“Web3” is the latest in a line of phrases that media pundits and technology evangelists alike have deemed a Holy Grail of tech development. Promises of “a new internet” and killer applications have resulted in much excitement and enthusiasm.
With the term being used so freely, it’s worth taking a moment to re-clarify what Web3 really means. While Web2 can be characterized by central platforms controlled by tech giants, Web3 refers to a variety of technologies and services that enable a new means of exchanging data and value between parties with built-in security, privacy, and efficiency.
Web3 applications in real business settings have already shown themselves to be quietly transformational. For large banks, blockchain can make same-day international payments simpler and cheaper by reducing intermediaries in the process, a streamlining that couldn’t be achieved without a trusted technological infrastructure between parties.
For the past 100 years, the model for energy markets has been the same. Large, fixed power plants produce energy flows with predictable operating parameters and peak periods. A one-way flow of power from utilities to consumers is met with a one-way flow of money in the opposite direction.