Why Web3 Matters

Why Web3 Matters

Understanding the importance of a decentralized internet

Is this even a question or an affirmation?

Of course, web3 matters. But before we dive into the wonderful things that this crazy internet of the free has to offer, let's first understand its core concept.

What is Web3

Web3 represents an awesome iteration of the internet, where decentralization and blockchain technology is the pioneering frontier, creating a new digital economy free from centralization. This will usher in the use of Dapps, smart contracts and a decentralized storage system, that gives you an experience that is truly yours. Built upon the underlying infrastructure of web1 and web2, web3 takes them a notch further by giving control to the users.

Web 2 & Web 1 (The Predecessors)

Since what we have today is technically referred to as web2, most products and projects heavily rely on centralized bodies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook to provide much of the needed services, web2 allowed for unique web developments and interactions where users alongside content creators possess the ability to add, develop and share in the value got from contents, making it a global village for interactivity. Web2 suffers from censorship, lack of trust and loss of digital ownership since it is widely owned by the centralized "powerhouses".

Going down the chain is web 1, which was the first stage of the web and served only static pages. It was largely controlled by a few individuals who were responsible for developing and putting out content, mostly from educational institutes and governmental outfits. It lacked interactivity and was not widely spread.

Benefits of Web3

Source of Income

Web3 through the innovations of GameFi created alternative ways of earning income for low-skill and out-of-job workers in the form of play to earn and the creation of NFTs. Now a gamer can comfortably stay in their homes and compete for tokens and in-game rewards in the form of NFTs, which can be sold for a gain. Even more, is the creator economy that rewards artists just starting without sponsors or big names to publish their work. These artists get to sell their creations on OpenSea, reaping good profits. The GameFi system also created managerial bodies such as guilds that help onboard new users (who can't afford to meet the financial requirements needed to play certain blockchain games) from regions such as the Philippines and Africa to expand the opportunity for less privileged countries and societies.

Along this line is Decentralized Finance(Defi) which represents a suite of financial offerings such as lending and borrowing built on the decentralized web and utilizing the power of the blockchain. With this, low-income earners can have access to funds without needing to provide physical collateral, thus thrusting them into greater financial potential.

Ownership first

Because large corporations such as Amazon, Google and Facebook dominate control with their plethora of services making the global world reliant on them, ownership and privacy become an illusion as every piece of information passing through a server is open to be harvested for profit. This is a lingering issue begging to be remedied. With the onset of web3, such will be a thing of the past as users solely possess ownership of their information and assets. A typical solution to the ownership dilemma is through NFTs. These are tokens whose value can not be traded on a 1:1 ratio, i.e. every token is unique and cannot be directly traded for another. These tokens in the form of smart contracts are stored on-chain and have external data stored off-chain which can be tied to an image, video, music and much more. With NFTs, the detail of the holder is recorded on the blockchain and hence any sale or royalty accrued through the sale of such an NFT would be automatically remitted to the original owner, thus ensuring a continuous system of potential earnings.

User and Data Security

At the core of security is the implementation of cryptography as a secure way of protecting assets through the use of a public-private key architecture. A user owns the private key to his wallet and only releases the public key for transactional purposes. This leaves security in the hands of the user and gives them leverage to properly secure it, as opposed to having a centralized system which has the cheap advantage of "password recovery" but prone to breaches and leakage creating doubt and fear in users. A good example of such is the recent incident with a bank in Nigeria

Lady's Account drained of her life's savings

where a customer's bank account was drained of her funds and all attempts at recovery proved abortive leaving the bank to throw blame at the customer and the customer holding the bank responsible. Web3 aims to eliminate such a situation by providing robust security measures.

Tackling unfair censorship

The Internet as a digital global house ought to be free from unfair censorship and everyone allowed to participate freely and equally. As a global home for all, persons from one region shouldn't be restricted to participate in any activity or banned from such. Sadly Twitter can suspend accounts for activities or speech deemed to go against guidelines and comments hidden or removed if seen as "improper". This limits the extent to which freedom and participation of all can be achieved and hence the decentralized world aims to relinquish control and privacy to all participants. Therefore if a candidate is qualified for a job, he shouldn't be rejected based on his geography. No voice ought be silenced.

Trust trustless

With Dapps ( Decentralized applications refer to the applications built on the blockchain using a smart contract as the backend and web2 frameworks as the frontend) ushering and accounting for a large number of web3 architecture, we can trust that no intermediaries can take advantage and process transactions as everything will be automated and self-executed. Thus money won via lottery or some sort of reward system would be automatically paid to the user's wallet without delays or having to fill some form of documents and all.

Why it all matters

Because Web3 represents a shift of mental paradigm from the internet owned by the few to the internet owned by the users, more can be onboarded to experience its usefulness and live in an era that truly value creators, users and developers alike. Ade from Lagos can simply borrow money without needing to have physical collateral to back it, Mark can put in hard work to create art knowing he will forever reap the benefit, Alice can securely store funds in her hard wallet without fear of misappropriation and maxwell can freely speak to the world without having his lips sealed or reach restricted. This speaks volumes about a digital utopia and an economy that many would love to become a reality. Web3 is fixing all this and more, gradually everyone can truly live in the internet of the free.

Resources: