Three Major Directions of Web3

A16Z founder Marc Andreessen believes that A-Artificial Intelligence (AI), B-Biotechnology (Biotech), and C-Cryptocurrency (crypto) and Web3 are the three major technology directions in the future.

Among them, Web3, as an important direction in the current crypto field, has attracted the attention of many technology companies. Facebook even changed its name to Meta for this reason, and discussions about Web3 on Twitter have also become a hot topic.

Currently, Web3 is still in a very early stage, and even the definition of Web3 is still vague. People mainly refer to the three major formats in the crypto field, NFT, DeFi, and DAO, collectively as Web3.

NFT is the abbreviation of Non-Fungible Token. As a certificate of equity, NFT itself represents consensus value. Secondly, as a unique work of art, it also has appreciation value. NFT allows public creators, engineers, and communities to obtain, trade, and verify the ownership of digital products. Although there are certainly other forms of establishing and proving ownership, proving through public chains can eliminate middlemen and centralized institutions, which greatly reduces transaction costs, as well as the possibility of information loss, tampering, and use by people with ulterior motives. Moreover, due to the transparency of the blockchain, anyone can verify intellectual property rights.

Whether it is BAYC, Cryptopunks or “Everydays: The First 5000 Days”, they have not only been recognized by crypto enthusiasts, but also by art collectors and traditional industrial companies. Li Ning and Longfor Properties both bought a BAYC as a brand promotion medium. The NFT trading platform Opensea has become a large gas fee burner on Ethereum.

Although there are certainly other forms of establishing and proving ownership today, doing so on a public blockchain eliminates middlemen and centralized institutions. This reduces friction and the possibility of this information being lost, tampered with, or used for ulterior motives. Due to the public nature of the blockchain, anyone can verify these proofs of ownership at any time.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi), as the best innovation direction of cryptocurrency, has been sought after by insiders since its development in 2020 because it can maximize the income of token holders. Staking mining, lending, and liquidity mining have become important ways for cryptocurrency holders to obtain income. DeFi has become a killer for the crypto world to subvert traditional finance. What needs to be vigilant is that any financial product promising high returns is a scam, especially in the crypto field. Most cryptocurrencies themselves do not have much value. High yields will not bring more income to holders, and sometimes they will lose everything. The income of mainstream coins and stablecoins is not much different from traditional financial products. DeFi needs to find a new evolutionary path.

People in the crypto world gather together because of common interests or purposes. In order to achieve organizational governance, people make full use of the immutability of on-chain data and the value weight of tokens to maintain organizational operations through on-chain voting, etc. This is the initial form of DAO. DAO is a tool for the crypto world to coordinate manpower, capital, and resources. Although the governance capabilities of DAO are currently limited, it has attracted widespread attention, and even regulators have begun to pay attention to the legal aspects of DAO.

Published at: Jul 3, 2022 · Modified at: Dec 11, 2025