Despite the prospect and hype around web3, it does have its own limitations. These limitations have continued to hinder its widespread adoption. But, it is not in doubt that the technology is the next evolution of the World Wide Web. Notably, web3 came alive as the third generation of the World Wide Web, succeeding the centralized web2. The new technology introduces a web without the presence of a centralized authority. This simply means we can refer to web3 as a decentralized web. In a bid to actualize its focus on decentralization of the internet, it relies on both distributed ledger technology and blockchain.
Gavin Wood’s view on Web3
Meanwhile, the term web3 was coined by Ethereum co-founder, Gavin Wood in 2014. He views the new internet ecosystem as a technology with potential to bring about enhanced data security, scalability and privacy. Wood’s position is that the internet should not continue to be under the control of a few big wigs in the industry. This thus explains why the new internet is targeted at returning power to the users.
It introduces equal access and eliminates the need for third parties as obtainable in web2. Rather, web3 maximizes incentives and other economic strategies to function well. With this, users have ultimate control over their data, thereby fostering privacy and trust. The data is protected on the blockchain through private and public key cryptography.
Notably, web3 is designed to avail several decentralized services like DeFi, dApps, and many more. Today, many of these projects have started transiting to the new internet to provide advanced services to their users. Similarly, web3 helps to foster operational transparency. It achieves this through its reliance on the blockchain. By virtue of this, there are specified rules which define how transactions are meant to occur in smart contracts. These rules are usually agreed upon by members. However, despite all these prospects associated with it, it still comes with some restraints.
Limitations
For instance, the properties of Web3 are quite incompatible with regular smartphones. Owing to that, blockchain companies like Solana have resorted to producing special smartphones for users to access it. However, not every user will find this device as a better alternative to some of their regular smartphones. Consequently, resulting in the slow adoption of the gadgets, which in turn affected its embracement.
Furthermore, another prominent limitation of Web3 is that existing technology is struggling to meet up with its demand. This limitation is an offshoot of the aforementioned issue. As a new innovation, Web3 requires its own technology which is not in an advanced stage yet. Owing to that, the existing technological infrastructure is struggling to meet its demands.
Likewise, privacy policy issues are another noticeable limitation of this innovation. Due to the decentralized nature of this tech, there is no central body regulating activities on it. Therefore, making the Web3 landscape look more like an anarchical state where there is no rule of law. This issue, to an extent, is one of the most discussed limitations of the tech.
Privacy Policy present in Web2, against all doubts, has helped it to protect users against malicious activities on the Internet. More so, the absence of such policies will make users vulnerable to some ill-vices on the internet. On its part, Web3 has no remedy to address this issue due to its decentralized nature.
Conclusion
Web3 may look like the next big thing due to some of its exceptional features.Yet, it has limitations which in turn have contributed to its slow adoption rate. As it stands, Web3 may not enjoy the wide range of acceptance its predecessors enjoyed as long as these limitations persist. Nevertheless, the advancement of technology and its evolution could be helpful, and consequently, change the narrative.