Web3 has become a catch-all term for the vision of a new, better internet.
(I personally think this is the silliest, but actually the best, definition.)
Web1 = read Web2 = read / write Web3 = read / write / own
Web3 is the path for all companies to become crypto companies
Basically two things: decentralization and cryptocurrency.
Web3 means getting rid of centralised power and allowing users to take full control. Of their data, their assets, their money. Of everything. That’s the longterm goal anyway.
Right now the big web2 companies offer most of their products for free. But as the saying goes, “If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer. You’re the product.” Gmail is free, but the core business of Google isn’t email, it’s collecting data about your identity and then selling you ads. Gmail is a way of feeding their core business.
One upside of this model is that you can then use that proof of identity to sign into various other apps. One downside of this is that your identity is tied back to Google, who know everything about you.
Web3 allows you to prove your identity without going through that middleman, or that point of centralization. The image below shows how we can authenticate ourselves with our web3 wallets - identities that we own 100%, share with nobody, and are provably ours.