Is web3 actually the brand new section of the web? • TechCrunch

We’re on the verge of a brand new section of the net, or so the story goes. Its proponents have labeled it web3. Whereas final week’s implosion of systemically necessary crypto trade FTX confirmed that the tech trade is way from realizing that imaginative and prescient when it comes to execution, the idea of web3 has been a elementary driver for startups and enterprise capital over the previous few years.

If we’re actually within the midst of a 3rd wave, it’s necessary to know the historical past of the net, the way it advanced and the way this new section — whether it is truly one — matches on this chronology. Is the so-called web3 the following logical step for the web, one that can have an enduring impact on its evolution or one thing else altogether?

It’s clear that one of many major motivations for figuring out a brand new section of the net is the unbelievable wealth creation that accompanied the primary two phases. Enterprise capitalists, entrepreneurs and operators in web3 constantly repeat the adage that web3’s present state resembles the early days of the web. It follows logically, then, that early adopters and builders within the web3 area consider there may be more likely to be a big monetary reward for being one of many first in, simply as there was with the earliest days of the net itself.

As we wade via the historical past of the web (sure, actually!), think about how the net developed and grew, and whether or not you see the same dynamic at play in crypto proper now. On this tumultuous second for the web3 imaginative and prescient, it’s value analyzing whether or not the FTX collapse exhibits this new wave was a home of playing cards all alongside or whether or not the string of bankruptcies amongst web3 firms this yr was merely a setback within the adoption of the inevitable way forward for the web.