The internet has always financialized our daily lives, and Web3 makes it more obvious. Web3 explained the birth of the Bitcohttps network. The decentralized cryptocurrency requires neither banks nor central banks but demonstrates a peer-to-peer network based on blockchain technology.
Web3 Explained
Web 3.0 Web3 is the new fad in town. It is still a nascent idea that has yet to materialize fully. But nowadays, if you google the term “Web3”, you’ll find all kinds of stuff. Most of them are highly technical, which an average internet user finds hard to comprehend. Still, there is a need to understand the broader concepts of Web3, especially as an investor. Soon enough, Web3 will provide new financial opportunities for everyone.
The term Web3 was introduced by Gavin Wood, one of the co-founders of the Ethereum cryptocurrency, as Web 3.0 in 2014. It has become a broad term for anything related to the next generation of the internet.
Proponents predict Web3 as an internet that does not require us to hand over personal information to companies like Facebook and Google to avail their services. The web would be generally powered by blockchain technology and AI, with all information published on the blockchain’s public ledger.
Recently, Twitter started to allow its users to showcase NFTs or non-fungible tokens as profile pictures on their accounts. However, it garnered several criticisms and faced many challenges.
What Is In NFT Anyway?
Here are some surprising developments in dealing with non-fungible tokens.
Twitter considers NFTs as “unique digital assets like artwork as a proof of ownership stored on a blockchain.” In promoting the new feature, the social media company provided a briefer saying: they are “digital items that you own.” That promise, linked to varied interests and wealth in the cryptocurrency markets allowing NFT gold rush in 2021.
For example, an artist popularly known as Beeple sold an NFT at auction for $69.5 million. A digital sculptor Refik Anadol is one of the artists commissioned to depict a COVID-19 memorial two years ago. I was sold in millions from his studio’s collection of NFT artworks. Jonathan Mann, an unemployed songwriter, started selling his songs as NFTs, transforming an internet hobby into a viable source of income.
Popularity of NFTs
NFTs have become famous for both memes and marketing, too. Recently, Taco Bell auctioned an iconic and original artwork inspired by their products. Likewise, American clothing company Gap created some NFT images of Gap hoodies. Even the first-ever edit to Wikipedia reached the NFT bandwagon.
Surprisingly, NFT-related collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club created images of ugly primates. It became so popular that an individual ape might sell for millions of dollars.
But it’s not helpful to assume NFTs as a new form of digital art or ownership or technology. Owning an NFT doesn’t confer any rights in the intellectual property underlying the stuff held. People who purchased NFTs have nothing but a digital record—the deed for an item that can be reproduced at zero cost, with zero repercussions.
Forget the publicity around all things crypto. Set aside that for a moment. Does it make sense to spend much on an ape picture? Well, those matters are pretty overwhelming. Anything can be a digital asset—your bank records, your Fitbit data, rings of your smart doorbell, a work email, a viral internet meme, etc.
The internet allowed people to earn money by making it possible to monetize the attention generated by their online life. It has become an asset for hypothetical investment, like stocks, commodities, and even mortgages.
