Web3 is a term used to describe the next iteration of the internet, one that is built on blockchain technology and is communally controlled by its users. In the past few years, some tech futurists have started pointing to Web3, a term coined by computer scientist Gavin Wood, as a sign of things to come. Web3 is the idea of a new, decentralized internet built on blockchains, which are distributed ledgers controlled communally by participants. Because of the collective nature of blockchains, if and when Web3 fully arrives—elements of it are already in place—it will, in theory, signal a new era of the internet, one in which use and access are controlled by community-run networks rather than the current, centralized model in which a handful of corporations preside over Web2.
