Specific visions for web3 differ, and the term has been described by Olga Kharif as "hazy", but they revolve around the idea of decentralization and often incorporate blockchain technologies, such as various cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Kharif has described web3 as an idea that "would build financial assets, in the form of tokens, into the inner workings of almost anything you do online". A policy brief published by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge defined web3 as "the putative next generation of the web's technical, legal, and payments infrastructure—including blockchain, smart contracts and cryptocurrencies."
Academic researchers, such as Tomer J. Chaffer and Justin Goldston in 2022, have described web3 as a possible solution to concerns about the over-centralization of the web in a few "Big Tech" companies. Some have expressed the notion that web3 could improve data security, scalability, and privacy beyond what is currently possible with Web 2.0 platforms. Bloomberg states that skeptics say the idea "is a long way from proving its use beyond niche applications, many of them tools aimed at crypto traders". The New York Times reported that several investors are betting $27 billion that web3 "is the future of the internet".
Software engineer Stephen Diehl described web3 in a blog post as a "vapid marketing campaign that attempts to reframe the public's negative associations of crypto assets into a false narrative about disruption of legacy tech company hegemony."
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