A centralized entity loses control over Web3, a decentralized, permissionless, and trustless ecosystem. Conversely, Web2 is a centralized area predominately controlled by companies like Google, Microsoft, and others.
The term “Web3” alludes to the decentralized future generation of the internet, fundamentally different from the centralized Web2 ecosystem built on a client-server architecture. In Web2, a server hosted by companies like Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services houses the backend code that drives apps. This arrangement concentrates power, allowing these corporations—collectively known as Big Tech—to obstruct access to anyone or trade users’ sensitive data for cash.
Web3’s architecture, on the other hand, aims to decentralize this unfair advantage currently held by Big Tech, increasing transparency, fostering innovation, and granting people control over their data and online interactions. There is neither a server nor a client in Web3. Instead, peer-to-peer file sharing exists because of the Interplanetary File System (IPFS).
Web3 applications lack trust and require no permissions, while some private blockchains do. While “trustless” refers to the property where users need to trust the network and not network participants, “permissionless” refers to the capability of seamless inter- and intra-platform communication. Web2 apps, on the other hand, depend on user trust and centralized authority approval to function.
Can Web3 solve the problems of Web2?
Web3 returns ownership of content rights to the creator, raises security standards, ends unjust censorship, ushers transparency, automates software operation, and supports a creator economy.
Businesses can benefit from prospects that are unthinkable because of Web3’s qualities. Decentralization and the permissionless cybersphere were strictly sci-fi concepts. However, Web3 aims to fix the issues of Web2, opening the door to a decentralized internet era.
- Data Ownership
Decentralization eliminates Big Tech’s monopoly by giving users more control. Users have the choice of making their data public or private. The system is intrinsically more stable than centralized systems since processing power and decision-making is distributed, unlike centralized systems, where the entire operation depends on a server cluster, central entity, or person.
Although many Web2 apps have shifted to multi-cloud hosting, genuinely decentralized projects have a higher level of resiliency. Businesses can choose a topography for their application based on the difficulties they must overcome and their particular data landscape.
- Data security
An extensive, central database that stores data is very prone to attack. Hackers must breach just one system to compromise sensitive user information. Insiders frequently contribute to the disclosure of important information to outside, malevolent parties. Decentralized systems are built to resist this type of conduct by some players, making Web3 security more effective at protecting data than Web2 systems.
On the other hand, as almost every business moves toward being data-driven and digital, the risk of malicious attacks has increased exponentially. Vandalism in cyberspace has become a severe concern, endangering financial and reputational loss. Decentralization raises the level of security, if not wholly solving the issues.
- Unfair censorship
Users of centralized systems are frequently the target of unfair censorship. Decentralization gives participants more control over the narrative, making it more difficult for any organization to sway it in a way that benefits them. For example, a Web2 social media platform like Twitter can filter any tweet whenever they see fit. Tweets on a decentralized Twitter cannot be edited. Similar to Web2, payment platforms may limit compensation for particular kinds of work.
For both participants with good intentions and evil players, censorship on Web3 will be difficult. All users of a decentralized web are guaranteed privacy and control. Additionally, network users can participate actively in the project’s governance by voting.
- Financial freedom
Every participant in Web3 is a stakeholder. Web3 encourages financial freedom and is supported by a variety of technologies that, by their very nature, defy control. The independence participants experience in decentralized finance (DeFi), where anybody can freely engage in financial operations, is a prime example.
DeFi becomes more widely used and accessible when Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations are met. Furthermore, Web3 payments are made through cryptocurrencies, though fiat payment systems may also be integrated, whereas Web2 payments are made in fiat.
- Transparency
Transparency is a feature of decentralized ecosystems by design. Nodes collaborate to ensure the system operates without interruption, and no node may act independently. Through the casting of votes, even other participants can participate in the government decision-making process.
Because Web3 transactions are virtually irreversible and traceable, no one can make database changes after a transaction. Web3 is now a powerful tool against fraud as a result of this.
- Automation
The system that can run without human involvement is automated using smart contracts. The code reflects the agreement between several parties, carrying out irreversible transactions. Smart contracts significantly reduce operational expenses, do away with prejudice, and increase transaction security.
However, projects need to be aware of security flaws in the coding of smart contracts that thieves can exploit to seize the money. This can be avoided by having a team with experience in vulnerability assessments extensively examine the smart contract code using a combination of manual and automated tools. Tokyo, which specializes as an end-to-end security resource for blockchain-based projects, is a Web3 illustration of accelerating automation.
- Creator economy
The Web3 ecosystem’s nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which are a part of it, have given the online economy new depth. Every digital asset is distinctive in some way, thanks to these tokens. No matter how many it is reproduced, there is a way to tell them apart. This function helps to protect these assets from online fraud and uphold the owner’s ownership rights. In Web3, NFTs could act as metaverse assets, game assets, certifications, and other things, creating countless opportunities and enabling content creators to generate income in previously unheard-of ways.
Web 3.0 will bring new levels of internet trust
Despite the hoopla and derision around Web 3.0, if you look at the progression from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, you’ll see that the latter improves on the shortcomings of the earlier. Similarly, Web 3.0 is currently achieving this by expanding on the shortcomings of Web 2.0, and several applications targeted at Web 3.0 are being released daily in various industries.
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