1

Web3: The Next Internet Revolution

Shicheng Wan, Hong Lin, Wensheng Gan*, Jiahui Chen, and Philip S. Yu, Life Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—Since the first appearance of the World Wide Web, The following Web 3.03 and Web34 are expected to break
people more rely on the Web for their cyber social activities. monopolies, which is the most attractive characteristic called
The second phase of World Wide Web, named Web 2.0, has decentralization. Web3 is the next phase of the World Wide
been extensively attracting worldwide people that participate in
building and enjoying the virtual world. Nowadays, the next Web and perhaps organizes society as a whole. In the Web3
internet revolution: Web3 is going to open new opportunities for era, users generate content, and the content only belongs to the
traditional social models. The decentralization property of Web3 user himself or herself. What we call Web3 will center around
arXiv:2304.06111v1 [cs.CY] 22 Mar 2023

is capable of breaking the monopoly of the internet companies. a decentralized ecosystem of technology products based on
Moreover, Web3 will lead a paradigm shift from the Web as a blockchain networks that are interoperable and free of tradi-
publishing medium to a medium of interaction and participation.
This change will deeply transform the relations among users tionally trusted validators such as businesses, institutions, and
and platforms, forces and relations of production, and the government agencies.
global economy. Therefore, it is necessary that we technically,
practically, and more broadly take an overview of Web3. In
Web 2.0
this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of Web3, with 2004 - now
dynamic website, read, write
a focus on current technologies, challenges, opportunities, and centralized
outlook. This article first introduces several major technologies Web 1.0 user-generated content,
1989 - 2001 host-generated authority
of Web3. Then, we illustrate the type of Web3 applications in static website, read-only
detail. Blockchain and smart contracts ensure that decentralized centralized
host-generated content,
organizations will be less trusted and more truthful than that host-generated authority Web3
2014 - now
centralized organizations. Decentralized finance will be global, information website, read,
and open with financial inclusiveness for unbanked people. This Web 3.0 write, sensor input
decentralized, distributed
2006 - now
paper also discusses the relationship between the Metaverse and read, write, sensor input user-generated content,
user-generated authority
Web3, as well as the differences and similarities between Web 3.0 decentralized, distributed
user-generated content,
and Web3. Inspired by the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, user-generated authority
we further conduct a novel hierarchy of needs theory within
Web3. Finally, several worthwhile future research directions of Fig. 1: The development timeline of Web3.
Web3 are discussed.
Index Terms—Cyber social activities, Web3, blockchain, de- The Web3 architecture is shown in Fig. 2. It adopts AI
centralization, overview. technology [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], machine learning [6], and
blockchain [7], [8], [9] to provide users with smart applica-
tions. This enables the intelligent creation and distribution of
I. I NTRODUCTION
highly tailored content to every internet user. A digital wallet is
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, there the most important factor for each user because it offers digital
are fewer opportunities for face-to-face communication. We identification services and user data authorization functions.
are more dependent on the virtual world. The World Wide After users take actions on the front end (e.g., browser and
Web has been developed more than thirty years since the software), some request messages will be immediately sent
birth of Web 1.01 . Fig. 1 and Table I show the history of to Web servers for calling application services. Decentralized
the World Wide Web. Web 2.02 allows users to read and AI, machine learning, and other big data technologies are
write content on the website, but the data ownership belongs utilized to improve the user experience and speed up the
to corresponding platforms. This causes a lot of monopoly processes of systems. Furthermore, users’ digital wallets will
companies to continuously pursue monopolizing users’ data. also be used to invoke corresponding smart contracts. In the
meantime, the blockchain server will truthfully record users’
This research was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foun- activities on the Internet. Significantly, centralized databases
dation of China (Nos. 62002136 and 62272196), Natural Science Foundation
of Guangdong Province (No. 2022A1515011861), Fundamental Research
will be abandoned within Web3. Distributed databases are
Funds for the Central Universities of Jinan University (No. 21622416), more suitable for decentralized networks. On the one hand,
and the Young Scholar Program of Pazhou Lab (No. PZL2021KF0023). it protects stored data from tampering and corruption risks.
Corresponding author: Wensheng Gan
Shicheng Wan is with the School of Business Administration, South China
On the other hand, it provides the ability for data validation
University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China. without trust. As Gavin Wood said in his blog5 , “the ultimate
Hong Lin and Wensheng Gan are with the College of Cyber Security, Jinan goal of Web3 is achieving less trust and more truth”.
University, Guangzhou 510632, China; and also with Pazhou Lab, Guangzhou
510330, China. (E-mail: wsgan001@gmail.com)
The emergence of Web 3.0 and Web3 breaks the oligarchy
Jiahui Chen is with the Department of Computer Science, Guangdong and monopoly while creating a new productivity improvement
University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Philip S. Yu is with the University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, USA. 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic Web
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web1.0 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web3
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web2.0 5 https://gavwood.com/dappsweb3.html
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TABLE I: A simple introduction table about Webs

Web Period Proposer Generator Ownership Management Technologies
Timothy John data storage, data
Web 1.0 1989 - 2001 platform platform platform
Berners-Lee transmission
Darcy DiNucci and platform,
Web 2.0 2004 - now platform platform big data, cloud compute
Tim O’Reilly netizen
peer-to-peer, RDF
Web 3.0 2006 - now Jeffrey Zeldman netizen, AI netizen netizen schema, resource
description framework
blockchain, smart
Web3 2014 - now Gavin Wood netizen netizen netizen
contract, cryptocurrency

to monopolies in the Web 2.0 era. The ownership of data is

Front-End visible with the help of Web3 which gives control back to
browser, software, users. A wonderful future world is waving at us, but there
apps still exist some research gaps that need to be filled. Firstly,
HTTPs Web3 sounds like a buzzword, as only a few people can
call/response accurately describe what real Web3 is. Secondly, though the
current literature [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16] had
Internet already taken review on Web3 domain, most of them often
confused Web 3.0 with Web3. Thirdly, since the necessary
conditions for the sustainable growth of Web3 have yet to be
mature, such decentralized applications have been used by a
Web Server Blockchain Service
few people in Web3’s infancy. Besides, most of us believe
CSS, Javascript, Bitcoin, Ethereum, that Web3 will be a huge wave that deeply changes our lives.
Ajax, … EOS, …
Indeed, discussing Web3’s challenges, risks, opportunities, and
RPC invoke future directions is critical.
API call
call/response Contributions: To fill this gap, this article aims to conduct a
Application Server invoke systematic literature review of Web3. This article contributes
Decentralized AI, smart contracts to providing helpful guidance and support for Web3 future
Machine Learning,… research and industrial applications. The contribution of the
SQL article is fourfold.
operation • This is the first article that takes an up-to-date overview of
Database Service the development and challenges of Web3. We discuss the
IPFS, Storj, advantages and disadvantages of Web3 technologies. The
Filecoin, … introduction investigates the differences among the four
stages of the Web and gives a Web3-based architecture.
• We illustrate the main technologies and applications
Fig. 2: Web3 architecture. within Web3. We briefly describe their roles and functions
and how they have an impact on our lives.
• Due to the definitions of Web 3.0 and Web3 being
paradigm. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that many confusing in most current literature, we conduct a dis-
new methods and organizational modalities will replace the cussion about the differences and similarities between
original ones. Web3 establishes a distributed network using them. Furthermore, we also focus on introducing some
blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The decentralized organiza- challenges and issues that Web3 may bring.
tions are replaced by decentralized autonomous organizations • Inspired by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, we
(DAOs), which empower users to take ownership within the attempt to propose a novel hierarchy of needs theory
network. Furthermore, the combination of DAO and Web3 within Web3. This article also examines some current
offers a possible way for addressing the existing issues. For issues, such as privacy, security, law, and government,
example, decentralized science (DeSci) mainly aims to help and then suggests some directions for future research.
researchers eliminate reliance on profit-seeking intermediaries. Organization: This article discusses Web3 in detail. Sec-
The decentralized social blockchain (DeSo) distinctly differs tion II introduces some major technologies within the Web3
from the centralized social applications and solves the profit architecture. Then, we discuss some different types of Web3
distribution issues currently faced. The DeSo developers have applications in Section III. In Section IV, we discuss some
fundamentally designed a blockchain architecture that is suit- differences and similarities between Web3 and Web 3.0. We
able for massive social activities. The revenue generated from also give a deep discussion of Web3 in the rest of the
user creation will be recorded in users’ digital wallets. To be subsections. Sections V and VI introduce some challenges
noticed, the DeSo does not provide decentralized finance. and future research directions, respectively. At last, we simply
Research gap: For a long time, people have been subjected conclude this article in Section VII.
 3

II. W EB 3 M AIN T ECHNOLOGIES [34]. A popular distributed ledger of transaction databases,

We provide a list of common abbreviations in Table II i.e., blockchain [7], is simply a natural infrastructure of Web3.
to simplify the following discussion. As shown in Fig. 3, The blockchain is famous for its immutable and append-only
some main technologies of Web3 can be roughly divided structure. This property ensures that completed transactions
into three parts: data storage, communication networks, and cannot be erased or forged, which protects the system from
computing. These technologies work together to ensure that corruption. Blockchains will take several transactions as a
the decentralization property can be implemented in new “block”, and then the next “block” will connect the previous
applications. one to form a “chain”. The new block also contains the
cryptographic hash of the previous block according to a
TABLE II: A list of common abbreviations Merkle Tree [35]. Therefore, if someone (e.g., attractors)
tries to modify data in a block, the linked block will not
Ref. Full name Abbreviation
[17] Decentralized Web DWeb match the cryptographic hash of the changed block anymore.
The third stage of World Wide Otherwise, this user has to change all blocks on the chain at
[18] Web3 the same time (it is almost equivalent to creating a new chain).
Web (blockchain-based)
The third stage of World Wide Such is the ingenuity of the blockchain structure. Meanwhile,
[19] Web 3.0
Web (semantic-based) the immutable property also helps to solve one of the core
[20] InterPlanetary File System IPFS
problems of Web3: data exchange between different websites.
Decentralized Autonomous
[21] DAO In the Web 2.0 area, different websites can freely read and
Organization
[22] Decentralized Application Dapp write the data of the same user. However, the recorded and
[23] Decentralized Finance DeFi changed data cannot be easily shared with other platforms,
[24] Regenerative Finance ReFi because data is a cash cow. This causes users to have to register
[25] Decentralized Science DeSci accounts at different websites again and again. It not only
[26] Decentralized Social Blockchain DeSo raises the risk of private information leakage but also burdens
[27] Non-Fungible Token NFT users with extensive data management. Once Web3 is built
[28] Fungible Token FT
on the blockchain, according to the immutable nature of the
[7] Blockchain Technology BT
[29] Internet of Thing IoT blockchain, a unique digital wallet represents users’ ID cards
Decentralized Artificial and bank accounts in the virtual world. The digital wallet can
[1] DAI
Intelligence function as a privacy key management tool to identify who you
[30] Secure Multi-Party Computation SMPC are, and the private key is something only the user himself or
[31] Trustworthy Federated Learning TFL herself knows at the same time. On the other hand, with the
[32] Trusted Execution Environment TEE help of a digital wallet, financial activities in the virtual world
will be more like those in the real world, to a certain degree.

Solana
Arweave B. Communicate Network
Filecoin A communication network is a pattern that aims to ef-
Sidechains
Blokchain fectively organize communication information. It is also the
Akash
Plasma
Network
established system where messages can be sent to one or more
GunDB
Layer 2 directions within the organization based on the requirements.
P2P Rollup
Data Storage The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) [20] has been widely
Computation
Geramic adopted in Web3, which is expected to replace the traditional
Hyper Text Transfer (HTTP) [36]. It helps people search
the internet through a content-addressable mechanism instead
of an IP-addressable mechanism. For example, if you want
Helium
Web3 to watch or download a movie (such as Titanic, Avatar, or
Harry Potter), the browser first has to know where the movie
Polkadot Communicate is on the Internet (i.e., the domain name or IP address).
Network However, if the servers are unfortunately closed, you will
IPFS get “404 Page Not Found” error from browsers. That means
Livepeer you cannot watch or download the movie. Others may have
downloaded the movie before and still have it, but it seems
Fig. 3: Several main technologies of Web3. you have no way of connecting with that them. However,
the situation is totally different within IPFS. Each file in
IPFS will have a unique hash value based on file content.
Hence, you just need to tell your browser what you want, and
A. Data Storage then the browser will search for the target hash value from
The research around the area of distributed databases, such IPFS. Additionally, there is no blockchain that is capable of
as P2P databases, has been developing for a long time [33], supporting all kinds of functions and being applied in distinct
 4

situations. The Bitcoin blockchain can deal with transactions based on blockchain, which intends to reinvent how to return
among accounts very well and is more likely a value-exchange data ownership to users and let everyone equally participate
medium [7]. The Ethereum blockchain is designed to act as in it. Fig. 4 reveals a simple instance of a user case within
a platform and promote the development of smart contract Web3, and we provide a detailed introduction to describe how
technology. Polkadot can link several blockchains into an the Web3 system works in this subsection.
integrated network. In Web3, collaboration among different
blockchains will be more and more important. This means that
User
blockchains are able to offer better services while improving
their efficiency and security by reducing unnecessary code. In
short, building rich, information-sharing, and cross-platform
Front-end
responsive web applications is also needed with the help of
cross-blockchain collaboration [37].
sign

C. Computation Digital Wallet

The generated time cost of a block in Bitcoin is around ten

minutes, while Ethereum processes 10 to 15 transactions per Back-end
second. This case reveals that the processing speed of Web3
will be a visible barrier. As a result, numerous academics Blockchain Smart
Contract

read
and developers proposed a variety of solutions. Let’s take transactions transactions
Ethereum as an example. On the one hand, the blockchain de-
mands that all nodes take part in recording transactions. On the
other hand, the massive trading volume on blockchain causes
Computation
communication crowding. The above issues always increase
latency and potentially result in a worse user experience. Hybrid
Storage
Therefore, additional chains are proposed, where the Layer 2
(additional) chains [38] are added to the main chains (that is,
the Layer 1 chains, e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum), and process Fig. 4: A simple instance of Web3.
new transactions faster while reducing the load on the main
chains in the meantime. Though sidechains [39] function as Tom recently plans to buy a new smartphone, and he also
auxiliary networks to a Layer 1 chain, the sidechains have their wants to sell the old one. He opens a Web3 software or website
own consensus approaches and therefore run independently (like decentralized eBay or Letgo) and then publishes a smart
with main chains. If data from sidechains is concealed, forged, contract. The contract records information about the sale of his
or tampered with, the dealing results that the main chains phone, such as the selling price of $200, blue color, complete
receive are obviously wrong. After that, the plasma chains [40] appearance, usage time, warranty date, and ownership. Jim
are likely a tree structure, which compresses the representation learns from a decentralized Web3 compatible service that
of transaction results and then commits it at a fixed interval. Tom has posted a selling smart contract. Jim wants to buy
The difference between plasma chains and sidechains is that the phone and clicks on “buy” button. The smart contract
plasma will check the correctness of transaction results before services first check that the selling phone indeed belongs to
sending them to the main chains. If an error occurs, users Tom, and then make sure Jim has enough tokens ($200) in
are able to safely withdraw from plasma chains. What’s more, his digital wallet. If the results on both sides are true, the
rollup chains [41] compress a certain amount of transaction smart contract is automatically enforced. The ownership of
data on a block at some intervals. The main chains not only the phone will be re-registered as Jim instead of Tom, and
accept the transaction results but also receive information the balance of Tom’s digital wallet increases $200. At last,
about the transaction. Up until now, rollup has been the topic Jim receives Tom’s phone, and then this transaction is done.
of Layer 2 solutions because of its high throughput and low Maybe someone will ask: “if Tom refuses to give the phone
cost. Furthermore, the optimistic rollup and the ZK rollup to Jim, what will happen?” Firstly, the smart contracts already
are both practice solutions with rollup chains. ZK rollup change the ownership of the phone from Tom to Jim. Secondly,
adopts zero-knowledge proof [42] to make sure confirmation the phone cannot offer an unlock service for Tom without
and a tamper-proof record of transactions. It reduces the Jim’s authorization. Thirdly, the blockchain network can easily
validity proof cost but does not effectively save computation. verify the whole transaction process between them. Therefore,
Optimistic rollup is a solution for extending universal smart it makes no sense for Jim to keep this phone.
contracts, but it suffers from the same flaw as plasma chains.
B. Blockchain
III. T YPES OF A PPLICATIONS OF W EB 3 D EVELOPERS
Herein, we further explore Web3 from the perspective
A. Web3 of blockchain. A blockchain runs with a lot of automatic
While Web 2.0 was a front-end revolution, Web3 is an in- protocols. These protocols offer a variety of different web
depth back-end revolution. Web3 embraces a set of protocols services (e.g., storage, transaction, and identity). There are also
 5

some trigger protocols that replace unnecessary and inefficient and technological infrastructure for all citizens of the inter-
intermediaries in Web 2.0. A new song, for example, begins net. Blockchain technology enables nearly instantaneous and
with creation and ends with a publication, which is frequently peer-to-peer digital transactions. Before the birth of Bitcoin,
completed through collaboration. A third-party company is centralized intermediaries, such as banks and credit card insti-
usually in charge of things like the release, rate payment, and tutions, could deal with almost all digital payment activities.
profit distribution among collaborators. There are so many The perfection of bank infrastructure has a great impact on
participants involved that copyright or profit disputes often financial liquidity. Cryptocurrencies are like money in Web3
happen. Nevertheless, things will be simple with the help of [43]. Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies underpinned by
blockchain technology. Once fans confirm the purchase of a cryptographic systems, where cryptography ensures the secu-
song, a certain number of tokens will immediately be sent from rity of online payments without the use of centralized third-
their digital wallets to the creator’s digital wallet. The entire party intermediaries.
process is automatically executed by several triggered proto- Aside from the features of DeFi we’ve already talked about,
cols. If there are several co-creators, the blockchain faithfully DeFi services also use other Web3 features, such as open
records the contribution of each one. The information is open governance and low fees. Financial inclusion, which provides
and transparent, and no one can have exclusive access to it. In affordable and user-friendly financial products and services,
the Web3 era, there will be a lot of talented individual creators. is vital for the economic cycle. Nowadays, if you are living
There is no need to share their revenue with intermediaries, in an emerging country, perhaps activities such as payments,
and this is good news for both creators and supporters. The savings, credit, and insurance will not be easy without financial
immutable property will make sure a creator enjoys rights over and technological experience. Today, DeFi services are being
their works throughout its lifetime. experienced in real life by more than one million people.
Through user-friendly operation and low-cost automated finan-
C. Smart Contract cial services that occur at scale, DeFi services could potentially
The smart contract [9] is a kind of digitalized contract in the evolve and lead to the broader global financial inclusiveness
virtual world. It will automatically execute if some conditions of billions of unbanked people worldwide in the future.
are met. Smart contracts were proposed in the early years,
but due to the trust issue, they have not been widely used in
recent decades. After all, no one will unreservedly believe a E. Non-Fungible Token
stranger will keep their contracts without a reliable guarantee. Non-fungible token (NFT) [27] refers to a special kind of
Fortunately, blockchain technology provides a trusted virtual digital token. It is the opposite side of a fungible token (FT)
environment and then promotes the application of smart con- [28] like bitcoin. In practice, FT represents currency, share-
tract technology. Smart contracts allow developers to build new holding, and other quantitative differences. NFT represents a
applications on top of blockchains. For instance, smart con- collection, an ID account, an IP address, and other unique
tracts can be written to create systems such as authentication, assertions. An FT can be divided into several equivalent assets,
financial transactions, supply-chain management, power distri- and each asset can be freely further divided or combined.
bution, and reputation systems. What’s more, the importance However, an NFT-like digital collection cannot be divided and
of smart contracts on distinct blockchains is different. Bitcoin is usually used to represent specific and unique things. In other
[7] can be seen as a naive smart contract that deals with peer- words, a bitcoin is equal to a bitcoin, but a digital collection
to-peer transactions. Ethereum [18], on the other hand, is built cannot be regarded as another digital collection.
as a decentralized computation network. As a matter of fact, Compared to FT, the liquidity of NFT is obviously lower.
Bitcoin is more likely a neutral bank. It only offers fast and However, NFT also plays a vital role in peer-to-peer transac-
convenient payout and deposit services and does not care how tions in Web3. Firstly, NFT is friendly to individual creators.
or why you do anything. The smart contracts in Bitcoin can be In the Web 2.0 era, creators have to upload their digital prod-
seen as a complete set of operation-locking protocols. It targets ucts to online platforms (e.g., Instagram, YouTube, TikTok,
a single mission: protecting your tokens and ensuring tokens and Spotify), and then these centralized platforms promote
are sent to the right digital wallet. On the other hand, Ethereum products and earn revenue in different ways. Creators and
regards any contract as essentially a series of transactions. The platforms share profits. In contrast, digital creators can directly
state of the last transaction is related to the state of the pre- earn profits from their fans via NFTs. Because NFTs are public
transactions. So, it provides a general mechanism for tracking on the blockchain, buyers rarely purchase fake products and
and updating historical states, and users can customize the get a clearer picture of the creation process. In addition, NFTs
corresponding logic and conditions. In a word, smart contracts are also able to contribute as much as possible to copyright
are verified by the peer-to-peer network. This feature avoids registration, and identification recognition in Web3.
the involvement of a third party. Furthermore, automating
smart contracts frees massive amounts of manual services.
F. Decentralized autonomous organization
D. Decentralized Finance Decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) [21] is a
Decentralized finance (DeFi) [23] refers to decentralized blockchain-based and internet-native organization model that
applications of finance, including exchange, loans, and invest- encodes management and operating rules according to a se-
ment. DeFi is a global, open-source, and accessible financial ries of smart contracts. DAO is also a staple within Web3,
 6

which discards centralized control or third-party participation model in the Metaverse, i.e., the creator economy. Web3
elements. There are three basic elements that a DAO owns: provides a new method and novel paradigm for copyright,
• What the mission of the DAO is? A clear mission is circulation, and value discovery of digital products. This case
the first step for consensus-building among members. Its will deeply invoke the passion of creators, which leads to a
common goal can quickly gather a number of strangers better experience for others. Web3 will encourage more and
to work together. more users to participate in the decentralized Metaverse, which
• How to maintain consensus in a DAO? A well-developed will put all bribes back into Web3 and Metaverse in the end.
organization depends on a complete rule-based system,
including governance, incentives, voting, and punishment. IV. T HE C URRENT W EB 3 C ONCERNS
These rules are encoded by smart contracts and deployed Recently, Stack Overflow completed a 595 developer ques-
on the blockchain, which prevents them from being tionnaire survey, and the result post title is “New data: Do
changed. developers think Web3 will build a better internet?” [48]. The
• What can an incentive involve? An appropriate incen- result shows that most people surveyed had already heard or
tive mechanism ensures that members contribute to the learned about Web3, but only a quarter thought that Web3
sustainable development of the DAO. In some cases, was the future of the internet. The popularity of blockchain
incentives help discover talented individuals from the and Web3 is undeniable, but the question is, will this all stand
masses and encourage them to play greater roles. the test of time?
Thereafter, we briefly introduce how DAO works: Firstly,
DAO founders have to create a new kind of cryptocurrency6 .
A. Web3 vs Web 3.0
Secondly, founders release cryptocurrency to stakeholders
(DAO members). Finally, his or her voting power and influence Difference between Web3 and Web 3.0. Though both
are determined by the amount of cryptocurrency he or she Web3 and Web 3.0 [47] are familiar names, there are several
owns. Additionally, cryptocurrency can be bought and sold at remarkable differences between their technologies and con-
will between DAO members. cepts.
• Web 3.0 [47], also known as the semantic web, focuses

G. Metaverse more on efficiency and intelligence by reusing and linking

data across websites. What’s more, Web3 puts a strong
The Metaverse [44], [45], [46] is a completely new social focus on security and returns data ownership back to
framework that will eventually affect every aspect of our lives. users.
The connection between Metaverse and Web3 appears to be 7
• Web 3.0 adopts the solid pod to store all user data,
a mapping between the productive force and the production where the third party has to request access authority for
relation. Two pivotal elements of the Metaverse (i.e., digital reading user data. Each user in the digital ecosystem will
identity and the economic system) are closely related to be assigned a unique WebID as their identity via a solid
the maturity of Web3 technologies. Web3 ensures that the pod. Web3 utilizes a cryptocurrency digital wallet, which
production relationship is always people-oriented, democratic, mainly depends on users’ privacy keys, to identify them.
open, and global in nature. In the Metaverse era, just as • In addition, both Web3 and Web 3.0 technologies pro-
electrical technology played a role in the Second Industrial vide data security. The major difference is the methods
Revolution, Web3 owns the underlying web-service technol- adopted to reach this purpose. Web3 is blockchain-
ogy and economic support. It will promote the growth of based, while in Web 3.0, new variations of traditional
productive forces. Additionally, before we discuss the relation data transmission and empowerment technologies like
between Web3 and Metaverse, it should be noted that the Resource Description Framework Schema, Web Ontology
development of Metaverse is not dependent on Web3, and vice Language, SPARQL Protocol, and RDF Query Language
versa, because Web 3.0 can also play the same function [47]. are utilized.
In practice, both Web3 and Metaverse are capable of • Since blockchain is a distributed database, data in Web3
impacting the future virtual world to a certain degree. Vir- is difficult to modify or delete; however, data in Web
tual reality and artificial intelligence technologies meet the 3.0 may be changed effortlessly because data may be
requirements for the front-end of the Metaverse. The inno- stored in a centralized database. For instance, a solid pod
vation of blockchain and big data technologies within Web3 may use an unsafe storage approach like a centralized
offers powerful technical support for the growth of the back- platform, while crypto wallets on the blockchain can only
end of Metaverse. Metaverse illustrates how productivity has be accessed by users’ private keys.
changed in the Internet age, from computers to mobile phones
Similarities between Web3 and Web 3.0. Though Web3
to VR and AR devices. By contrast, Web3 is more likely
and Web 3.0 have many differences [47], they share a common
an innovation of the regime. It makes a difference in the
purpose. Both Web3 and Web 3.0 aim to give back data
production relationships that return data ownership to users.
ownership to users and then build a really free and fair web.
The combination of Web3 and Metaverse can be thought as
In terms of data storage, Web3 and Web 3.0 are both likely to
a novel decentralized Metaverse. It creates a new economic
adopt a distributed model to enable decentralization. Whatever
6 That cryptocurrency is not the major cryptocurrency (e.g., Bitcoin,
Ethereum, and Binance coin) in most times. 7 https://solidproject.org/
 7

the next generation of the Web is, both Web3 and Web 3.0 of the chunks and not the entirety of the file, thus ensuring
are ideal virtual worlds for which scholars and developers that only the file owner can access it [51].
strive. Democracy, harmony, freedom, equality, and justice will
be further incorporated into our internet lives. Furthermore,
Web3 and Web 3.0 are still in their early stages. Despite the C. Privacy and Personal Data in Web3
publication of massive business products with Web3 and Web In the Web3 world, some people who dislike the poor
3.0, they have yet to walk a long growth path. underlying technologies will do some nesting based on the
original infrastructure. However, the problems brought about
by these “stacked houses” may exceed the harm caused by
B. Data Storage in Web3
outdated planning and even become a worse fusion of the
As users’ awareness of data ownership grows, the disad- shortcomings between Web 2.0 and Web3. For example, after
vantages of Web 2.0’s data storage model (e.g., centralized NFT becomes popular, fractional NFT (F-NFT) occurs, which
storage) are gradually exposed. Commercial companies require uses the idea of FT to dismantle NFTs. The Centralized
users to trust them in order to provide storage services. While DeFi (CeDeFi) has been proposed to modify the traditional
users enjoy convenience, they also lose ownership of data, cryptocurrency model and is expected to hold costs down.
because operators may change user data intentionally or unin- Several subsequent thoughts are conducted using the simple
tentionally at any time. Web3 will use a new storage model, examples of the above scenario applications. Firstly, the fusion
namely decentralized storage. Nevertheless, even though Web3 of centralization and decentralization ideas in products is
runs on blockchain, it cannot be achieved solely on blockchain. perfect, but it may be a castle in the air. On the one hand, this
There are some problems in using the blockchain to store kind of fusion approach is more complicated than utilizing
all data [49]. On the one hand, the blockchain’s transaction either centralization or decentralization alone. On the other
speed is far from adequate for dealing with massive amounts hand, because of the lack of supervision among CeDeFi,
of data. On the other hand, storing massive data violates the many frauds have happened in the last few years. Second, due
design of the blockchain. The original idea was to store only a to the astronomical value of personal data on decentralized
small amount of representative data for sharing and verification platforms, this type of fusion application or software still
among nodes. For example, an NFT on the blockchain doesn’t exists, with the risk of intentional information leakage. Thirdly,
actually store the actual item it represents, but just a pointer compromise is a kind of wisdom on security issues. It suggests
to data that is not on-chain. Therefore, if these data are stored striking a balance between the costs of protection and attack.
in a centralized manner, once they are changed, the NFT will Considering both centralization and decentralization properties
become a null pointer. Obviously, this cannot guarantee the at the same time undoubtedly adds to the development burden.
lifetime and unique characteristics that NFT claims. In addition
to ensuring users’ data ownership, decentralized storage is
more cost-effective than centralized storage [50]. D. What Problem Does Web3 Solve?
At present, there are already some decentralized storage Identity authentication at the Web 2.0 stage is a necessary
solutions. The solution of Storj8 is to divide the encrypted but troublesome thing for users. Due to the inconsistent au-
data files uploaded by users into several blocks, and then thentication of different platforms, we often forget passwords,
distribute these blocks to each storage node. These nodes and it is not easy to recall email addresses and security
come from those storage space contributors who benefit from questions when resetting passwords. Web3 will solve these
the incentive mechanism. Only when a certain number of problems with the combination of a digital wallet and digital
blocks are met can the corresponding file be retrieved. This signing, providing a common way to represent the ownership
can ensure that the complete file cannot be obtained when of data, assets, and certificates. Web3’s wallet is a fixed
a few storage nodes are hacked [51]. IPFS is a hypermedia address that is bound to the user’s identity and stores the
protocol that is a counterpart to the HTTP protocol. It has the user’s asset information. Users prove their ownership of the
characteristics of peer-to-peer. The content loads no longer wallet by providing a digital signature [52]. Obviously, they
come from the central server but are retrieved from several still need to spend energy to remember the private key, but
storage nodes. In addition, the addressing is content-based, since the wallet is directly linked to the asset, there will
rather than traditional location-based (such as domain name be great motivation to drive them to protect their private
and IP). Filecoin9 is a decentralized network for storing files key [53]. If users own any NFTs or other tokens, they can
built on IPFS. It has a built-in incentive mechanism and issues connect their wallets to different websites and applications,
a native cryptocurrency to facilitate transaction efficiency. view and manipulate these assets in different ways, and it
Also, there are other solutions (such as SIA10 and SWARM11 ). will all be unimpeded. A number of products already exist
In short, what they all have in common is that the complete and implement the functionality of Web3 wallets, including
data file is chunked and stored with the help of multiple nodes MetaMask, WalletConnect, Web3Auth, and Forform, which
in the network. The storage nodes only have the information serve as apps or browser extensions.
8 https://www.storj.io/
In addition to solving the issue of authentication, Web3
9 https://filecoin.io/ also has a set of advanced solutions to address the issue
10 https://sia.tech/ of community governance. The current common centralized
11 https://www.ethswarm.org/ system of governance is based on discussion and voting,
 8

with venues usually being social media, online forums, meet-

ings, etc. Web3 will enable a new model that addresses
the shortcomings of traditional governance models through
blockchain. Governance on the chain has many advantages, Individual
Value Actualization
including a transparent process and precise accountability [54]. creation, sharing,
distillation of thought
One solution is the issuance of governance tokens, which Social and Belonging
(e.g., DAO)
have become the fundamental decision-making mechanism for open, co-construction, trustless,
DAOs. They are a type of cryptocurrency with immutable cooperation
Operation Model of Economy
ownership and transparent distribution, which makes them (e.g., DeFi)
profit distribution, new economic model
ideal for decentralized decision-making [55]. By voting, token
holders can have an impact on the development of new Personalized Services
AI, edge computing, big data, federated learning
products or features. Privacy and Security
(e.g., NFT, SMPC, TFL, and TEE)
data ownership, identity authentication, privacy protection
V. C HALLENGES AND I SSUES
Underline Technologies
Web3 is still in its early stages. It also provides a novel (e.g., BT, and IPFS)
distributed database, communication network
version of the web that lets users have more control over
their internet data and profit distribution. Furthermore, the Fig. 5: The hierarchy of needs within Web3.
rise in risks and challenges is accompanied by the expansion
of Web3. Though some Web3 products have come out with
solutions for centralization and financial activity issues, they network) provide basic frameworks and supports for human
may cause some new variations on these problems. needs on the Web. The distributed database can ensure that
Several risks and problems within Web3. The blockchain data ownership belongs to users themselves to a great extent,
is one of the core components of Web3, which means that while a redundant backup strategy protects users’ data from
the classic “Impossible Triangle” problem of blockchain tech- corruption and falsification. Secondly, privacy and security
nology is inevitable. The problem refers to the fact that not only ensure that Web3 applications hold on the decen-
decentralization, scalability, and security cannot be compatible tralization property, but also intuitively affect the interests
at the same time [56]. For instance, some Web3 products of users. Therefore, the trusted execution environment (TEE)
increase the number of users by improving scalability and [32], [58] functions between software and hardware, which
reducing the generation time of blocks to accelerate compu- provides a low extra cost and medium protection framework
tation speed and cost [14]. Though the approaches described for device security. TEE allows developers to create secure ap-
above aim to improve the user experience, they increase the plications because it provides rich user interfaces and external
likelihood of making the blockchain vulnerable to hacking. connection capabilities. TEE can safely get users’ tokens (like
Hence, researchers in Web3 should consider how to make NTF) and make identity authentication according to trusted
compromises and trade-offs among these three vital properties. user interfaces. Nevertheless, the pursuit of security protection
Another severe issue that is a barrier to the development may end up invading personal privacy. Therefore, trustworthy
of Web3 is financial fraud (which includes cryptocurrency federated learning (TFL) [31] and secure multiparty compu-
and NFT). The most common way is called “exit scam12 ”. tation (SMPC) [30] ensure that data leakage does not occur
Encryption developers use various false propaganda to attract while Web3 products authenticate identity.
early investors to participate in a project, and then abandon
Against the background of a rebalancing towards privacy
the project or take away users’ investment in a short time.
and security considerations, it is possible that humans achieve
Since cryptocurrency can be launched on a decentralized ex-
higher-level needs. The third layer is personalized services.
change without any audit, “exit scam” within cryptocurrencies
Based on big data and artificial intelligence techniques, indi-
gradually becomes a new kind of low-cost crime [57]. In
vidualized service lets everyone obtain a series of customized
addition, it seems that the usage scenario for NFT is restrictive.
solutions including education, training, and recreation [45].
Considering a simple instance of the asset transformation case,
After obtaining a good education, people will also seek a
Tom plays two shooting games (such as CSGO and PUBG)
decentralized and interest-driven global economic system. That
in the meantime. Does it make sense to take a weapon from
is the fourth layer of the hierarchy of needs within Web3
CSGO to PUBG? Maybe someone will give some examples,
(operation model of economy). The profit distribution will be
such as the exchange of skins or characters, but keeping the
fairer and more transparent. Last but not least, as a famous say-
“game balance” is not easy. Thus, bringing Web3 technologies
ing goes, “The economic foundation absolutely determines the
into deeper consideration is challenging but needed.
superstructure.” The novel economic model will result in new
The new hierarchy of needs within Web3. Inspired by the
relations among people, organizations, and people themselves.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs13 , we propose a novel hierarchy
That’s why the fifth layer (social and belonging) is required.
of needs within Web3, as shown in Fig. 5. Firstly, underline
The decentralized economic model will promote a future social
technologies (e.g., distributed database and communication
environment that is more open, trustless, and cooperative.
12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit scam Finally, the top need (individual value actualization) is the
13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s hierarchy of needs ultimate goal of human development. As a quotation says,
 9

“What a man can be, he must be.” The self-actualization level gratifying that Web3 technologies are gradually shifting from
implies that anyone is capable of accomplishing anything. idealism towards pragmatism. The market for Web3 technolo-
This also matches the concept of the top need in Maslow’s gies has expanded dramatically over the years, and traditional
hierarchy. The low levels fall in line to become the step-by- Internet companies are involved too. Web3 technologies are
step process, and thus the basic needs must be met before accumulating power and building commercial value along
achieving higher-level needs. Every person is finally capable several technology and business branches [67]. However, the
of achieving his or her self-worth with the help of Web3 and inefficient-by-design blockchain systems (e.g., Bitcoin) waste
its derivative products. a lot of energy because of their proof-of-work mechanism.
It is also important to consider how to make Web3 more
VI. F UTURE R ESEARCH D IRECTIONS sustainable while its technologies improve people’s lives. For
There are many interesting and challenging directions for instance, after Ethereum completes the merger, it estimates
future research, as discussed below. that the update to proof of stake will cut its energy usage
New applications. Within the decentralization characteristic by 99.95% [68]. Besides, a new blockchain, called Solana,
of Web3, one of the significant transformations of application combines proof of stake and proof history mechanisms to
development is that people’s learning and information acqui- make itself faster and more efficient15 . This environmental
sition paradigms shift from passive acceptance to proactive issue causes the emergence of ReFi [69]. Though ReFi has
cognition. During the Web3 era, applications will be more been interpreted differently by institutions, it argues for tack-
open and transparent, and users will have a better under- ling climate change, supporting environmental protection and
standing of the functions and goals of these Web3 products biodiversity, and creating a more equitable, transparent, and
[59]. While DAO enables a novel governance model, it has sustainable financial system.
a decisive impact on the development and usage of Web3 Entertainment industry. Entertainment activities (e.g.,
applications. Until now, thousands of DAOs have emerged in games [70], AI-Generated Content (AIGC) [71], interaction
the financial services, investment, content creation, gaming, movies [72], and smart tourism [73]) are almost the eas-
and social network domains. That means we are currently in iest way for encouraging users to participate in building
the exploratory design phase of the DAO. In the foreseeable Web3. Digital reality technology helps humans overcome the
future, we will likely apply the DAO to other areas (such as limitations of time and space on Web 2.0. For example,
healthcare, insurance, education, and urban governance [60]) augmented reality and virtual reality technologies strengthen
and create revolutionary products. The booming growth of the immersive experience of users. Besides, playing games is
demands for virtual and real interaction in offline scenes, enjoyable for all ages. As we discussed previously, Web3 has
online virtual scenes, AR applications, digital twin space, the potential to drastically transform our talents in creation,
digital collection distribution, and the design and usage of a and entertainment activities will shift from being profit-driven
digital human directly improves the quality of Web3 products to being interest-driven. People, especially young people, will
and accelerates their iteration. Web3’s developer ecosystem demand and design more personalized, informative, vivid, and
has created a lot of demand for new types of staff at the creative games on Web3. In return, the related technologies
same time [61]. This will put forward higher requirements actually promote the development of Web3. Moreover, the
for constructing and maintaining reliable neutral platforms and training activities of teams of all sizes can benefit from these
practicing a decentralized concept. types of seamless and mixed reality interactions through the
Privacy and security. Web3’s leading bug bounty platform, “Playing to Learn” concept. Games are only one of the most
i.e., Immunefi14 , had reviewed massive hacking instances, as intuitive and addressable segments within the entertainment
well as cases of fraud in 2022. It conducted an appalling industry, but the Web3 opportunity extends far beyond gaming.
report stating that nearly four billion dollars had been lost
across the Web3 ecosystem in 2022. The report figures out VII. C ONCLUSION
that the major reason is that most users are still getting used Web3 is still in its early stages, and there are still some
to Web 2.0. Most people do not know how to correctly use a problems and limitations with how it works that haven’t been
digital wallet to conduct transactions with others. Therefore, fixed yet. It encourages us to think in new ways about the
it is urgent to construct safer and more user-friendly software World Wide Web and aims to address most problems in Web
architectures [59], [62], [63]. In addition, some underlying 2.0 today. This paper has presented a comprehensive overview
technologies are also required to further improve the security of Web3 and its implementation. Firstly, we begin with an
services of applications, including reconciling privacy and introduction to the motivation for decentralization and how
distributed ledgers [64] and cryptocurrency malware hunting Web3 can serve as a chance for breaking the monopoly of
[65]. In practice, the root cause of large losses within the companies on Web 2.0. Then, we provide detailed reviews
Web3 ecosystem is that blockchain security flaws, such as and analyses of approaches for emerging implementation
51% attacks, malicious nodes, and scalability issues, are not challenges in Web3. The issues include data storage, communi-
completely immune to attacks [66]. cation networks, and computation. Following that, we describe
Power utility. Web3 is expected to change the relations
between productions and return data ownership to users. It is 15 Solana can deal with 65,000 transactions per second, but Ethereum is
about 15 transactions per second, and Bitcoin is down to 7 transactions per
14 https://immunefi.com second.
 10

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