What is Web3?

Web3 is the coined term for the next generation of the internet, utilising new technologies to fundamentally change how consumers and businesses interact with the internet.

A short history lesson takes us back to the first generation of the internet, Web1. Going all the way back to 1990, the internet was a very different place. With this generation of the internet, users were able to read information from basic HTML and some CSS that started to improve the user experience.

From around 2004 we transitioned into Web2, the important difference in this internet evolution was users were now able to write as well as read when interacting with the internet. Internet users were able to upload their own information for the first time. Social media was born during this era, which is a fantastic example of Web2 and internet user generated content.

Some argue, that Web2.5, an evolution of the basic Web2 generation allowed for transactions to take place online. Building the way for e-commerce and online financial services. This is the world in which we live in right now.

Web3. This is the next phase of the internet. It promises to alter the way that we use the internet with new ownership and transactional models. Utilising blockchain technology, internet users can, for the first time, genuinely own digital assets in a similar way to physical products.

Web3 looks to move away from a centralised digital world and move towards a world where user digital identity can exist.