If you don't know about this, you're not updated in life!

Do you feel you missed out on the whole Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and NFT buzz 5 years ago? Do you feel you don’t understand it?

If yes, then you’re at the right place! Today, I’m going to talk about the future of the internet - Web 3.0.

And you MUST read it if you want to stay updated with what’s happening in the internet and Personal Finance space!

For those of you who don’t know - Blockchain, Cyptocurrency, Bitcoin, NFTs etc, ALL form a part of “Web3”. And since I’ve started reading about it recently, I thought of writing it so that my subscribers don’t remain clueless about it! :)

So 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝟯?

(This is a short article, so it won’t take more than 2 minutes. But you’ll understand what the future of the internet will look like!)

Let's look at the evolution of the internet first - So when the internet started becoming popular in the 1990s, its use was limited. Companies created and posted data on websites and users only consumed it (which means, users just read the data that was posted by companies). For example, a company had its website up and running, and users surfed through the website. Remember the late 1990s and early 2000s where we used to go to cyber cafes to surf some cool websites like yahoo and google? That was 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝟭 for users like you and me. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆.

That was predominant till mid-2000s, after which Web2 was born, which is the most predominant today. Web2 is where users not just consume data, but also create it. Blogs (medium.com), Social Media (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook), video platforms like YouTube etc are all a part of 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝟮, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿. 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮.

You reading this post, created by me on an internet platform, is what Web2 is all about. Or you watching Reels made by Priyanka Chopra. Or you watching YouTube videos of Prajakta Kohli. All of this, is Web2. Read by you, created by a human like you.

Now, 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝟯 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘁. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗶𝘁. Whether it was Web1 or Web2, the data always resided with the tech giants (Google, Yahoo, Facebook etc). Whatever you write on Medium, stays with Medium. The reels you create on instagram, are property of instagram, and the videos you publish on YouTube are stored on Google's servers, therefore stay with Google.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝟯. On Web3, users read, write and own their data. Web3 is built on networks of computers which talk to each other, without any middlemen. This network itself acts as the server. This network is known as a peer-to-peer network.

You therefore, don't need a Google or a Facebook or a YouTube server to publish the data. You can publish it directly on the peer-to-peer network, where it is owned by you, and not by a tech company.

Web3 is not a version or a product. It's just an evolution of the internet. Just like the humans of today (Homo Sapiens) evolved from Homo Erectus, the same way, Web3 is the logical next evolution of the internet from Web2. This does not mean that the entire internet will be based on blockchain technology. We will still have Web2, just like we have parts of the internet as Web1 even today. But if proponents of Web3 are to be believed, in the coming decade and going forward, a major part of the internet is going to be owned by the users themselves.

Well, that’s all that “Web3” is about. Once you know this, you’ll be ready to understand cryptocurrency, blockchain and the rest! I’ll keep writing about it so that you can understand better :)

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Also, let me know in comments if there’s any particular topic you’d want to know about! I’ll be more than happy to write about it! :)

Happy Sunday!