As a vital information space, the World Wide Web has continuously evolved over the years since its creation to keep pace with the technology of the time. Right now it is in the midst of adopting its latest identity, Web3, a version of itself built with blockchain technology. 

Since its widespread adoption in 2009, blockchain has heralded a new age of financial and commercial innovation. For instance, cryptocurrency, despite being a USD 1.2 trillion asset class, represents only the tip of the blockchain iceberg. Last year was all about another blockchain inhabitant, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which also exist on blockchains, made a comeback mostly in decentralized finance (DeFi) to disrupt the traditional financial system. 

User data is now big business, being used to improve products and monetize them with targeted ads. Tech giants like Google and Facebook (now Meta) generate almost all their revenue through such advertising. Web3 carries with it a promise to dent this dominance by decentralizing digital content, giving users ownership over what they post and providing them with opportunities to monetize content without middlemen while keeping their data private.

Critics argue that Web3 sounds too good to be true, and rampant speculation and fraud within the industry is not doing its image any favors. However, venture capitalists seem to think otherwise and have already invested billions of dollars in anticipation of Web3 becoming the next big thing.