What is Web3?

Web3 is another name for "decentralized" web. Its operating mechanism is similar to the Internet you use every day (although there are some important technical differences). Web3 still has familiar websites and applications - from social media and streaming services to news media, financial tools, and more. And it is more open because there are no large tech companies (or governments) gatekeepers, so you can connect to these websites and applications in completely different ways.

Somewhat confused? never mind. Let's go back and review the basic structure of the Web and the acceptance of the new concept of "decentralization".

Centralized Web: What is a server?

The Internet is a collection of millions of websites and applications, all of which can be accessed by simply clicking on devices such as smart phones, laptops, smart TVs and other Internet ready gadgets. However, these websites must be 'hosted' (or stored) in a certain location. This is where servers come in handy.

The server is actually just another computer that physically stores content on the Internet. When you access online services, websites, or applications, you are communicating back and forth with the servers where they reside.

Moreover, in most cases, applications and websites require a large number of servers. Perhaps very small websites, such as personal portfolio pages, can be hosted on a single server, but web applications that support millions of users require more storage space. This means that most websites and applications are stored on multiple servers in a "distributed" manner.

If you operate a website, application, or service, you will need to provide your own data storage space (also known as a server) or rent from a well-known data storage provider. This is where big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google come in, and part of the reason they have become so powerful: they monopolize the market. These tech giants provide servers and maintenance services at relatively low costs, and people (or businesses) often find it easier to rent servers than to run their own. Large service providers typically have a large number of server farms around the world, making it easier for applications and websites to distribute their storage space across multiple remote data centers.

However, whether running their own servers or renting servers from storage providers, people (mostly) have control over their applications and websites. This model is called "centralization" because the owner has ultimate control over the server, and therefore also has ultimate control over the service. Even though their servers are widely distributed, related applications and websites are still controlled by a central regulatory authority. This is the core of the old web operating mechanism.

In Web 1.0 and 2.0, governments, large tech companies, and Wall Street (to name a few) were the central authorities responsible for verifying your identity, transactions, content publishing rights, and even basic access to the Web.

However, Web3 goes against these principles. It involves decentralization.

What does decentralization look like in Web3?

In Web3, we still need servers to host applications, websites, and services. And servers are usually still distributed around the world. The reason why the new Web3 model is so unique is that servers (or "nodes", as they are called in Web3) are owned and operated by independent parties rather than central authorities. In other words, servers not only have distributed characteristics, but also conform to the characteristics of "decentralization".

This may seem like a trivial difference, but it has a significant impact on the future of the Internet and how we use it. This is both a technical difference and an ideological difference. Decentralization is the core of Web3, which aims to give control of the Internet to those who use the Internet and make contributions to it, rather than large technology companies.

However, from a technical perspective, the Web3 ownership model is not only much more complex, but also more difficult to implement. To have truly decentralized ownership, Web3 needs to rely on cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain and encryption to coordinate nodes and incentivize independent parties to operate these nodes. Then, anyone can build on top of these networks, effectively choosing to use decentralized nodes to host their websites, applications, and services.

Gain a detailed understanding of the technologies that support Web3 and their operational mechanisms.

The result is that networks supporting Web3 are considered to conform to the "decentralized" feature, which means that no one (or multiple) of these networks has complete power or control. No one has privileges such as viewing all network traffic or disabling access for certain users. The blockchain network relies on independent participants (rather than centralized large technology companies) to maintain its operation. By distributing encrypted rewards to individual participants who support the blockchain network, they are incentivized to support the blockchain network.

Applications and websites built on the Web3 blockchain network are called "decentralized applications" (or "DApps"). This term actually only means that these applications and websites are jointly hosted by nodes owned by independent parties, rather than being hosted by a single controlling entity's server. From a technical perspective, anyone can provide their computer as a node to the network. But to be honest, advanced computers are the ones that can demonstrate the best performance as nodes, so most nodes still run under large-scale settings - just without centralized ownership.