Explain the Concept of Web 3.0
Metaverse | NFT | Crypto | Blockchain
We are in the process of leaping from the physical world to the digital world. Whenever we talk about metaverse, terms like web 1.0, web 2.0, web 3.0, crypto, NFT and blockchain come to our mind. Web 1.0 was the preliminary phase of internet where an user had strict limitations. An user could only read or save the content of an website. He or she couldn’t make any changes to the content. If an user wants to publish something on the internet the only possible way was to make an website. Along with this, an user had to maintain a server and perform other technical tasks. The entire process was very complicated and costly.
To overcome such anomalies of web 1.0, web 2.0 emerged. Best examples are the blogging platforms like Blogger, WordPress; Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and various e-commerce sites like Amazon, eBay, YouTube. In these sites, you can log in and publish your content and do relevant tasks. So, Facebook was initially a website. Now, it has evolved more specifically as a social media platform. So, these websites do not have content of their own. Users create the content, upload and publish. The restrictions that were there in web 1.0 got removed in web 2.0.
Problems of Web 2.0
Your right to something that you post on the internet stops. For example, when you upload a video to YouTube, it becomes the property of YouTube. Apart from the commission charges, YouTube may keep, delete or block your video. Furthermore, it can also control the flow of visitors to your content. So, the control of your asset goes to the hands of these companies. Censorship, blocking an all such stuffs mean the control is lost. In web 2.0, advertisement is the major source of income for the the big companies. Also these companies get the right to track the user data and sell them according to their wish.
Arrival of Web 3.0
The foundation of web 3.0 lies on a chain of computers. Here, no central server has the control. Multiple computers are connected through a distributed network. If someone is storing a data, then multiple copies immediately get stored. This is possible due to Blockchain technology. In web 3.0. user data will remain on multiple distributed servers instead of one single server. This means big tech like Facebook, Amazon giving the huge amount of stored data back to the people. So, in web 3.0, we can post as well as own our content. So, when we can record something on a distributed level then it is not easy to do fraud. This concept is keeping web 3.0 ahead of all.
NFT and Web 3.0
NFT means Non-fungible token. Non-fungible means non-replaceable. In our day-to-day lives we replace or exchange many things. For example, we buy a chocolate in exchange of money. Sometimes, we exchange gifts or other items with friends and so on. But you cannot exchange an NFT with other NFT or objects. You can only buy and sell it. The actual owner gets a commission every time an NFT gets sold. This can be a song, any music or even a painting made in MS paint.
With NFT, you can create an artificial scarcity of a content. Any digital object say an image, a short video or a meme which you normally would take as infinitely reproducible, can now be made scarce. Let’s take an example of a YouTube video. You can easily download it as many times as you want. So, theoretically it is infinitely reproducible. Tokenizing or minting is a process where you go through blockchain and create a record of limited availability or scarcity of your Art piece. First implementation of blockchain, we have seen is crypto. NFT is the second implementation of blockchain after crypto. Those things that are one of a kind like the Taj Mahal or the Painting of Monalisa. You can keep duplicate photos or statue of them but in the whole world real Taj is one. So, to determine the ownership of such objects NFT concept has come. When a token is assigned to such objects, ownership is established.
NFT and Metaverse
In metaverse, your ownership over a particular asset will be determined by an NFT. When an user convert his digital asset into an NFT, then nobody can copy his work. When you buy land in real life, your proof is the land agreement. But if you buy land in Metaverse, what will be that proof of confirmation? It is the NFT. Metaverse will provide proof in the form of NFTs and Blockchain will guarantee those NFTs.
In Metaverse, wearing a VR headset, you will enter into a virtual world, where your avatar will talk to people. So in future, we can see that people will have a digital avatar, they will have digital properties in metaverse. This can be said as a 3D model based internet. Through NFTs, you get digital ownership of your content. To make legitimate use of the Metaverse, NFT is a sine qua non.
Via NFTs, you can get to know the owner of the actual or first copy of a digital asset. You can decide how many copies your asset can have. If you have limit your NFT to 100 then only 100 people can have it. In the blockchain, you can enter into a ledger that there are only a 100 copies of this picture or audio. With the help of NFT, you can do peer-to-peer transaction. NFTs have ended the need for middlemen.
Metaverse and Web 3.0
Metaverse is the advanced version of present day internet. It is a virtual representation of our real world. Your avatar will do everything in metaverse there that you usually do in real world. How do people know you in Facebook or WhatsApp at present? It’s via your profile pic and name right! But in metaverse, your identity will be your avatar. You can give your avatar any look, name etc. In metaverse, humans will be able to socialize on a 3D virtual platforms. In future, except for eating, sleeping and bathroom breaks, whatever people want to do, they will do it in the metaverse. But we can’t predict anything how NFT is going to take shape in the coming future.
Crypto and Web 3.0
In metaverse, you don’t use real cash but crypto. To buy or make a deal, you must have crypto in your digital wallet. Cryptocurrency is a virtual currency which don’t have any physical existence. It has evolved in order to remove or minimize the drawbacks of the centralized banking system. The concept become so famous due to its decentralization nature. No authority can have control over cryptocurrency. This has been possible due to blockchain technology. The government may however, impose tax over crypto-like earnings. To know more about cryptocurrency click the below link.
https://businessreels.blogspot.com/2021/09/cryptocurrency-in-simplest-way.html
Blockchain and Web 3.0
Metaverse including crypto and NFTs have become possible due to blockchain technology. All the computers are connected like some chains of blocks similar to a train. You can also relate blockchain to molecular structure that you read in Chemistry. Whenever there is a transaction, each and every computer records it. This has minimized the risk of fraudulent activities. Blocks link with one another and detects a mismatch immediately.
Conclusion
Though we are at the early stage of metaverse, but big businesses have already started investing in crores prophesizing the future internet that is metaverse. People are taking metaverse very seriously and they are buying digital paintings. Metaverse will change how people socialize in the future. But metaverse will demand excessive mining activities which will result in carbon emission. The mining of cryptos consume huge amount of energy. As a result, carbon footprints will rise and put negative impact on nature and climate.