What is Web3?

Web3 represents the vision of a next-generation internet built on blockchain technology and decentralized protocols, shifting from the platform-centric model of Web2 toward an architecture where users own their data, digital assets, and online identities while interacting through trustless, permissionless networks rather than centralized intermediaries.

This emerging paradigm is characterized by several key principles: decentralized infrastructure that operates without central points of control, self-sovereign identity systems that give users ownership of their digital presence, token-based economics that enable new forms of coordination and value creation, and composable open-source protocols that anyone can build upon without gatekeepers.

Web3 applications typically leverage blockchain technology to provide services ranging from finance and governance to social media and gaming, creating experiences where users can directly own digital assets, participate in protocol governance, and capture the value they create rather than surrendering it to platform operators.

Beyond technical architecture, Web3 represents a philosophical shift toward digital systems that prioritize user rights, privacy, censorship resistance, and community ownership, attempting to address the power imbalances, data exploitation, and rent-seeking behaviors that emerged in the platform-dominated Web2 era.

While still evolving and facing challenges around scalability, usability, and regulatory clarity, Web3 continues to develop as a parallel internet infrastructure that may eventually transform how we interact online, manage digital assets, coordinate communities, and distribute value across the global digital economy.