Web3
The umbrella vision of an internet with user-owned assets and identity built on blockchains — part architecture, part marketing.
Web3 names the idea of an internet where users own assets, identity and data via blockchains — contrasted with Web2’s platform-owned model. Under the umbrella: DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, decentralized identity and storage. The load-bearing primitive is the wallet: one key pair as portable login and property rights across applications.
Reality check, 2026 edition: genuine wins exist (permissionless finance, censorship-resistant value transfer, user-owned assets), while much “Web3” remains Web2 economics with a token bolted on. The filter that works: does the blockchain remove a specific trusted party, or is it decoration? Decentralization theater is the category’s chronic disease.