Web3 is a catch-all term used to describe the supposed next generation of the internet. It builds on the concept of Web 2.0 which was employed from the mid-2000s onwards to refer to the birth of social interactivity on the internet as exemplified by the rise of the first social media networks.
That represented a paradigm shift in the way people used and thought of the internet. Web3, which takes as its focus the growing relevance of blockchain technology and decentralized peer-to-peer interactions, is similarly being thought of as a marked departure from the internet that came before it.
We’re already seeing Web3 begin to take hold in many sectors, from the growth in popularity of crypto-currency trading to NFTs establishing themselves in the public sphere. Less precisely, Web3 can also be thought of as a means of integrating other new technologies that will likely have a huge impact on the way we conduct our lives online – from artificial intelligence to virtual reality.
As Web3 takes hold, certain sectors will likely be primed to transition the suite of technologies it represents, whereas others of a more conservative bent may take some years to catch up. Below, we’re going to take a look at two industries that, in quite distinct ways, are primed to embrace this transition and lead the way for others to follow.
iGaming
The global iGaming industry is one of the great success stories of 21st-century entertainment, and much of this can be laid at the feet of the fact it has never been one to shy away from the eager embrace of new technologies.
Perhaps this is unsurprising, given that its entire modus operandi is rooted in the creation and propagation of digitized variants of traditional casino table games.
With respect to certain titles, their popularity can even be thought to have eclipsed their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to playing online poker for real money, where this mainstay of reputable platforms has effectively displaced its physical counterpart for preeminence and popularity.
To date, various iGaming providers have toyed around to great effect with early implementations of VR technology. Others have even begun, in earnest, to accept payments in crypto-currencies, though at present, that’s more of a fringe case.
It’s easy to imagine that once the true metaverse experience we’ve been promised rolls around, this is one industry that will be primed to establish itself in cyberspace. Rest assured, the VR Vegas of your imagination is likely just around the corner.
Cybersecurity and Data Protection
Few markets are as primed or optimized to capitalize on the transition to Web3 as the $182 billion global cybersecurity industry. Today, our lives have never been more reliable on digital systems, and a new wave of uncertainty over cyber-crime – both on an individual and state level, has caused government policy and emergent Web3 technologies to work closely on building more robust web security systems to tackle this growing concern.
In many ways, it would be quite inaccurate to speak of this sector as a downstream recipient of Web3 tech, as it has done more than virtually any other industry to build out the underlying framework of these next generation protocols. After all, one of the chief selling points of the Web3 suite of approaches is their far greater level of security.
This is largely a result of its decentralization, which removes the risk of large-scale data breaches through single points of failure.
In essence, this is similar to the way battleships are built with a honeycomb lattice hull design. Should a ship get struck and damaged, only the chamber that was hit will flood with water, thus protecting the rest of the vessel.
Next-generation cybersecurity will utilize blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and the latest in biometric verification to build far more security-hardened tools than were imaginable even a decade ago.
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