, intelligent, and semantic new intelligent future network advanced architecture is a new network architecture oriented to Web3.0, which can gradually realize a real and implementable Web3.0 digital infrastructure.
Web3 is reshaping the trust model of applications. By transferring power from centralized intermediaries to deterministic and transparent software, it brings unprecedented opportunities. If the above-mentioned problems are solved as soon as possible, a greater society can be realized in many ways value.