Web 3.0 in Every Home

or the Internet world trends for 2024

Web3 has been a buzzword for a few years now. More and more, we hear about its evolving versions and the groundbreaking changes it's set to bring. However, before we start contemplating the impact of Web4 or Web5, let's slow down for a moment (if slowing down is even possible in this world) and consider where we'll be by the end of 2024. Quo Vadis, Web3?

I'm convinced that the world of Web3 is heading towards the realm of Web2. Yes, you read that right. This is the most significant and noticeable trend. Let me share my observations to explain better what I mean. But first, I'd like to start with something that surprised the entire world in 2023.

ChatGPT and Truly Personalized Content

One of the biggest surprises of 2023 was the rise of LLMs and ChatGPT. Their emergence led to a spectacular boom in content generation of various forms, making every entrepreneur ponder, if only for a moment, how to utilize this nearly magical capability. Of course, the internet world benefitted from this, but I believe this is just the beginning. One of the most ambitious and long-awaited expectations of Web3 is "content personalization". Personalization not as in displaying search results in a user-adapted order, but generating content (like responses to questions) through artificial intelligence. I personally believe this is just the start of a shift, and soon we will see AI-generated content in other forms like video or audio. Examples? Adapting web pages for the visually impaired or those with color vision disorders, creating diagrams that explain complex processes with varying levels of detail depending on the audience. These are just a few examples that can already be identified. I'm sure reality will pleasantly surprise us in this area.

User Experience

So, what about this Web3 moving towards Web2?

From the beginning, Web2 focused on one aspect that set it apart from its predecessor - user engagement. I believe this factor contributed greatly to the popularization of the Internet and (unfortunately) was neglected by Web3. Today, we are catching up in various ways.

Account Abstraction

This ominously sounding term is nothing more than simplifying the way to enter the blockchain world. In the traditional model, we need to create a wallet that often remembers or writes down (preferably on an analog medium) a very long-phrase that makes no logical sense. At this point, users often start to doubt, realizing they are just at the beginning of a long journey. To put it in modern youth lingo: “totally a nightmare”.

What’s changing? Well, we are finally starting to use “social login” solutions in blockchain-operating applications. It doesn’t mean that we can buy tokens without a crypto wallet. It means that the creation of the wallet is hidden from the users, and the wallet itself is generated based on the data from the “social login”. Undoubtedly, most new solutions in the coming year will be based on this authentication method, significantly contributing to the popularization of the Web3 world.

Digital Identity

Let's face it - blockchain has a PR problem. Often associated with malpractices, frauds, scams... almost like the DarkNet. Fortunately, much good is happening in this area, too. Legal regulations in the EU and US will make this market more transparent regarding "who is on the other side". More and more individuals and companies would like to work with blockchain but also want to work with reliable partners who are not afraid to show their "digital face". The combination of digital identity and reputation is the second area where significant changes will occur in 2024. Changes for the better!

Layer 2

As I mentioned before, the world of web3 is not that new. It has been developing for quite a few years, but never really emerged in a broader context. One bottleneck was the infrastructure and assumptions of building the networks themselves. Their throughput was (is?) limited. For this reason, many networks decided to build abstractions whose job is to increase throughput, reduce transaction costs, and speed up the entire network. After all, what kind of upgrade to Web3 is it if we have to accept minute-long waits for transactions that in Web2 were executed in a second? Layer 2 will address all these three issues. The most important for us will be (again!) the user experience, because no one likes to downgrade, and that’s the impression one might get stepping into the world of Web3.

Layer 0

The Internet is perceived as one place. Yes, there are different sites, services, URLs... but no one exits the "Meta Internet" to jump into "Insta Internet" or "Twitter Internet". Unfortunately, with Web3 and blockchain solutions, it's different. Starting from the very beginning, like creating wallets, transferring tokens between networks, to using various apps operating on different networks - users always feel like they are on separate islands, which, although they talk about freedom and "community", actually operate in a completely detached and independent way. However, many signs indicate that this year will be different in this area too. No, we are not yet at the stage where we have a "common blockchain", but more and more solutions allow transferring assets between networks and using them the way the user wants. It’s the beginning of a significant change in our perception... but I'll probably write about that next year in the trends for 2025 ??

Metaverse

The virtual world is a topic for a whole series of articles, if not books. If I start it as part of the bigger article and will try to address it in two paragraphs - I’m already lost. So instead of that let me recommend to you article wrote by Alex Howland, Ph.D. , which focus on this topic: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/metaverse-predictions-2024-alex-howland-ph-d--h5fee/

Fuel for the changes

Everything in life requires a spark – and in the world of blockchain and Web3, that spark is innovation and trust. The last few years have been like a rollercoaster without safety belts for the industry. The falls of giants like FTX and Luna reminded us that even in the virtual world, gravity exists. Companies like IBM and Maersk withdrawing from blockchain projects further cooled the market enthusiasm.

Now, as 2024 welcomes us with open arms, blockchain seems to be shaking off the dust. A new era of legal regulations has begun, which, instead of hiding blockchain behind an iron curtain, introduce it to the parlors – those institutional ones. ETFs are looking more boldly at investments related to ETH, and the upcoming BTC halving is like a detonator in investors' hands. Will it be enough to fuel the next wave of innovation in blockchain and Web3? Time will tell, but one thing is certain – the world of blockchain never lacks emotions and surprising plot twists.