# Web3 | | **Web3** is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. Some technologists and journalists have contrasted it with Web 2.0, wherein they say data and content are centralized in a small group of companies sometimes referred to as "Big Tech". The term "Web3" was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capital firms. The concepts of Web3 were first represented in 2013. | |-|-| | | wikipedia:: [Web3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web3) | Somewhat of a backlash to the big tech concentration and centralization in [[Social media]] sites and their [[Capitalism|capitalistic]] goals vs [[Web 2.0]]'s more [[Egalitarianism|Egalitarian]] and user-centered emphasis. [[The Web|Web]] [[Web 2.0]] Web3 is different than [[Tim Berners-Lee]]'s [[Semantic web]] concept. [[Decentralization]], [[Decentralized computing]] [[Distributed computing]] [[Cryptography|Cryptography]] [[Blockchain]] [[Cryptocurrency]] [[BitCoin]] [[Ethereum]] [[Fediverse]] [[Peer-to-peer]] ## Issues - [[Environmental Science]], [[Climate Change]] issues - Issues with people being able to avoid taxes - Issues with large initial [[Economic Inequality]] from a few users who have high proportion of wealth in a given cryptocurrency - Issues with scams, hacking, fraud, theft, trust, etc, despite the promise/idea of the benefit of getting away from big scary governments - the nature of the system essentially makes it impossible to redress concerns and recover from fraudulent activity. - [[Sam Bankman-Fried]] - Issues in practicality - often the speed, cost, complexity of transactions are so large you need non-web3/blockchain intermediaries, networks, exchanges, etc. which 1) often defeats the purpose of the original idea and 2) provides avenue to hacking, fraud, etc. - Confusion between use of currency vs speculative investment