Source: Wen Wei Po
Twenty years ago, when programmers typed codes in Html (Hypertext Markup Language) to write blogs, they would not have imagined that one day, publishing articles and videos on online platforms would be as easy as eating. For the current general public, publishing NFTs (Crypto collections) on the blockchain is something that only professionals can do, but it may not take long for ordinary people to be able to play with blocks like posting articles on public accounts. chain.
At present, an Internet form based on blockchain technology is rapidly emerging, some people call it “value Internet”, and some people call it “Web3.0 (third generation Internet)”. In the past six months, the United States, Japan, and Singapore have issued policies to lay out their layout. Numerous institutions and entrepreneurs are pouring into it, and a number of disruptive applications are being bred. The explosion of the Metaverse has accelerated the “out of the circle” of Web3.0, because more and more people realize that Web3.0 may be the only way to get to the Metaverse.
The second generational change of the Internet is coming
In the 53 years since the Internet was born, it has experienced a change of times. The appearance of the first website in 1991 marked the entry of mankind into the Web 1.0 era, which is characterized by read-only – professional websites are responsible for producing content, and users are consumers of content. Portal websites such as Sohu and Sina are the trendsetters of this era. Web 2.0 is characterized by a “readable + writable” social network, where users, as the main producers of content, disseminate their own works on the Internet and interact with other users. In 2004, the birth of Facebook marked the explosive development of this interactive Internet. Taobao, Douyin, Bilibili, etc. are all companies that grew up in the 2.0 era.
In 2014, Gavin Wood, the founder of Ethereum, wrote on his blog his understanding of Web 3.0: a “decentralized ecosystem network” based on blockchain technology. This system includes a series of open source protocols that can Provide building blocks for developers of applications, and the rights and assets endowed by the network are owned by developers and users. With the “out of the circle” of the concept of the metaverse, people were surprised to find that the Web3.0 he defined was surprisingly consistent with the metaverse.
Yang Guang, research director of Shanghai Shutu Blockchain Research Institute, said that Web 3.0 is characterized by the “readable + writable + ownable” value Internet and contract Internet, which empowers users to manage Crypto identities, control personal data, and supervise algorithms The autonomy of the application, in order to reshape the trust and cooperation relationship of Internet participants. The division of Web1.0, Web2.0, and Web3.0 lies not in technical indicators, but in the form of data generation and processing, representing different stages of production relations in the Crypto world.
Each generation of the Internet has created a group of world-renowned companies. Right now, we seem to be standing on the cusp of such an era. Since the birth of the Web 3.0 track, 2021 will be the most generous year for capital. According to a report by Galaxy Digital, in 2021, venture capital firms will invest as much as $33 billion in the crypto industry and Web 3.0-related companies, exceeding the combined investment in this field in previous years. Especially in the fourth quarter of 2021, the average valuation of enterprises in the encryption and blockchain fields is 70 million US dollars, which is 141% higher than the US$29 million valuation of enterprises in other traditional VC fields. In October 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta and entered the metaverse, which can also be seen as an exploration of Web2.0’s attempt to transform to Web3.0.
Create a brave new world with independent data rights
Using different mobile phones to buy the same product, the price is actually different; obviously it is a work created by oneself, but the platform has to share the bulk of the revenue… The various unreasonable encounters on the Internet have made people gradually realize that the more development of Web 2.0, the more common People’s bargaining power over platforms is getting smaller and smaller. Have you ever wondered how this happened?
Yang Guang explained that Web 2.0 has created a business model, that is, platforms use free or extremely cheap products and services to attract users, and then make money by collecting user data and pushing advertisements accurately. But over time, the data has been concentrated in the hands of a few Internet giants. Although they are “hosting” user data, they have gradually mastered the power to formulate rules and distribute benefits by virtue of their control over data and algorithms.
The emergence of Web 3.0 is to break the status quo that users are important participants and contributors to the Internet ecosystem, but cannot benefit from it fairly, and to give users data autonomy again. But how does this imagined brave new world become a reality? After countless brainstorms, the treemap team focusing on the research and development of the underlying and common technologies of the blockchain has extracted a simple consensus: only data is stored in neutral storage and computing that is not controlled by any centralized company or entity. Only on the platform can we break the “black box” of data monopoly by giants.
In the era of Web3.0, the rules written in code will replace the “black box” of the Internet platform, and a fairer and transparent information processing process will give users more autonomy – people no longer need to remember the account numbers and passwords of various platforms; recharge The purchased virtual goods such as skins and weapons will not disappear due to the closing of the game; with the blessing of blockchain technology, traffic fraud is difficult to exist, and issues such as copyright and benefit distribution of Crypto works will also have a clear attribution—— And this is the Crypto production relationship that is more compatible with the ever-changing productivity of Crypto content.
Polishing “Minimum Viable Product” to prosper the application ecology
In September this year, Shanghai Shutu Blockchain Research Institute released the self-developed operating system ConfluxOS for Web3.0. It is currently polishing “minimum viable products” according to various new scenarios, prospering the application ecology and promoting the development of the next generation Internet. Combining Crypto collections with physical rights is one of the important directions.
For example, a brand can send a specific Crypto collection to a user’s personal account (similar to a personal wallet, but stored on the blockchain) when a high-demand product is sold. The Crypto collection can become the user’s identity tag – when the next limited-edition new product is released, the user who holds it can get the right of first refusal; when the brand holds an offline event, it can also act as a ticket.
The products of the Web2.0 era, such as points, coupons, and membership levels, will also be given new ways to play. Users and users and between users and merchants can realize the flow of rights and interests based on the trust network guaranteed by technology, so as to achieve the purpose of people-oriented normalization and promotion of consumption. Social networks are often the bellwether with the most sensitive sense of smell. In January this year, Twitter launched the NFT authentication service, where Twitter users can bind their Web3.0 accounts and set the NFT they hold as their Twitter account avatar. Regular avatars are circular, while certified NFT avatars are hexagonal. This immediately activates the identity tag attribute of NFT – after all, in the Web2.0 era, you can download a favorite picture on the Internet at will, but NFT is only one copy and unique.
The inability to tamper with the blockchain will also give rise to N possibilities for the application of Crypto evidence. For example, young people like to use “couple avatars” to swear their relationship to the circle of friends, but the pictures are very easy to copy. If a couple is willing to leave a certificate on the blockchain to confirm that they are in love, then the relationship will be Evidence was kept and disclosed to relatives and friends. Even if they break up in the future, it doesn’t matter, as long as they cancel each other’s couple authentication on the blockchain.
According to Zhang Wei, Director of Operations of Hunan Xiangjiang Shutu Information Technology Innovation Center, if everyone agrees with this kind of behavior, it is very likely that there will be a “Renren” in the Web3.0 era, and the identification cost between people will be huge. Reduced, the possibility of finding like-minded partners is greatly improved.
Disruptive innovations have the potential to change the way the world works. A simple and easy-to-use Web3.0 operating system may be able to revitalize China’s huge Internet developer group, and a subversive technological revolution may be sprouting.