Web3 as the Promised Land for Crypto: Are Ethereum Bridges Necessary for Coins to Have a Future?

Unlike everything else on the planet, it didn’t take millions of years for the internet to evolve into its current form. In fact, the internet has essentially evolved through two separate generations since its inception, and it might be about to transition into its third: Web3.

But what does this mean in relation to Crypto and its future? To understand that, it is important to get to grips with the journey of the web so far and where it is projected to go in the next few decades.

Web1 Into Web2

It began with Web1. For those unaware, the first iteration of the internet was essentially a prologue to what the internet could become. It was a collection of static pages, each one information only and hyperlinked to the next one, where users could only passively observe the websites without the practicalities for interaction. What’s more, adverts on websites were completely banned, which meant that the data a user might give away through searches or recurrent activities were not being formulated into personalised ads just for them. It was essentially an information-only tool, a little bit like Wikipedia, designed to allow users to retrieve a very particular piece of information.

In the early noughties, however, the internet changed into what we now refer to as Web2. This is where the web became interactive. Instead of simply being a user, we became active consumers who were directly involved in its growth and capabilities. Opinions could be formed, shared and dated. Apps could be built by anyone. A single video could be viewed by billions. We changed from being the observers of information to being the creators. Vice versa, the web changed from the giver of information to the receiver of information, as centralised companies like Google and Facebook began gathering data from the users of their websites. This data could then be utilised and shared for a price in order to better advertise services to the consumers themselves. Privacy, then, was a privilege thrown out of the window for a streamlined and catered internet experience. 

The Thousand-Year Leap

This is where the concept of Web3 comes into the picture. Whilst it has not yet come into fruition, many analytical experts believe we are slowly transitioning into a changed and updated internet which, if it comes to pass, would be a thousand-year leap in the internet’s evolution. Instead of centralized companies targeting users through their own private information, users would be able to keep control of their own data and only sell it if they chose to. They could exchange information and currency with no middleman, all of which would be operated on a decentralised distributed ledger technology. Decentralisation, then, is at the core of Web3. It would be self-governing, permissionless and easily verifiable – quite the opposite of the centralised organisations which are behind the internet’s most powerful apps and servers right now. 

Most integrally, however, this version of decentralised technology would be the blockchain, which is where cryptocurrency and the concept of Web3 become intertwined. With the price of Ethereum shooting higher, so too is the inevitability that currency is due to be entirely digitised via tokenisation, which will be a key aspect of Web3. This can already be seen with blockchain-supported cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which allows users to easily and efficiently make transactions which are easily exchanged across networks, essentially decentralising finance in and of itself. In short, crypto offers transparency and autonomy for users across the globe, which is exactly what the concept of Web3 is built around. 

The blockchain of Web3 would include this decentralised currency, as well as a capability to utilise any site, whether it be social media, emails and entertainment, and have their data recorded onto the blockchain, rather than through a centralised organisation that is actively targeting their information.

The Implications for Crypto

The build-up towards Web3 is already being noticed around the digital sphere. In 2014, the co-creator of Ethereum, Gavid Wood, wrote a blog post detailing the idea of Web3 and its positives as it emerges from the shadows of Web2. In this post, he cites the ability for trust to spread among multiple different and competing entities on the web, which will coincidentally reduce the amount of trust anyone must place on a single entity. Essentially, he notes the future of the web as a blockchain with interchangeable and interconnected entities which are far more trustworthy and efficient than anything else that has come before it. This is, of course, the same method that Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have been working on, and it is part of the reason why the bridges Ethereum are making are so necessary for the future of Web3. 

At the moment, physical currency can be interchanged to suit another. If one were to travel from the US to the UK, then the dollar can be swapped for the pound, meaning you have the same amount of currency to be used in an alternate financial landscape. This is what Ethereum is attempting to do with its bridges. In order for cryptocurrency to evolve along with Web3 (and vice versa, in order for Web3 to make its intended impact), users must be allowed to gain access to new networks and transactions with a token from any one of crypto’s blockchains. 

By achieving this, Ethereum will be able to achieve the end goal of innovation and security, which would make them an even more progressive and solidified solution to the problems which they have been created to solve. It is necessary that Ethereum bridges continue to grow and connect to one another to create one ecosystem. In a world that is heading towards decentralisation, users will need the capabilities to share information, swap tokens and invest in any decentralised app. Bridges are the only way to truly achieve this, and therefore they are the only way to have a future in the autonomous, user-friendly landscape that Web3 is going to bring.