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Image credit: Web3 NFT Blockchain World Universe – Free Stock Image
You don’t have to be a developer or a crypto maximalist to see that something’s shifting beneath the surface of the internet. Scroll through your feed, visit a local tech hub, or even talk to a few artists experimenting with NFTs. There’s a growing awareness that the web, as we’ve known it, is evolving. This isn’t just about hype cycles or speculative tokens. This is about a new kind of online experience, built from the ground up to give people more control over their data, assets, and identity. Welcome to the Web3 ecosystem.
It sounds abstract until it’s not. You hear it in the conversations happening at coffee shops in Austin’s east side, where indie developers are spinning up decentralized applications from scratch. You see it in Chicago’s artist collectives, where creators are exploring new ways to own and share their work without third-party platforms. And in Phoenix, entrepreneurs are using blockchain tools to reimagine how local communities reward loyalty, participation, and trust. Web3 is not a distant vision. It’s already touching real people, right now.
Coins Powering the Ecosystem
Let’s talk about the coins and their function within the ecosystem. These digital assets are often misunderstood. They aren’t just investments. They’re fuel. Ethereum (ETH) is arguably the backbone of Web3. It’s what most smart contracts and decentralized apps run on. It’s the most common Web3 coin when someone builds a DAO, launches a DeFi product, or mints an NFT.
Industry expert Sanghee Yun also suggests that Ethereum is the safest bet for conservative investors. Still, Yun shares some other excellent Web3 coins intriguing investors today. Polkadot (DOT) is pushing the concept of interoperability forward, letting different blockchains “talk” to each other. In a future with hundreds of specialized chains, this type of communication is essential (source: https://cryptonews.com/kr/cryptocurrency/best-web3-coins/).
Chainlink (LINK) solves a tricky problem: how to get real-world data (like stock prices or weather reports) into a blockchain without compromising integrity. It acts as a secure bridge between the on-chain and off-chain worlds. Solaxy (SXY) is aiming to tackle sustainable blockchain infrastructure by promoting eco-conscious digital transactions and smart contract execution. Built with energy-efficient protocols at its core, Solaxy also supports dApps that prioritise low-carbon operations, an increasingly relevant blockchain focus today.
From Web1 to Web3: What Changed?
You have to zoom out a bit to understand Web3. The first version of the internet, what we now call Web1, was essentially static. You could read information, but you couldn’t do much else. Then came Web2, the era of interactivity. Think social media, online marketplaces, and user-generated content. This brought a massive wave of innovation, but it also introduced something more troubling: centralization.
Power consolidated in the hands of a few major platforms with Web2. Companies like Meta and Google became gatekeepers to our data, our social lives, and in many ways, our sense of self online. Web3 challenges that. There are many differences between Web2 vs. Web3 technology, one of which is the use of blockchain technology to rebuild the web on a foundation of decentralization, meaning no single entity owns or controls the whole thing. Instead, control is spread across users, nodes, and protocols.
Why the Web3 Concept Already Matters
There’s a tendency to think of Web3 as something still in development, a future state of the internet. But that’s not entirely true. Yes, it’s early. Yes, there are growing pains. But Web3 is already functioning in the wild, and not just in niche corners of the crypto world. People are using decentralized finance (DeFi) tools to access financial services without banks. These aren’t just early adopters. They’re folks in areas with unstable banking systems or limited credit access. In this way, Web3 isn’t just a technical innovation; it’s a lifeline.
Elsewhere, creators are monetizing their content through non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and smart contracts. This means they don’t have to rely on third-party platforms to get paid. They can mint a digital piece, assign royalties, and get compensated automatically every time that work changes hands. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, or DAOs, are disrupting traditional charity models in communities across the US. They also replace co-ops and startups. These are member-led digital organizations where rules are enforced by code.
A Shift in Trust and Ownership
Web3 challenges how we think about trust. In Web2, trust is delegated. You trust Google not to delete your Gmail. You trust Spotify to track your plays and pay the artist. You trust Venmo to transfer your funds. And most of the time, that trust is earned until it’s not. Web3 removes the need for trust in institutions by replacing it with code. That’s a hard shift for many people to make. We’re used to service providers and brands holding our hand. But when systems are open, verifiable, and automated, the balance of power shifts.
Instead of trusting a company to keep your digital assets safe, you hold them in a wallet only you control. Instead of trusting a streaming service to distribute revenue fairly, smart contracts can automate it. And instead of relying on a board of directors, DAOs let users propose and vote on decisions directly. This new model doesn’t just decentralize the tech. It decentralizes responsibility, too. That might sound overwhelming, but for those who are ready for it, it also feels empowering.
Where Web3 Shows Up
Web3 isn’t always visible on the surface, and that’s part of what makes it easy to overlook. But it’s popping up in more familiar places than you might think. Artists are using NFTs to create access passes for live shows or digital galleries in urban neighborhoods. There are multiple other use cases for NFTs at live events. Smart contracts are also replacing invoices and escrow in the freelance community, while entire economies are being built on blockchain in games, where players actually own the assets they earn.
There are even efforts to bring public records, like property titles or local government decisions, onto blockchain systems. It’s not flashy, but it solves real problems like fraud and inefficiency. And these ideas are no longer siloed in San Francisco or New York. They’re happening in tech incubators in Austin, artist spaces in Chicago, and coworking labs in Phoenix. Local innovation, fueled by global infrastructure.