The explosive next-generation Internet: What is WEB3?

In the second half of 2021, the Metaverse became a hot topic and began to appear frequently in people's vision. In October, Facebook, founded by Zuckerberg, officially changed its name to Meta, ambitiously entering the metaverse industry. After that, the famous game company Epic, software giant Microsoft, etc. have all planned the future development of the metaverse. The metaverse has given us a glimpse into the future. Digital lifestyle and unlimited imagination of application scenarios.

To realize the vision of the Metaverse, in addition to the continuous improvement of front-end interactive devices, what is more important is the construction of back-end infrastructure. The emergence of Web3.0 has provided strong technical support for the realization of the Metaverse. It is precisely because the human Internet era has moved towards the Web3.0 era that the concept of the Metaverse has become possible.

What is Web3?

Web3.0 is a next-generation distributed Internet form with blockchain and other technologies as the core. It reconstructs the original production relations through digital identity, smart contracts and other technical means, and combines data ownership and Control is returned to producers and users.

1. Three iterations of the Web

The full English name of Web is World Wide Web, and the Chinese name is World Wide Web. It usually refers to web pages and websites. It is now synonymous with the Internet and is also an important part of the Internet. core part.

Web1.0 is the first generation of the Internet. It has a history of more than 30 years. Its main feature is that it can only be read, not written, and has no interactive functions.

The Web2.0 era has increased interactivity, and the Internet has become not only readable, but also writable, and the content of Web2.0 It is no longer produced by professional websites or specific groups of people, but is jointly participated and created by all netizens with equal rights and levels. Anyone can express their opinions or create original content online.

But in the Web 2.0 era, platforms dominate. User data is stored in the servers of Internet companies. User data ownership belongs to Internet companies. It is difficult to share between platforms, and it is difficult to maintain user data privacy and security. Without effective protection, data monopoly and "data islands" will form in the long run.

Web3.0 is based on blockchain technology, which is a digital economy based on a trust mechanism that connects the virtual world and the real world. Develop the new Internet era. In the era of Web 3.0, the spirit of "equality, openness, and innovation" of the Internet has been truly reflected, effectively protecting user privacy data, breaking "data silos", and thus forming a new economic ownership model - user ownership, leadership and creation , truly realizing open collaboration and data confirmation.

2. The spirit of Web3.0

The difference between Web3.0 and the previous two generations of the Internet is not only through emerging technologies Manifested in, for example, blockchain, cryptocurrency, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, etc. What's more important is the change in the spirit of the Internet brought about by Web 3.0. Driven by new technologies, the spirit of Web 3.0 will become an important cornerstone of the economic system for the future development of the Metaverse.

The spiritual core of Web3.0 lies in the following two points: data rights confirmation and open collaboration. Data confirmation refers to the transformation of user data sovereignty from platform ownership to personal ownership in the Web 3.0 era; open collaboration effectively solves the problem of "data islands" and enables the Internet to truly achieve cross-platform interconnection.

Wikipedia actually has the spirit of Web3.0. Before Wikipedia, traditional encyclopedias were developed by an organization or group. Wikipedia created the first search tool in human history that anyone can edit and anyone can put their thoughts on the website platform.

Compare Wikipedia created in 2001 with Encyclopedia Britannica published in 1771. In just over 20 years, Wikipedia has been edited more than 1 billion times and has 55 million entries. The Encyclopedia Britannica, compiled over hundreds of years, has less than one percent as many entries. Therefore, Wikipedia has brought the open collaboration of data to a peak, which is also a huge progress for human knowledge. Wikipedia has also been evaluated as "the most ideal and most emotional way of operating content since the birth of the Internet."

What does Web3 bring?

1. Changes in production relations

The model of Web3.0 is "user creation, ownership, control, and agreement distribution." Under this model, smart contracts and distributed distribution through blockchain Ledger and other technologies realize automatic distribution of income on the chain and records cannot be tampered with, ensuring efficiency, fairness, and security, fully stimulating the creator economy, and realizing real changes in production relations.

2. Achieve unified identity authentication

In different information scenarios of Web2.0, users in different systems need to perform different identity authentication.

In Web3.0, Distributed Digital Identity (Decentralized Identity, or DID) combines blockchain technology to separate the right to use data from ownership, and it is independently created, maintained and freely created by the identity owner. use.

This technology can achieve unified identity authentication in Web3.0. As a digital identity owner, you can use your own identity data whenever needed without relying on other third-party platforms or service providers. .

As a domestic blockchain leader, NetEase Blockchain’s Moutai DID created for the “iMoutai” APP is the first application of digital identity in a business platform with tens of millions of users. Users use Moutai digital identity to make reservations and purchase online, and offline delivery is verified through digital vouchers to ensure that private information is available but not visible.

NetEase's distributed digital identity will promote the safe circulation, openness and confirmation of data in various scenarios, realize the connection and integration of real and virtual assets, and eliminate restrictions caused by other factors such as geography and user qualifications. Promote the free circulation of digital assets.

3. Protection of user privacy and security

Web2.0 tends to use legislation and fines to encourage platforms to protect user privacy data, but the effect is limited. There are still many platforms that illegally use customer information. .

The Web3.0 communication protocol is based on the premise of ensuring the privacy and anonymity of user data. Based on the basic properties of the blockchain, in the future user data will not be concentrated in the platform's own database, but will be stored in a secure and In a decentralized data storage protocol.

In addition, through homomorphic encryption, multi-party secure computing, trusted execution environment and other technologies in privacy computing, it can be ensured that the data is available and invisible during use.

4. Solve the problems of data sovereignty and digital asset ownership confirmation

In the Web2.0 era, users’ data sovereignty, created works and owned digital assets all rely on centralized On the Internet platform, it is more difficult to confirm data sovereignty and digital asset rights.

The operational vision of Web3.0 is to give more power to users. Ownership of user data is no longer monopolized by the platform. The acquisition of user data by websites or platforms must obtain user permission. Everything is no longer It is platform-centered, but user-centered; digital assets under the user's name are completely owned by the user, effectively solving the problem of rights confirmation.

Non-fungible Token (NFT) is fully in line with the operational vision of Web3.0. NFT is mainly used to prove identity information and the unique ownership of digital assets. It is currently mainly used in games, artworks, collectibles, virtual assets, identity features, digital music, digital certificates and other fields. NFTs in China at this stage are more commonly known as "digital collections" and "digital rights", weakening their transaction attributes and highlighting the function of confirming rights and collections.

NFT is a technical means that can give value to digital assets. Based on secure, decentralized, open and transparent blockchain technology, each NFT is anchored with a unique scarcity value, through which both creators and buyers can obtain rights that are difficult to obtain in Web 2.0. Confirmation of digital ownership will be a key step for Web2.0 users to migrate to Web3.0.

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