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Introduction to Web3

Introduction​

Welcome to the world of Web3! This course is designed to take you from zero to understanding the fundamental concepts of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and decentralization. We'll provide you with the essential knowledge to help navigate the Web3 space.

By the end of this lesson, you'll have an understanding of what Web3 is, how it became to be, and the underlying terms used when mentioning web3. Lastly, we'll highlight common risks that you should be aware of when participating in this space.

Lesson Overview​

  • What is Web3 and why does it matter?
  • The evolution of the web and internet (Web1, Web2, Web3)
  • Key concepts used in the field, and common risks in web3

Let's begin!

What is Web3?​

Web3 is hypothesized to be the next evolution of the internet. We had Web 1.0 back in the 1990s, Web 2.0 since the 2000s, and now we have Web3 (atleast that's the idea of this new field). Web3 introduces the idea of a self sovereign internet. What comes with this are stricter privacy protection for users, moving money online without the need of a bank + is cheaper & quicker, a more trustable internet, and a bunch more ideas that we'll later mention in this course.

The Evolution of the Web (the internet)​

EraDescriptionExample
Web1 (1990s–early 2000s)It started with web1, majority being read-only websites aka static html pages. Couldn't do much besides browsing a couple of pages, maybe print something, and then move on.image example
Web2 (2000s–now)Web2 came along and it introduced the idea of a more social internet. Where now people are able to interact and post their own content.Social media, user-generated content, big platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Reddit. Apps became interactive but also a lot more centralized companies (1 company at top that controlled all) started turning to profits.
Web3 (emerging)Web3, which is hypothesized to be the next stage of the internet, it allows users to build applications on decentralized networks, aka a blockchain.Focuses on decentralization (no 1 company at top controlling all, though we do still see this rn), privacy, and ownership in the digital space.

A birds-eye view of the evolution of the internet, no need to memorize the content above as it's information to help set the foundation of what web3 is. Fun Fact: The term Web3 was actually first introduced ~6 years after the launch of Bitcoin by Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot and co-founder of Ethereum.

Note: Cryptocurrency, blockchain, NFTs, etc, are all in the web3 umbrella! Meaning whenever cryptocurrency or NFTs are mentioned, it falls under the category of web3.

Problems within each Web era​

  • Web1 Limited functionality, since majority were read-only websites.
  • Web2 Even though it connects majority of people around the world, it still has its problems such as privacy breaches on its users from centralized companies (Meta, Amazon, Google).
  • Web3 It's a new field so it's hard to adapt to. It also has a lot of scams since the very nature of web3 is self sovereignty, meaning individual users are easier to target.

Terms that are used in Web3​

  • Blockchain: The core definition of a blockchain is that it's a digital, distributed ledger.

Let's break "digital, distributed ledger" down by the definition of each word.

Digital: Online, on the internet.

Distributed: When describing an object with "distributed", it means that the object is dispersed and does not have one central location. For example, All the trees in this world are distributed since trees are dispersed around the world, not all trees are in one exact location.

Ledger: A tracker for all financial transactions that has happened. For example, every buy and sell that's happened at your local gas station probably has a ledger that records and updates every time a customer pays for gas or snacks. So a digital ledger = a recorder of all financial transactions online.

Bringing it all together: Think of blockchain as a Google Sheet that records buys, sells, and transfers on all transactions that's happening, i.e everyone in the world that's using the blockchain if implemented correctly. Any transaction that's happened in the past is verifiable just by looking at the google sheet (blockchain) and looking up the transaction number. This allows people to verify the proof of a transaction happening instead of trusting by word.

Forgot to mention that a blockchain is also tamper proof, meaning people cannot fake transactions or tamper with previous transactions. I myself won't be able to edit this google sheet and fake a transaction or remove a transaction.

  • Smart Contract: Code that runs on the blockchain: you can deploy code onto the blockchain and have it execute based on certain conditions. Ex: Say Moira is running an online shop and Gabby wants to purchase a product. Gabby is able to checkout normally and when it's time to pay, she pays Moria the money. The smart contract is called and Moira receives the money, the contract then executes code that then ships the product that Gabby purchased. Gabby receives product a few days later.

  • Decentralized vs Centralized: Centralize means there's a central entity that controls everything. Ex: Amazon controls all the products that it owns, the website, who it chooses to sell to and etc. Decentralized means that there's no central entity that controls everything. Ex: If Amazon was decentralized, then the community will have a say in who Amazon should sell to, verify where products are coming from, etc.

  • Decentralized Application: Also known as a dApp, it's just an app that's built on the blockchain. Usually involves smart contracts.

  • Token: A digital asset. Could represent money (cryptocurrency), art (NFT), identity, etc. Most of the time when people say tokens, they're usually talking about some cryptocurrency. But the true term of a token is that is can really be any digital asset on the blockchain, such as an NFTs (Non-Fungible-Token).

  • Wallet: A digital wallet that allows you to access dApps, sign transactions, hold tokens, and buy + sell tokens.

As of right now, don't worry on understanding or memorizing what any of these terms mean. Overtime you'll get more familiar with them as you dive deeper into web3 and see them more often.

Common Risks​

While Web3 introduces a lot of good incentives for people to try out, such as allowing people to transfer money online without the need of an external party, users in web3 unfortunately are more exposed to targeted scam attacks. 1 being it's such a new field and we're all boomers when using it, and 2 being the nature of web3 is decentralization. Since there's no central authority, such as a bank, who may have a lot more cyber defense, you being an individual are a much easier target. Individuals are more likely to click to one wrong button and lose their entire net worth whereas a bank would have 2FAs and other security measures to protect your money. But there are security measures that we can take to make sure we don't lose money from scams.

Common Risks to look out for​

Scams are always evolving and with a field that continues to grow, the trajectory is the same for scams. Note that mentioning this isn't to scare you, but to let you know what's out there (the wild) in order to prevent such an attack. Here are a few examples to be on the lookout for.

  • Verify that links are what they actually are, for example www.yahoo.com may seem like it directs you to yahoo but if you hover over the link and check the bottom left of your screen, it will show it's directed to google instead.

  • When you receive an email or dm from someone, look at the time. If an important email was sent at 3am, this may be a red flag so make sure it's legit before proceeding on their ask.

  • If you're on telegram, know that scammers will impersonate your friends. NEVER send money or click links if asked through telegram without verifying that the person is real. Again, even if it's a friend or client, make sure they're the real one! Bots will copy your friends telegram's profile picture, name, and description befre reaching out to you. Double check that you share the same group or have the same message history before continuing. A red flag is a friend that you've been chatting with reaches out to you with a no previous texts in the chat.

In the future, we'll publish more on what to lookout for in the blog section, feel free to send us some of the precautions that you know of!

Assignment​

  1. Watch this What is Web 3.0? (start from 1:00 - 5:30)
  2. Check out app examples of web1, web2, and web3
  3. A bit lengthy but it helps solidify this lesson

Knowledge Check​

Additional Resources​