Recently, Web3 has suddenly become a hot topic. Leaders from the traditional technology industry and the emerging blockchain industry have participated in this discussion with their different perspectives on the history and future of the Internet.
Before discussing Web3 in detail, let's take a quick look back at how the concept has evolved.
The concept of "Web 3.0" was originally proposed by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of HTTP, during the Internet bubble period. It refers to an integrated communication framework, and Internet data can be machine-readable across various applications and systems. Web 3.0 is also commonly referred to as the "Semantic Web".
In 2014, Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum, redefined the term proposed by Berner-Lee in a blog post titled "DApp: What is Web 3.0" to refer to a blockchain technology, "Innovative interaction patterns between parties" can be realized based on "trustless interaction systems".
The focus of Gavin Wood's article is not encrypted assets, but protocols and technologies such as consensus engines and cryptography. These protocols and technologies enable stronger networked social contracts. He later elaborated on the ultimate goal of Web3, which is "less trust, more facts".
Now, many people have different opinions on this concept. Traditional technology companies and emerging blockchain industries are constantly thinking about what the core value proposition and protocol of Web3 are, and what impact it will have on the future trust model.
This article will define Web3 based on the development history of the Internet, introduce the key technologies of the Web3 technology stack in detail, and discuss the current and future development of Web3.
Terminology note: "Web3" in this article should be distinguished from "Web 3.0", which usually refers to Berner-Lee's Semantic Web.
The History of the Internet: From Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 to Web3
To fully understand the meaning of Web3, we must first look at the history of the development of the Internet, and the differences between Web3 and the previous two development stages.
Web 1.0（1994-2004）
Web 1.0 was the first phase of the Internet, which lasted from 1994 to 2004, during which time social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook emerged. Although the general public only came into contact with Web 1.0 around 1994, in fact, as early as 1968, a US government project called "ARPANET" (full name is Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) launched Web 1.0. ARPANET started out as a small network of military contractors and university professors exchanging data with each other.
ARPANET in 1967. Each node in the graph is a computer node at UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, or MIT.
Web 1.0 was mostly static HTML pages with little user interaction. While there were portals like AOL (America Online) and forums like private chat rooms and BBSs, the Internet in general still had little interaction or payment transactions.
The pizza ordering page of Web 1.0. Pizza Hut is an innovative company in the Web 1.0 era. They released their own website, where consumers can buy pizza, but the payment can only be done offline.
Web1.0 is not completely without interaction or payment functions, but these functions are greatly limited because the transfer infrastructure cannot guarantee security. The most innovative company in the Web 1.0 era is Pizza Hut. They developed a web page for ordering pizza in 1995. Consumers can place an order on the page and pay cash after the pizza is delivered.
An early ad for America Online (AOL), one of the first portals, sending millions of users a CD of their software with 10 free hours of use.
Although AOL claimed in their 1995 ad that users could order flowers for their mother, buy tickets to a game, or write a research report on dinosaurs on the site, they still needed the assistance of the operator when it came to online payment, because it was online at the time. Security and encryption are generally not guaranteed for payment transactions.
Web 2.0 (2004-present)
The internet underwent a metamorphosis around 2004, as the internet improved in terms of speed, fiber optic infrastructure, and search engines, so user demand for social networking, music, video sharing, and payment transactions rose sharply.
The MySpace homepage of early Web 2.0 company MySpace founder Tom Anderson. All users who have registered Myspace accounts will automatically add Tom as their first friend.
Users' demand for social attributes has also given birth to many Internet companies today. Social media platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter provide users with social functions; data sharing software such as Naspter meets users' needs for music and video; Google provides shortcuts for users to search massive Internet information. Traditional institutions such as Bank of America meet users' payment transactions and electronic transfer needs, and adopt new encryption standards such as 256-bit AES.
This new, more interactive Internet experience brings many new features to users and enhances the user experience. But the problem also came along, and it has not been completely solved until today, that is: if users want to use these new functions, they must authorize a centralized third-party platform to manage a large amount of data. These centralized entities are therefore endowed with enormous power and influence over data and content rights.
And this pattern continues to this day. In the U.S. alone, Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon combined will have 23.56 billion visits in October 2021.
Web3 (after 2008)
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper, in which he pointed out the core foundation of blockchain technology and invented the peer-to-peer digital currency, which set off a wave of Web 2.0 reforms. Bitcoin revolutionized our notion of digital transactions and, for the first time, proposed a mode of secure online transactions without a trusted intermediary. Satoshi Nakamoto wrote: "Electronic payment systems need to be based on cryptographic proof, not trust."
It was not until the invention of smart contracts that the decentralized Internet model really entered the public eye. If Bitcoin enables peer-to-peer payments, and smart contracts extend the concept of programmable protocols to enable more advanced use cases such as insurance, gaming, identity management, and supply chain, how will all this affect the Internet user experience and digital interaction? Smart contract users can interact directly and securely, thus creating a new Internet that is fairer, more transparent, and based on cryptographic facts.
Gavin Wood calls this upgraded version of the Internet "Web3", which means "a secure system run by society".
In short, Web3 is a decentralized Internet that aims to create a new contract system and subvert the way individuals and institutions reach agreements. Web3 reproduces the decentralized infrastructure of the first version of the Internet (ie, Web 1.0). Web 1.0 is characterized by users setting up their own blog sites and RSS feeds. On this basis, Web3 also combines the rich interactive experience of Web 2.0, such as social media platforms. The combination of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 forms the digital ecology of Web3, in which users can truly own their own data, and transactions are guaranteed by encryption technology. Users no longer need to trust brand endorsements, but can rely on certain software code logic to strictly enforce the agreement.