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What is ‘Web3’? Gavin Wood, who invented his visionary word


Computer scientist Gavin Wood coined the term “Web 3.0” in 2014, laying out his vision for the future of the Internet.

The phrase, also shortened to “Web3,” has become an internet buzz lately with prominent technologists, including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, debate over the meaning of the term.

Wood, one of the co-founders of Ethereum and founder of blockchain infrastructure company Parity Technologies, spoke to CNBC about an episode of “Outside the Valley” podcast to discuss his Web3 vision.

What’s wrong with the current web?

Advocates call Web3 a decentralized version of the internet – one not dominated by a handful of powerful players like Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

Web1 started with the idea of ​​an open and decentralized internet, but Web2 – the internet as we know it today – led to the birth of trillion dollar technology companies that had a powerful influence on the internet and owns a lot of the infrastructure that the web is built on.

“The big problem with this is…it’s like you put all your eggs in one basket, if something goes wrong with one of these services, you know, this service suddenly becomes unavailable. for a lot of people”. Wood told CNBC’s “Beyond the Valley” podcast.

“Moreover, the key word here is trust. We have to trust the people behind the services. We have to trust the owners of the companies that run the services… And so, We’ve managed to architect ourselves into this, which is a bit like an outdated version of what the world could be.”

So what is Web3?

For Wood, Web3 is truly decentralized and a more democratic version of the current internet.

“Web3 is really an alternative vision of the web, where the services we use are not hosted by a single service provider, but they are purely algorithmic things, in a sense. something, hosted by everyone. So it’s like, it’s very peer-to-peer, isn’t it? … The idea is that all the participants contribute a small part to the ultimate service. good,” said Wood.

“And so no one really has any advantage over anyone else … not in the same sense, at least, as you know, like when you go to Amazon or you go to eBay or Facebook, where the company behind the service really has absolute power over what they do in terms of providing the service.”

Web3 . Key Terms and Technologies

Blockchain is a key technology behind Web3. It is often associated with the cryptocurrency bitcoin and is the technology underpinning it. The bitcoin blockchain is a public ledger of the functioning of the bitcoin network. But bitcoin is not owned by a single company or individual and it is not issued by a central authority like a central bank. Instead, it is decentralized, and the network is maintained by a global team of people who run specialized computers.

So blockchain is an important technology and decentralization is an important phrase.

Web3 is based on the idea of ​​a “trustless” model. Right now, we have to trust companies to deliver the service they promised. But if Web3’s products and services are built on blockchain and are decentralized, then you just need to trust the underlying algorithm to deliver that product.

Of course, that carries its own risks.

What does the Web3 version of Twitter look like?

Wood gave the example of a Web3 version of Twitter that he said would give users more control over their posts and make identity verification easier.

“So it would be much harder for someone to like, spoof my identity, because we have … cryptographically-based proof that I did this and that only I can do the thing. this,” Wood said.

“We probably have bigger factors, like freedom of speech… in the sense that the system doesn’t have inherent gatekeepers like the way you know, there are effective Twitter employees. like the gatekeepers. the system.”

Where does the cryptocurrency get this?

Web3 proponents argue that cryptocurrencies will play an important role in the future of the Internet. An example might be where there is a Web3 application running on a certain blockchain that uses a particular digital currency.

For example, services running on the Ethereum blockchain can claim ether-based digital tokens.

Read more about cryptocurrencies from CNBC Pro

There have been thousands of cryptocurrencies popping up over the past few years. But Wood says that Web3, the way he envisions it, may not be as reliant on cryptocurrencies.

“I doubt that currency will continue to play any role in services. But I think…overall, we’ll start to see services being delivered without the use of tokens. newspaper,” Wood told CNBC.

“And I think that’s going to be a huge leap. And I think that’s one of the key factors that will open the door to the mainstream,” he added, suggesting most people are likely going to be. don’t want to buy many different tokens. to use a service.

How will the regulation work?

Bitcoin itself has never been regulated because it is difficult to do with the fact that it is not owned by a single entity. However, businesses that are exposed to cryptocurrencies in some way, such as exchanges, often find themselves subject to some kind of regulation.

So, if a Web3 service is built on the same theory of decentralization as bitcoin, how will regulators approach it?

Currently, countries around the world are still trying to figure out the best way to regulate cryptocurrencies and related technologies. Web3 is part of that conversation.

Wood believes that it will be difficult for authorities to regulate Web3 services themselves. Instead, it may be in the “personal interest” of an application about their product to make rules consistent with regulators, Wood said.

He added that regulators could seek to regulate “the people who use the service rather than the service itself.”

Will it be the end of the tech giants?

Supporters of Web3 argue that with Web3, the power of the tech giants could be challenged.

However, similar companies like Microsoft and Twitter are also investing in Web3.

Wood said it would be “hard to make a dent … in these Goliaths” but he likened their potential situation to Microsoft in the late 2000s and into the years to come.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re running Windows or authoring your document in Microsoft Word … we use the web as our platform and the web can be used on any operating system,” Wood said. .

“Ultimately… I hope that Web3 will meet the needs of the future in a way that these centralized service providers can never really meet,” he added.



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