Web3

Web3 is an umbrella term for an internet built on blockchains, where users hold their own assets and identity in wallets instead of in accounts controlled by platforms. The framing contrasts it with Web1 (static read-only pages) and Web2 (interactive platforms like social networks, where the company owns your account and data): in Web3, the pitch goes, you read, write, and own.

In practice, Web3 covers cryptocurrencies, DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and dApps — applications where logging in means connecting a wallet rather than creating a username and password. For example, a user might sign in to an NFT marketplace with the same wallet they use for DeFi, carrying their assets and transaction history with them, and no platform can delete that account.

A common misconception is that Web3 is a specific technology or product; it is a loose label for a design philosophy — user-owned assets, open protocols, permissionless access — and the term is often stretched by marketing. Critics note that much Web3 activity still depends on centralized companies such as exchanges and infrastructure providers. Whether or not the label endures, the underlying components it describes — wallets, tokens, smart contracts, on-chain identity — are concrete and in daily use.