Article

Web3

August 22, 2026 · Aditya Gupta

Crypto & Blockchain

Web3 is the vision of an internet built on blockchains, owned and operated by users rather than corporations — successor to Web1 (read-only) and Web2 (read-write, centralized platforms). Components: decentralized applications (dApps), token-based ownership, smart contracts, decentralized identity, NFTs, DAOs. Promises: censorship resistance, user data sovereignty, creator economies with direct monetization, permissionless innovation. Realities: technically complex, expensive, often not actually decentralized (governance frequently concentrated). Critics argue Web3 reinvents existing infrastructure poorly; proponents see it as foundational technology shift. Some Web3 applications (DeFi, NFTs) have meaningful traction; many remain conceptual.

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