Web 3: definition, why is everyone talking about it?

To understand web 3, we must first recall the fundamentals of what we call web 1 and web 2.

Because if there's one buzzword these days, it's Web 3. The internet has changed, you don't recognise anything anymore and your favourite media have adopted a new language: Cryptocurrencies, NFT, Metaverse, Axie infinity, The Sandbox... have we really moved to another version of the internet? 🙋♀️

And what does surfing Web 3 really mean? Was there a Web 2 and a Web 1.0? 

To answer all your questions, here is a short history of the web and its main changes, to finally arrive at a definition of Web 3, its challenges and its upheavals. ☄️ 

Web 1: When the internet was paid by the minute ⌛️

At the end of the 1990s, the web consisted of a series of link collections and home pages. The Internet was nothing like it is today and the pages were not very interactive. Apart from posting and reading articles, there was not much to do.

It was the very beginning of the internet and many of us in France and all over the world, received our first CD-ROM from AOL allowing us to get 30 minutes (or more for the lucky ones) of free internet. 💿

Google is not yet the reference search engine. There are even advertisements on French television praising the merits of access providers such as Club Internet which have now disappeared. And the older among us still remember Lycos, a search engine that has also evaporated from our minds with its famous slogan " Lycos, go search ". Unlike today, not everyone had internet access, let alone unlimited internet access. 

If we were to summarise this era in a few words, Web 1 represents the beginnings of what the internet will be today and serves above all to democratise information via directories throughout the world. 📣

Web 2: The age of social networks 😍

First and foremost, Web 2 is the advent of social networks. Each internet user is no longer a simple spectator who only consumes information. They become actors and create content that they share on the various platforms that are emerging. From the Skyblog in high school to TikTok, via Tumblr or even the Bon Coin, it is becoming increasingly easy to create posts and share one's point of view or knowledge. 🤯

With big players like Facebook, Twitter and of course Instagram, the web is considered to have been propelled to a whole new level and smartphones are not to blame. By having a real computer in our pocket, any of us can log on to the internet at any time , interact and share whatever we want with the world. 🌏

Web 3.0: finally, digital property is no longer duplicable ✂️

After the IT giants came under the spotlight and most of the population finally became aware that they are using our personal data to create targeted advertisements, the web took a new turn. After the massive FTC (Federal Trade Commission) investigation and the record $5 billion fine against Facebook in 2019, things started to change. The general public became interested in new ways of rethinking digital privacy and ways to regain control of their data. 📊

This is how we arrived at web 3. Gone are the systematic uses of social networks and their apparent freebies, new so-called " decentralised " governance platforms have emerged, starting with the management of our currency. 

NFT, cryptocurrency, metavers... in web 3, it is possible to mint money (virtually), and spend it to vote, play, or take part in projects. For example, some NFT (Non fungible token) allow to be part of private clubs. This is the case of the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club, images of monkeys that sell for millions and allow, besides the speculative aspect, to participate in physical and digital meetings of other holders of this NFT collection. 🐵

"Yes, but what is an NFT?" You've probably heard this question a thousand times before, but you still don't understand it? Here is a definition "made in Alegria" that should satisfy you.

💡 NFT definition : We just talked about it, Non Fungible Token, more or less means that the product the NFT is associated with is unique and cannot be replaced by anything else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible, because you can exchange it for another bitcoin, and you will get exactly the same thing. On the other hand, a one-of-a-kind trading card is not fungible. If you exchange it for another card, you get something completely different. To understand the benefits of this, you have to go back to the foundations of the internet. On the web, it was impossible to know if the image you had in your computer was not yet another copy and paste of the same image found on some website. 👩💻

💡 Definition DeFi

DeFi or decentralised finance is based on blockchain technology. The same one that crypto currencies use to function. A blockchain is so called because trades are recorded in blocks. These are verified by other users of the blockchain. Once all these users have secured and verified the block, the data is recorded in a searchable ledger. When the verification of a block is complete, it is closed, then encrypted and a new one replaces it. Thus, it is not possible to modify a block without the following ones being affected and all the verifiers noticing it. This principle of near-perfect security is what DeFi is based on and what makes finance decentralised. Since no financial institution or government authority 

💡 Dapp definition

A Dapp, or decentralised application, is a software application that runs on a distributed network. It is not hosted on a centralised server, but on a decentralised peer-to-peer network. Dapps take advantage of the blockchain and smart contracts to carry out operations without any delay, with unequalled reliability of the data, without any institution to block or limit their operation and with complete transparency for the users since all the exchange information can be consulted by all on the blockchain.

💡 Crypto Art Definition

This term defines the use of the blockchain to certify that a digital work is unique and to determine a single owner. This is a real revolution that finally allows digital art to no longer be duplicated ad infinitum without knowing the creator and the owner. It should be noted that it is generally NFT images that are associated with this trend, but the use is almost unlimited. Thus, a music or a video can also be associated with a unique NFT.

💡CryptoGaming

A video game can become a Dapp, since it is a software program in its own right. These games allow players to collect crypto-currency as a reward for their progress in the game. The most famous of these being Axie Infinity, which has reached a valuation greater than that of Ubisoft. Generally, players are asked to perform a series of simple actions each day in order for them to collect said crypto-currency. Beware, however, of the risks involved in this new generation of gaming that requires investing sometimes large amounts of money to participate.

Digital scarcity did not exist and everything was infinitely duplicable. With NFTs, this time is over. Because an NFT is part of what is called a blockchain. Roughly speaking, a blockchain can be defined as a huge, unfalsifiable account book. In order to trace and prove the uniqueness of an NFT, it is sufficient to consult the blockchain. Thus, an NFT can be seen as a digital certificate that attests to the ownership of a digital asset by a holder. 🖼

The most popular NFTs are images with two main uses. The first is for artistic purposes. The art NFT does not do anything special except for being owned by a single person. Like paintings or physical art objects, their value depends on the popularity of the projects and the reputation of the artists who create them. The latter serve as a "key" or "access pass". For example, an NFT may entitle you to private museum tours or concert tickets every year. 🎺

Web 3: physical world and metaverse 🚀

You may be overwhelmed by the metaverse news and feel that it's all the IT media is talking about. And you're not completely wrong, only it's not so new. A metaverse is simply a world, a digital universe that is governed by its own rules. The older among us surely remember Second Life, a world where you can do real life things like see your friends, make clothes and sell them for real money, buy a house... In short, reproduce everything that exists in the real world, but in a video game that looks like a digital life simulation. 👾

The reason why this kind of project never managed to take off or last over time is that the digital objects created were infinitely replaceable and a virtual economy was not possible. With cryptocurrencies and NFTs, a lock has been broken and metavers are back stronger than ever. With for example Axie infinity, a metaverse around video games where it is possible to fight with your monsters against opponents to earn cryptocurrencies has become so popular that its valuation has exceeded that of Ubisoft. There is also the example of the famous The Sandbox, a metaverse where it is possible to buy plots of land for several thousand, even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Big brands such as Carrefour and Atari have already put their marbles on these projects and have set up their virtual spaces that can be visited. And on which it is of course possible to spend cryptocurrencies, themselves exchangeable for euros or dollars. 💶

To summarize, web 3 is the end of anonymity and duplicity. Everything becomes traceable and in a decentralized manner, meaning that no entity directed by human beings oversees the exchanges and transactions that take place on the various blockchains. ⛓

Web 3 and Nocode: which tools are best? ⚒️

Nocode and Web 3, where are we? There are already tools at the crossroads of these two technologies, here are some of them:

- Nifty Generator This tool allows you to quickly generate a series of random NFTs in the same collection. You have to share the differentiating elements of the characters like shoes, gloves, hair colour and clothes. 🧢🧣🧤👗👔

You will then have the choice of which type of blockchain you prefer to use: Solana or Ethereum.

• Sparkster What if decentralized software could be built by anyone without any knowledge of blockchain architecture? This is what the Sparkster platform proposes. This tool offers companies to create their own blockchain and process tens of millions of transactions per second. 📈
• Voltuswave this platform allows to build smartphone applications and webapps in Nocode with the possibility to integrate blockchain technology. There are many use cases, such as the possibility to create a marketplace for selling NFT. 💰
• Ezcode This Bubble.io plugin allows your app to interact with Smart Contracts, to build its own crypto farming application or to constitute an NFT marketplace. We especially appreciate the connection with Metamask which is certainly the most popular and most used wallet by the crypto community. 🦊