India Global Forum: The Future Of Web3 And Metaverse

Web3 is seen as the next evolution of technology as individuals take control instead of big corporations through decentralised concepts including blockchain, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens and much more.

It would mean ownership of your assets and data without the need for intermediaries, according to Prateek Dwivedi, the founder of the fifth-generation blockchain ecosystem, 5ire,

While Web 1.0 only allowed for reading, Web 2.0 allowed for writing, including on social media, and Web3 is about 'owning' the data and assets, Dwivedi said during a session at the India Global Forum UAE 2022 on Tuesday.

"The first real application for me is actually the metaverse itself," he said.

Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, flagged a concern. He asked whether decentralisation of data would make it easier for bad actors to scrape the personal data off the blockchain instead of a particular corporation owning it.

“Just because there isn't a person or an authority looking over a certain transaction doesn't mean that it hasn't been looked over or verified on the blockchain," Dwivedi said. "The consensus itself verifies everything, and I would actually strongly believe that's a much better way than an office temp verifying your transaction.”

There is no particular definition of Web3, said Jaynti Kanani, co-founder of Polygon.

“You see the dichotomy in that, right?” Kamath intervened, adding that “we cannot talk about Web3 and build it up to be this massive thing that will change the world but say it means a different thing to each of you.”

Kanani said it would mean not relying on a third party to verify transactions.

According to Nikita Sachdev, CEO of Luna PR, “Web3 will make the world significantly better, and I think that that will mostly be through the implementation of blockchain technology.”

Cryptocurrencies will allow people to own their funds without any intervention from third parties, she said.