Cryptocurrency transactions could become a mainstream affair in less than two years, and Web 3.0 technology is likely to play a critical role in enabling Internet companies to offer crypto services, according to a report by US-based management consultancy Gartner.
The report, titled “Gartner Hype Cycle for Blockchain and Web 3.0, 2022,” published last month, observed that cryptocurrencies are gaining increased attention from businesses after years of fragmented adoption.
Using the Hype Cycle methodology, Gartner estimated that cryptocurrencies could see “mainstream adoption in less than two years.”
Gartner’s Hype Cycle graph also predicts the growth of Web 3.0, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance platforms (DeFi) and blockchains, among others.
What is Web 3.0?
Web 3.0 was created by British computer scientist and co-founder of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain Gavin James Wood. He now heads the Web 3.0 Foundation.
Wood predicts that in a future decentralized world, all data, including financial, social and art-related information, will be stored on publicly owned blockchains.
What can Web 3.0 do for you?
According to Avivah Litan, a vice president at Gartner, Web 3.0 is a “new technology stack” built on blockchain protocols that supports the growth of decentralized applications.
Litan said Web 3.0 “enables users to control identity, content and data.” It may “include privacy-preserving protocols, decentralized governance, and decentralized application platforms.”
Litan also predicts in the report that new decentralized technologies will be integrated with existing Web 2.0 in the coming years.
Litan explains, for example, how Web 3.0 can boost new social and business models.
Litan said smart contract-managed applications eliminate centralized entities’ middlemen and administrative overhead. Thus, cryptocurrencies drive the business models and economics of the Web3 build.
Web 3.0 supports new business opportunities, such as “the programmability and monetization of creator-owned and managed content in the form of NFTs.”
Earlier, Piyush Gupta, president of metaverse marketing company Kestone, said consumers would be the biggest beneficiaries of Web 3.0. Much like the internet today, ‘Meta Surfers’ can experience, learn and consume in an innovative new way, said Gupta.
How Metaverse and Web 3.0 are related
Litan said Web 3.0 offers many features for the metaverse. For example, she said, “Metaverse can take advantage of Web 3.0’s tokenization to store and exchange value” virtually.
Tokenization refers to the creation of entities that have a value in blockchains. For example, the ETH crypto is the token of the Ethereum blockchain. So tokenization is the process that splits the asset’s ownership into digital tokens.
Will Web 3.0, Metaverse become one entity?
According to Litan, “Metaverse and Web 3.0 will not merge into one entity, but they are complementary visions of a future Internet.” Therefore, the metaverse and Web 3.0 will coexist and complement each other using shared technology such as tokenization. However, Litan said the current Web 2 has the advantage of scale, customer service and protection.
She has also highlighted some potential risks in Web 3.0, including a lack of customer protection, new security threats and the reversion to centralized control.
