In this episode, join Tracey, Blake and Craig as they explore the exciting world of Web 3.0! The Internet has gone through two notable phases and is currently moving into its 3rd iteration. In the beginning, the internet served largely as a free repository of information, serving only a small sector of society. Then companies found a way to monetise the internet and used it to sell products. As we begin the transition to Web 3.0, the promise of decentralized internet means we may be able to regain ownership of our data. With the invention of NFTs, we now have a system of verifiable and decentralized digital ownership within the Web 3.0 ecosystem. We can program the smart contract linked to an NFT to process certain functions automatically, like royalty payments or change in ownership. In this way, users keep complete ownership of their work with no need for third-party mediation.
Download the Bamboo app and use code CURIOUS for $10 in ETH.
Follow Crypto Curious on Instagram, or send the team an email with all your thoughts here.
*****
In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Crypto Curious acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today.
*****
Crypto Curious is a product of Equity Mates Media.
All information in this podcast is for education and entertainment purposes only. Equity Mates gives listeners access to information and educational content provided by a range of financial service professionals. It is not intended as a substitute for professional finance, legal or tax advice.
The hosts of Crypto Curious are not aware of your personal financial circumstances. Equity Mates Media does not operate under an Australian financial services licence and relies on the exemption available under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) in respect of any information or advice given.
Before making any financial decisions you should read the Product Disclosure Statement and, if necessary, consult a licensed financial professional.
Do not take financial advice from a podcast.
For more information head to the disclaimer page on the Equity Mates website where you can find ASIC resources and find a registered financial professional near you.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Crypto Curious acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today.
Tracey: [00:00:19] Welcome to the crypto curious podcast designed to help you navigate the dynamic world of cryptocurrency. Hello, my name is Tracey, and as always, I'm joined by my pals, Blake and Craig. Hey, guys, how are you going?
Blake: [00:00:32] Pretty well, trace. Thanks.
Craig: [00:00:34] G'day Trace.
Tracey: [00:00:35] Hey, boys! So today we talk about one of the other hotly discussed topics in the crypto space that you may have heard about, and that's Web 3.0 through blockchain technology. We can now prove digital ownership on the internet, and with things like DeFi and NFTs already breaking the mould. Who knows what will come next? A lot of people are now theorising that the way that we all interact with the internet day to day is going to change significantly in the not so distant future. So what is Web 3.0 and how does it tie into the evolution of our current internet? Let's look at the first iterations being Web 1.0 and 2.0,
Craig: [00:01:20] Web 1 was really the first instance of the internet that started in 1991 or early 90s and last until about 2004. So this was when the internet was mostly a bunch of static pages, meaning that when you loaded them, they showed some information that was about it. You can think of it like the first instant the internet was read only there was no logging in. There was no interacting with post. It was mostly where you could just look, and if you wanted to email, you had to do it manually. Think of it like a online magazine, and it was mostly just one big Wikipedia or hyperlink together.
Tracey: [00:01:56] Yeah, I've actually even read a story from back then because in the late 90s, I was actually working for the Tourism Commission over here in Perth, and part of my job was to travel around WA and talk to small tourism operators and let them know that you could actually have a website and show your your tourism company to people in the other parts of the world. And what people on the other side of the world would do is see what you had on offer and you could showcase, you know, whatever you were wanting to put out there. So, for example, they'd see your website and they'd say, Wow, awesome, I'd like to go to Coral Bay. I'd like to do some wild shot diving and they'd see all your photos and they'd read about it. But then for them to interact with you as the operator, they'd then need to email you. And that's the only way that they could then get in contact
Craig: [00:02:47] with a sceptical when you were telling them about this.
Tracey: [00:02:49] Yeah, absolutely. Back then, it was so hard. A lot of them would even say, Look, we just don't believe in internet. That was seriously what I was getting. At some point it was it was quite funny.
Blake: [00:02:59] Well over. Over time, you know, from from where 1.0. It underwent so many improvements, from Flash to JavaScript, which allowed many other features and functionality to be built upon these web pages. And this made it look a lot better and made the user experience better. But still, it was just web pages. And so users of the internet over this period of time were very much consumers, and they went to the internet to consume information.
Tracey: [00:03:30] Yeah. So let's look now where it all started to get interesting, which was Web 2.0, which ran from about 2004 until now. And the web evolved a lot during this time. And one of the big changes was the interactivity on the internet. So companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google, they all profited big time from Web 2.0.
Craig: [00:03:54] Yeah, the good thing about Web 2.0 is that we could connect with each other. We could talk. I mean, right now we're all in different parts of Australia or doing a podcast, and that's become possible from.
Tracey: [00:04:04] Hang on, hang on, where's blight flags in America, in America?
Craig: [00:04:07] And he's still in his, you know, we're still chatting to him. It's pretty crazy. But you know, all of this came with a trade off. You know, we can really say that Web 2.0 was the birth of targeted advertising, and this was the time that users lost their privacy, something that, you know, we gave away willingly and realised too late what we lost.
Tracey: [00:04:26] This meant that not only did we get information from web pages at this time, but the web pages started getting information from us. And this obviously meant more money for these companies, and eventually they realised that they could package up all this data that they collected from us and sell this to advertisers. Yeah.
Blake: [00:04:46] As we started to use these services like Google, Amazon and Facebook, they were all centralised companies and they were collecting data on us so that they could service better content, but also. So outdated to advertise this or help advertisers target us better, particularly Google and Facebook, they're free to use because they're farming our data. And this was all in the hope that they could encourage us to stay within their ecosystems by providing us with better content. So essentially, what we did without knowing it was give up our right to our privacy to use these services for free. And we were happy because it was convenient until, you know, stories like Cambridge Analytica started coming to the surface. But with this data, these these companies yielded incredible power over, you know, public opinion and the narratives that people subscribe to. And, you know, it's very, very dangerous. And I think blockchain technology response in some ways that we can get into.
Tracey: [00:05:51] Yeah. And this is also a time where we realised that the way individuals were being marketed to was very targeted and very specific. So two people could look at Facebook and see two very different feeds. And this depended on who was seeing the feed. So the content of the feed is the company's sorting, whose data was based on the information that you've already been giving them. And you know, it's all about machine learning. So one centralised company knowing all of your data is pretty scary. And I think just kind of plain wrong, I guess.
Craig: [00:06:22] And that sort of really the social media and the free to use parts of Web 2.0 that, you know, went down this rabbit hole of losing privacy data farming. But I mean, Web 2.0 has also come with some pretty cool advancements in technology like online payments and online shopping. Like now, I can buy something from the US. If I wanted to, I could buy shoes and it'd be at my doorstep in about two weeks. I can now use my online banking software where I can tap and go. Didn't need to bring my wallet anywhere, any more digital licence. So, you know, Web 2.0 has come up with some crazy advancements and also in gaming like I can now play Call of Duty with friends all around the country and talk to them online. It's like hanging out virtually, so you know it does. It has come with its downfalls, but it's also come with some pretty awesome advancements.
Blake: [00:07:12] So just in summary, there, you know, we've developed social networks really great ways for information sharing, online shopping, knowledge sharing platforms like YouTube and banking and payment platforms to allow us to do commerce globally. And it all took about 15 to 20 years for this technology to to fully mature.
Craig: [00:07:31] You know, all of these apps and all of these websites are all siloed. So, you know, you interact with YouTube and YouTube only you interact with Call of Duty, Call of Duty only. There's no real interconnected way to trade and to move from platform the platform, but we'll get into this in the next section.
Tracey: [00:07:49] I think that's a good spot to take a break when we get back. Let's talk about Web 3.0. So let's look at Web 3.0. This is the next evolution of the internet that will utilise blockchain technology and the tools of decentralisation in Web 2.0. We with the product as we were browsing social networks, but in Web 3.0, what some believe will happen is that we will take back the power and become the owner of content and data.
Blake: [00:08:18] Yeah, and this will happen in response to web to because of the issues and the limitations of web to particularly around centralisation. And currently, you don't own your data or your digital identity. It's owned by these corporations. And there's very little transparency and which opens it up to breaking trust and and corruption.
Craig: [00:08:41] With Web 3.0, it really ties back nicely to the wire and the core principles of blockchain. So if you haven't listened to our blockchain episode, scroll back to our feed. I think it's episode one where we touch on what is blockchain and what its core principles are. The three core principles that we see the blockchain is aiming to solve is one immutability. Two is decentralisation and three is transparency. Now, if we tie this back to Web 3.0, immutability will be things like digital ownership of your NFT. These digital assets, your images, your content, your art if you're an artist. And the second part is decentralisation, and this is where things like decentralised finance come in. So we have an episode on that on our feet as well. And also DAOs, which stands for decentralised autonomous organisations, which we haven't spoken about yet, but we will get into in this episode. And the third thing is transparency and privacy, and this is how blockchain can take back the power from these big corporations like Facebook, Google, who are using your data to resell to advertisers. So there's a lot to unpack here. So why don't we just start with you guys and maybe talk about how it works with immutability digital ownerships?
Tracey: [00:09:56] Yeah. A great example to share here so that we can all really understand how this works is through artists and through the blockchain technology and smart contracts. Web 3.0 introduces digital property rights for the first time ever, we have true digital property rights on the internet, which is pretty amazing. And these come in the form of an NFT. So artists, musicians, photographers and even film producers can now create bits of property or art through NFTs and launch projects with NFTs. The entire royalty component has changed, and they Ren longer get just a small share of the revenue. With a smart contract and Ethereum as a well computer, you can set things that happen automatically and when the work is sold again and again, the artist then receives the income from the secondary sales. So this is all done automatically via a code written into a smart contract, and these are attached to NFT. So no trust is needed in accountants or companies or an agent, so this is pretty amazing.
Craig: [00:11:03] That's a really good use case for upcoming artists and people who are getting involved in this space. But also, I mean, for the for the gamers out there, I mean, there's a really good use case with NFTs and Web 3.0 in gaming. We touched on this in our gaming episode a little bit, but now you can actually sell assets in the game to move to another game, for example. You know, I don't know how many people play Fortnite that are listening to this, but you can now buy a Fortnite skin, a Fortnite leopard skin. Get sick of Fortnite. Sell it for half an Ethereum, jump over to Minecraft and buy another skin without a theorem so you know you're owning your own digital asset within the game. Whereas now it's you know you buy on Fortnite, you can't sell it. It's sort of stuck in that solid ecosystem, and that's kind of it. So it's crazy to think like what sort of secondary market and ecosystem this will create.
Tracey: [00:12:00] Yeah, it's pretty amazing. So that digital ownership of assets and the second part, as we know, is decentralisation, and this relates to DAOs and DeFi. So Blake, can you touch on on this world for us?
Blake: [00:12:13] Yeah. Adele is a decentralised autonomous organisation, which is a bit of a crazy name, but it's a really core component to Web3, and it allows people to organise with one another on the internet without trusting one another. DAOs have a few really key components we need to be aware of. The first one is that they have a goal or a purpose that they're working towards, kind of like a company vision or a company goal. An example of this could be, you know, a group of people get together and they want to build a blockchain or want to do a charity project. And they could create a DAO to organise themselves. The second? Component of it now is that there's an incentive mechanism, such as a token where participants get rewarded for contributing to the Dow, and this is really important to give back to the people that are helping you helping the Dow achieve its goal. And the third component that makes it Dow really important is the governance framework, so members generally can vote on the direction of the Dow, and it's very democratic instead of, for example, with a company where the direction would come from the board and then the CEO and then the managers. A Dow allows anyone that's participating in the Dow to vote on which projects or which tasks should be collectively worked on together. And whichever projects win the vote are the ones that allocated capital and the ones that are allocated resources. And in this sense, it is very democratic. The way that it works is really based of something called the Byzantine generals problem, or particularly in particular, it solves the Byzantine generals problem for organising people on the internet. But we can Deep Dive into this, you know, your DAO episode that we have planned. It's such a big topic, and it has so many implications that we just want to give it the time that it deserves.
Tracey: [00:14:15] Yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea because, you know, experts say that we could reach a point where every company on the internet is run by a DAO at some point. So yeah, let's let's definitely delve into that in another episode. Craig, do you want to touch on on Deep Dive for us decentralised finance?
Craig: [00:14:31] We do a Deep Dive on this in another previous episode. So if you haven't heard of that, just scroll up on our feed and take a listen. But decentralised finance is being your own bank. Lending. Borrowing. Parking your cash in a decentralised way. There's no credit checks. No licence. All you need is to log in with your Ethereum wallet and get involved. And this really optimises the onboarding process compared to Web two, whereas web to you'd need to provide all this data proof that you can pay it back. Provide, you know, a lot of a lot of middlemen are involved in that procedure,
Blake: [00:15:07] and those middlemen make that whole process very expensive and time consuming, and it touches a lot of regulation as well.
Tracey: [00:15:16] Yeah. And I think another really big aspect of Web 3.0 to touch on is digital identity. You know, privacy becomes the name of the game with this side of things.
Craig: [00:15:26] It's sort of the third point of Web three that really ties back into the blockchain quite nicely is that, you know, Web3, your identity is not 100 per cent connected to your browser history, to your email, to the cookies that are tracking you on the internet. When you're looking at websites and you know, it's tracked bacteria theorem address instead, which may be Craig Dot, ETH or whatever I want it to be. And, you know, instead of signing up to a new website or a new game or new social media platform, we could get to a time where instead of connecting your Google account, you will just connect your third wallet to interact with the platform. Similar to how OpenSea works now with OpenSea, you're just connecting your theory and wallet in a way you go.
Blake: [00:16:10] Yeah, exactly right. And it's going to be really fascinating how this space evolves and your whole identity will one day be verified online.
Tracey: [00:16:19] In a nutshell, what Web 3.0 means is in the next few years, you might be able to purchase items through your MetaMask account, which is your wallet holding your Ethereum and pay using your Ethereum. You might also be able to interact with one of your friends posts anonymously through one of these wallets. And it's not going to be a massive change right away, but more a series of small ideas that come together as we slowly move away from these centralised companies, such as Facebook and Google. While these deals become more popular that Blake and Craig, what do you guys want to give me as your final thoughts on this? And where do you think we could be headed?
Blake: [00:16:59] I think it's really interesting, particularly that you mention Facebook there in your last point, because Facebook has foreseen, you know, the change in the internet coming. And as we know that we recently rebranded to Medha, which is the metaverse and which will metaverse, this will be a key component of Web3. So there's many people moving in this position and in this direction. And even Jack Dorsey from Twitter, he's a, you know, a very famous web to entrepreneur. And now he's recently resigned from Twitter to move on to Web3 projects. So the biggest companies and some of the smartest people in the world are you starting to build out? You know this this web three?
Craig: [00:17:42] Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see where it goes, but I think which projects and what, where I think it's headed. I think Ethereum is primed to take advantage of this world. And, you know, it's got the most developers it's. Already the most used blockchain smart contract platform around, and, you know, is thinking about this other day, like, how do you price something like a theorem? Like what do you compare Ethereum to as a normal asset? Like, it's quite hard to to think about, you know, with bitcoin, you compare it to gold, you compare it to silver safe haven assets. How do you value that? It's going to be really interesting to say, Yeah,
Tracey: [00:18:20] you just got to look at something to like MetaMask that's now got 21 million monthly active users. I mean, that's huge and shows where we're going with this.
Craig: [00:18:29] And then again, this has this has come out the last four years. Essentially, you know, it's pretty impressive adoption, right?
Blake: [00:18:36] There's so much here to explore. And basically what's being built is is a new internet and with possibilities that we haven't previously seen.
Tracey: [00:18:45] And that's it for today's episode. Please keep the questions coming and let us know what you want to know about crypto and send us an email and podcast @ get Bamboo.io Or follow us on social media. For all those details are in the show notes below. And don't forget to write and review us in your podcast app. That's it for us today. I'm Tracey.
Craig: [00:19:05] I'm Craig.
Tracey: [00:19:07] see you later.