What is web3?

Web3 is the name given to the concept of a decentralized internet built on blockchain technology. If web 1.0 was the creation of the internet and web 2.0 saw us move to a social platform-centric internet, web3 signifies a shift into a decentralized, public internet centered on the concept of ownership.
Web3, in essence, puts control and ownership back in the hands of the people using it, ideally creating a more equal playing field for users with less outside control from third parties. The term web3 has become shorthand for all of the elements that make up this ecosystem, including cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, decentralized finance (known as “DeFi”), NFTs, the metaverse, and decentralized apps (“dApps”).
In 2014, Gavin Wood, co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain and the Web3 Foundation, coined the term in a blog post. He wrote: Web 3.0, or as might be termed the “post-Snowden” web, is a re-imagination of the sorts of things we already use the web for, but with a fundamentally different model for the interactions between parties. Information that we assume to be public, we publish. Information we assume to be agreed upon, we place on a consensus ledger. Information that we assume to be private, we keep secret and never reveal.
His post focused on the four main components of what he imagined this third wave of the internet would have: “static content publication, dynamic messages, trustless transactions and an integrated user-interface.” Today, much of web3 is built on these principles.