In recent years, Web3 has been put forward as the most significant democratic revolution in the digital space. With big tech monopolies governing the exchange and monetization of information today, the promise of Web3 is the empowerment of users when it comes to the ownership and sharing of data. The decentralization of ownership is expanding to industries beyond the web, too, particularly when it comes to use cases for blockchain technology, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), so Web3 is very much part of a general trend toward the democratization of platforms and services.
What Is Web3?
Web 1.0 was decentralized by default and was defined by static pages of information that were accessible to anyone with a PC and an internet connection. The browsing experience was not tailored to individuals, so the experience was the same for everyone. With Web 2.0, the experience evolved with the advent of server-side scripting (e.g., PHP) and self-generated pages, with individual users not only accessing information but also having content generated just for them. This is where advertising, social media, and the exchange of information took off in a big way. Suddenly, the model became centralized, with large technology firms monopolizing platforms, such as Meta (then Facebook), Google, and Amazon.
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