Understanding Web3 and Blockchain requires, first of all, understanding how the internet has evolved and how these technologies change who controls the data.
1. What is Web3? (The Evolution of the Internet)
Web3 is the concept for the next generation of the internet.1 To understand it, let’s look at the stages of the internet so far:
- Web 1.0 (1990s – Early 2000s): Read-Only
- This was the era of static websites, like online brochures.2 People consumed content but didn’t interact much or create their own.3
- Control: Decentralized (many small, independent websites).4
- Web 2.0 (Mid-2000s – Present): Read-Write
- This is the internet you use today, dominated by social media, search engines, and streaming services.5
- Users create content (posts, photos, videos) but give up control over the content and their data to large, centralized platforms such as Google, Meta, and Amazon.
- Control: Centralized; large tech companies.
- Web3: The Future of Read-Write-Own
- Web3 is all about user ownership—giving them complete control over their data, content, and digital assets.6
- It seeks to bring decentralization back to the internet through blockchain technology, distributing control among its users instead of a few corporations.7
- Control: Decentralized Individual Users & Network Participants.
2. What is Blockchain? (The Core Technology)
Blockchain is a foundational technology that is a key enabler in Web3; think of it as a special kind of digital ledger or database.8
The Problem with Traditional Databases
Traditional databases are centralized.9 If you store data on a bank’s server, the bank is in control of that data and can change it. This requires trust in the central authority.
How Blockchain Works
A blockchain differs in that it is decentralized, distributed, and immutable.10
- Blocks: Information, such as transaction data, is grouped together in a block.11
- Chains: Once a block is filled, it is cryptographically linked to the previous block, using a unique code called a hash.12 This forms a chain.
- Immutability: Since the hash of a new block incorporates the hash of the previous block, any attempt to tamper with the data in an older block would change its hash and break the link, immediately invalidating the whole chain after it.13 For this reason, the data becomes immutable (unchangeable).14
- Decentralization: Copies of the entire ledger are distributed across thousands of computers, called nodes, all over the world.15 For any change to be accepted, it needs to be agreed upon by the majority of the network—this is known as consensus. Consequently, no single individual or group can alter the data unilaterally.
3. Key Concepts of Web3
Web3 uses blockchain to enable these revolutionary ideas:
- Cryptocurrency: A digital asset, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, that uses cryptography to secure transactions and to create new units of the currency without the need for central banks.16
- DeFi (Decentralized Finance): Financial applications built on blockchain that eliminate intermediaries in lending, borrowing, and trading.17
- NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens): Digital assets that reside on a blockchain, recording the unique ownership of an item (art, music, or other creative work). Because they are non-fungible, they cannot be exchanged on a one-to-one basis like replacing one dollar bill with another.18
- Smart Contracts: Self-executing contracts with the agreement written directly into the code on the blockchain.19 When certain conditions are met, they execute automatically without the presence of lawyers or escrow agents.20
Web3 is fundamentally about a shift toward “trustlessness,” where faith is placed in the open, auditable code and in the distributed network rather than in any single central governing body.
Sources
https://johnclements.com/the-looking-glass/artificial-intelligence/ai-proof-careers-future-of-work/