When people ask me what blockchain is, there are two definitions I like to mention. The first, more focused on business, is: blockchain is a transaction recording system, maintained in a distributed network of “distrustful” participants (who do not know or trust each other).
A second blockchain concept, a little more technical, is: blockchain is a peer-to-peer, distributed, consensus-based transaction recording system ( algorithms ), which provides data immutability, provenance (traceability) and, therefore, end, which eliminates double spending .
And resolving “double spending” is the key point to understanding how blockchain technology differs from other technologies.
Before the Bitcoin blockchain, it was not possible to transfer values on the internet without the existence of an intermediary (traditional trusted validator such as financial institutions, organizations, etc.), nor how to divide a digital asset into several parts without losing its essence.
As there is nothing better than an example to understand something, let's suppose you scanned a R$100 bill and wanted to transfer that bill “directly” to someone over the internet. Before the Bitcoin Blockchain, you could only send one copy of it.
We use smartphones and computers every day. We send emails, photos via WhatsApp, but we don't realize that in fact, we are always sending copies of emails (and not the email itself), copies of our photos (and not the original photo, which remains on our device). Whenever we click the send button on a cell phone or computer, we retain the original.
In financial transactions, when we click on the button to “confirm” a payment or transfer, we are using an intermediary, a company, an institution, to transfer money from one account to another.
And this is the problem that the first blockchain solved – the double spending problem.
Now, when you use an application that runs via blockchain and click the “send” button, you are not sending a copy, but you are actually sending a digital object.
Blockchain solved the problem of double spending, made an asset unique in a digital medium, enabled disintermediation , transferring trust to data .
And this is what differentiates blockchain from other technologies and makes it so revolutionary that it elevates it to the category of General Purpose Technology – GPT , in its acronym in English, or simply core technology, in Portuguese).
Why, what are they and how does Web 3.0 intend to achieve its main objectives?
Currently, all data on the Internet is subject to centralized storage and management through servers of certain trusted institutions – or as we already mentioned, traditional trusted validators.
Firewalls are essential for safeguarding data on these servers, and system administrators have to address server and firewall management concerns. On the other hand, the setbacks associated with the accumulation of power and control by certain centralized entities have become increasingly evident and worrying.
A crisis of trust in institutions, organizations and intermediaries in general ended up pointing out the cracks in centralized power, thus creating the ideal scenario for decentralization.
Hence why some of the main objectives addressed by the builders of Web 3.0 refer to transparency, privacy and the return of ownership and identity to the user.
Despite current concerns about Web3 , it is with a “decentralized architecture” that the next stage of the web seeks to resolve emerging issues of centralized power and control.
Web 3 is a movement
Taking into account such objectives and this decentralized architecture, in the third generation of the Web, data “would” be interconnected in a decentralized way , along with opportunities for machines and users to interact “directly” with them (that is, without intermediaries).
And the word “would” was purposely used here, because Web3 is a movement still under construction. The communication model and decentralized storage , for example, as well as Web3 social networks are in their early stages, and Web2 is currently the one that predominates around the world.
The Web in numbers
In the 1990s, Web 1.0 brought us online publishing and the first incarnation of e-commerce. In the 2000s, Web 2.0 brought new ways for users to share content and platforms to distribute it.
Now the Web3 movement aims to reorganize the economy around digital assets — new digital currencies, tokens, and forms of ownership (like NFTs) secured by mathematics rather than law, custom, or force.
But each previous generation of the web believed it had found the key to new forms of digital organization that would be immune to the domination of Big Tech and surveillance capitalism .
How could Web3 escape a similar result?
Everything will depend on which technology will be the basis of the third generation Web movement.
Which technology best aligns with Web3 principles?
Web3 is being built with Artificial Intelligence (mainly machine learning), Internet of Everything (Internet of Everything or IoE), among other technologies. And perhaps for this reason, many have highlighted that Web3 goes beyond blockchain and cryptocurrencies, or that “Web3 does not need blockchain technology”.
Blockchain technology is not the only technology that makes up Web3. But it is the technology that most aligns with the principles of Web3 development. In fact, blockchain is not just one layer of technology underlying the Web 3.0 ecosystem. But also the base technology of Web 3.0 itself.
Here, it is important to highlight that the essentiality of blockchain to the Web3 movement goes beyond decentralization, the fact that it is open source and available without permission. This is because this technology also has significant importance since the review of the data structures underlying the backend for web3 applications.
The role of Blockchain technology in Web3
In addition to signs of the introduction of learning machines (machine learning, which falls under the umbrella of Artificial Intelligence), the connection of machines through IoT and the massive use of 3D graphics, the third generation of the Internet would work with decentralized networks .
At this point, a convergence between blockchain technology and Web 3.0 makes perfect sense, where people have control of their own data and move from social media to email and purchases using a single personalized account (wallet), creating a public record. in blockchain networks of all this activity.
Third-generation Web networks need to be able to integrate seamlessly, automate processes with the help of smart contracts, and store data in a decentralized, censorship-resistant manner.
In this context, it fits like a glove to use blockchain as a key driving force for the next generation of the Internet. This is because blockchain technology plays a crucial role in transforming conventional approaches to data storage and management .
That is, blockchain offers a single collection of data or a universal state layer, which is subject to collective management – through DAOs , for example.
And this unique state layer provided by blockchain technology also makes it possible to develop a “value settlement layer” on the Internet, which previously did not exist.
Such a single-state layer helps send files in a way that is protected against copying or tampering, in addition to enabling disintermediation through direct – P2P, peer-to-peer – and effective transactions, without intermediaries.
