What Is Web 3.0?
Web 2.0 vs Web 3.0
Bitcoin is a decentralized, secure cryptocurrency. To transfer money in Bitcoin, you do not need to present documents. Any digital identity is suitable for registration. Anonymity is an undoubted advantage of the world of crypto-technologies.
All thanks to the blockchain. It is this technology that underlies Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is destined to change the Internet beyond recognition.
In the 1990s, Web 1.0 gave everyone access to information, but the first version of the Internet was chaotic. The developers took this into account, and in the 2000s, Web 2.0 appeared. Platforms such as Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook have opened up the possibility for users to communicate without borders. Now it is easy to find a person or information on the network or transfer money to anywhere in the world with a couple of clicks.
But Web 2.0 has also faced criticism. Of course, you can create a business online, but the income of an entrepreneur will never be as massive as the money received by the founders of social networks. And it is no coincidence. After all, when we click on links, like posts, register, search for information and create content, we thereby contribute to the system.
Any centralized social networks, applications, sites collect personal data of users. Then they offer targeted advertising. It turns out to be a vicious circle. First, we are motivated to be active in the network. For this, we can even receive some kind of payment. But, in the end, we see such an amount of advertising content specially generated for us that we buy something that we were not originally going to buy.
Web 3.0 Definition
And yet there were enthusiasts who did not want to put up with this state of affairs and created the concept of Web 3.0. They began to develop new social networks, services, private search engines and marketplaces that are not subordinate to anyone. These decentralized systems operate on the basis of the blockchain and are managed by groups of users, not by corporations. For participation in the life of the platform, people are provided with tokens. This is how a pass to the crypto world looks like: if you have tokens, you can vote for a certain decision, increasing your fortune.
Web 3.0 Examples
The idea has so many adherents that this concept is becoming mainstream. Recently, a group of crypto-enthusiasts from ConstitutionDAO attempted to acquire one of the thirteen copies of the original U.S. Constitution that have been preserved since 1757. The group raised over $40M (in Ethereum) but lost to a stranger who paid $43.2M for the printed text. Although the group didn't succeed, this example illustrates the concept of Web 3.0 in action. According to representatives of the ConstitutionDAO, this is what the digital investment of the future looks like.
However, some criticize the idea of Web 3.0. This is due to a lack of understanding of what status information will receive in the third version of the Internet. The first concern is related to the quality of information. Who will control the reliability of the facts? What is behind the motivation of these people to generate only truthful information, and not to use the information for their own purposes?
There is a risk that people pursuing selfish goals will train artificial intelligence models based on false information. For example, Microsoft launched the Tau chatbot on Twitter. Some people intentionally sent tweets with Nazi statements. Microsoft turned off the chatbot and decided that artificial intelligence still needs to be improved. Now imagine the devastating consequences for entire nations of facts that incite hatred.
Another important point: if our systems depend on data, what happens when the information becomes unavailable? The Internet is already full of broken links. It seems that machines will either have to make local copies of any content they read, or restore the information on demand.
Finally, data breaches have a negative impact on the privacy of our information. As ExpressVPN states in its VPN features guide, using a virtual private network allows you to change a user's IP address.The hacker will not be able to determine your identity, and the location will remain a secret. It seems that this property of VPN will come in handy in Web 3.0 as well. After all, a VPN will create an additional protective layer during transactions.
As planned, Web 3.0 involves a fair division of all created platform values between ordinary people, and not owners and investors. But the popularity of Web 3.0 is forcing giant companies to think about how to organically implement this concept in their own activities. So, there are rumors that Twitter plans to rebuild the social network in such a way that, when logging into an account, users make tweets associated with a certain cryptocurrency, and not with a Twitter profile.
Recently, Opera unveiled a Web 3.0 project, a crypto-browser available in public beta versions of Windows, Mac, and Android. The crypto browser is designed with decentralization (decentralized apps) in mind. It provides access to the latest news in the blockchain sphere, information about free distribution of tokens, crypto prices, educational content, podcasts and videos.
But the current era puts privacy to the test, and cryptocurrency unwittingly becomes a tool in the hands of scammers. Web 3.0 is on the radar not only of technological giants, but also of cybercriminals.
According to a report by Kaspersky Lab, there is now an increase in the number of phishing emails that are sent on behalf of reputable cryptocurrency companies. The scammers have mastered the art of composing emails as if they were written by brands. AI tools capable of forging photos and videos have come to the service of cybercriminals, and hackers are taking full advantage of the technological advantages to mislead the gullible user. They use the names and logos of well-known cryptocurrency wallets. In fake emails, scammers offer to invest in a newly created cryptocurrency. And, of course, it's a scam.
Sometimes cybercriminals go even further. Scammers create fake social media profiles of influencers who allegedly promote specific cryptocurrencies. In this case, the goal of the hackers is to motivate users to transfer small amounts of money to test the platform.
As for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), they are also more vulnerable than we can imagine. So, in 2016, a promising project The DAO appeared. But the cybercriminal discovered a bug in the DAO code and managed to withdraw 3.6 million ETHs to a personal account through this weak zone. If converted into dollars, this amount was equal to $50 million. Many people who had hopes for Ethereum experienced a shock and stopped investing. Over time, Ethereum managed to restore its reputation, but the situation showed that even blockchain technology can be vulnerable.
Finally, the most dangerous attack against the blockchain is known as “51%”. In practice, it looks like this. Several people who mine Bitcoins unite to attack the blockchain, which operates on the basis of Proof of Work (PoW). And while they can't steal money, they can reverse or block recent transactions, such as freezing funds. Fortunately, such attacks are rare.
In the traditional banking system, financial institutions typically guarantee the secrecy of your card balance and account status. In crypto-infrastructure, there is a different approach. Anyone can view the history of the balance on someone else's account. At the same time, the identity of the owner of the crypto wallet is kept secret. Addresses and transactions are recorded in an open database. On the other hand, they do not have an IP address, so it is almost impossible to identify the payer.
It turns out to be a twofold situation. Cryptocurrency puts user privacy first. But Bitcoin, by default, is a transparent system. This means that every owner of electronic money must protect himself. It is often advised to have multiple wallets and use different addresses for each transaction. This way, you can conduct transactions without fear that others will find out how much money you hold in cryptocurrency.
How to Invest in Web 3.0 Safely?
Can Web 3.0 handle data breaches? It is possible that the Internet will become a more open space. Let's start from the idea that blockchain records are visible to everyone. This means that applications based on this technology will also have to demonstrate to users how their personal data is being used. Indeed, today many users report private information to applications without even knowing it. And then unwittingly become victims of data leaks.
Moreover, today most of the information of users is contained in centralized information repositories. IBM estimates that companies are spending $3 trillion a year due to the wrong approach to information management. After all, one data breach incident results in the loss of millions of user records. But Web 3.0 works in a completely different way. The third version of the Internet conducts information through secure, decentralized pools. So one data leak will not have large-scale consequences. Finally, blockchain technology still complicates the work of hackers.
