The rapid pace and innovation of the world can make it easy for people to become lost among the flood of advertisements and social media posts about the next great thing.
Two of these buzzwords driving conversation are “Web3” and “Dapp”. What makes it more difficult is that you can’t just dismiss the news on either term. Many world-changing technologies are in development, and whole ecosystems seem to be growing at an alarming pace.
It might be worthwhile to pause, review these buzzwords, and take a sample snapshot of how they are being used—not next month, not years from now, but Today—in ways that show just how important Web3 is, Dapps are, and just how interconnected the two have become.
While there are many large ecosystems that could be examined, we’d like to target the Avalanche Blockchain ecosystem here because of its architecture, which makes it require the innovations Web3 offers even more than competing ecosystems. However, this dependency can also be leveraged for even greater benefits via its Dapps client platform.
Web3 What’s the point?
Although there are many great Web3 descriptions (and Web1 and Web2 differences), it is best to start with the basics. We will then focus on the key features that truly make Web3 stand out over other internet versions.
A key feature—and key promise—for Web3 is its decentralization. While this may seem intriguing on the surface it just keeps improving as you look deeper. Decentralization means users can’t be easily censored because control is decentralized; though if the dispersed community all felt the same way, a member of the community could indeed be censored. However, the control system is very democratic and there is no coercion for conforming. Decentralization means that a payment service can’t be denied or restricted; payments can often be completed with no personal data, and can’t be shut down because the payments are conducted peer-to-peer. Web3 servers can be almost immune from crashing due to their decentralization.
What is Avalanche?
In many ways, the Avalanche ecosystem can be compared to other ecosystems like Ethereum and Bitcoin. We wanted to focus on Avalanche Dapps, as it’s not built on just one blockchain but three. The Avalanche Exchange Chain (X-Chain) focuses on creating new digital assets for the platform; the Contract Chain (C-Chain) focuses on maintaining the ecosystem’s smart contract and its Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementation; and the Platform Chain (P-Chain) works to build the foundation for validators, platforms, and subnets.
The complex coordination between interlocking chains and dependent chains, which is crucial for the operation of Web3, heavily depends on Web3. Without true decentralization, the ecosystem would not be able to scale up to its massive 4,500 transactions/second capacity—compared to Bitcoin’s 7 Tx/sec and Ethereum’s 14 Tx/sec. The decentralized ecosystem is almost impervious against hacks and censorship thanks to the three chain’s cooperation, which uses an advanced smart contract with a larger consensus distribution.
These elements firmly cascade to Avalanche’s many Dapps, where they utilize Web3 to operate in ways impossible with Web1 or Web2. They are also able to operate autonomously by using smart contracts and programmable business logic. This allows them to save time, improve stability, and make it easier for users. They benefit their customers greatly through direct ownership (self-custody), where there is no need for an intermediary to hold a user’s assets on their behalf. They can operate independently of any threat of censorship, or central body targeting users.
Colony
It is Colony’s Ecosystem Farming Solution. Colony invests its members in DAO to ensure that viable projects are developed across the ecosystem.
Colony, a platform, combines elements from DeFi, token economy and yield-bearing investing; it uses and is driven by the DAO community. Colony makes use of these elements in order to help early platforms by utilizing venture capital (VC). Programs that have been determined and raised by DAO.
Think early in the stage #airdropsAre the best thing about @Colonylab‘s staking mechanism?🤔
You have 5 other features you can access when you stake.
We didn’t call it #EcosystemFarmingFor nothing#CLYProvides exposure to the whole #Avalanche ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/RWvEiiQesL
— COLONY 🔺 (@Colonylab) December 13, 2021
Why Web3 is critical: Normally (Web2), none of these elements would be possible. Traditional VC’s are highly centralized structures, with often oblique decision-making processes that eliminate many great platforms from ever getting off the ground. It allows investors from all walks of life to be part of the VC. This includes generating capital and getting paid when the platforms succeed. Without a Web3 enabled wallet, investors would be restricted from connecting, investing, and reaping the benefits of a community-driven platform for VC.
NFTrade
What it is: NFTrade is a wide-ranging NFT marketplace, which opens the possibility for users to create a fully decentralized NFT, or decide to create an entire collection of NFTs for sale. Users can list their assets on the market to attract buyers and conduct peer-to–peer transactions with Web3-driven wallets. They also have the option to keep their assets themselves, rather than having them delegated to the marketplace.
Why Web3 is critical: The platform relies heavily on the Web3 aspects of decentralization and smart contracts to empower anyone to build their own NFT, which is a complex process without the proper tools. An average user will be able to connect their digital assets to a smart contract and create an asset that can then be made available on the fully decentralized platform. This allows them to connect to other buyers and sellers around the world.
Cryptoblades
What it is: Cryptoblades is an immersive, battle-style blockchain game where users can buy characters, weapons, and fight other players for real rewards. In order to create a decentralized marketplace and platform, tokens are used for the purchase of NFTs and heroes. Tokens can be used to purchase assets and tokens can also be staked for DeFi yields.
Why Web3 is critical: As with the other two Dapps, Cryptoblades relies on its smart contract to manage the various players, their marketplace interactions, and token purchase/sale/stake actions. Web3 wallets are used by users to keep their tokens and NFTs safe and secure. Certain gaming elements can also be recorded on the blockchain to guarantee fairness and transparency, despite being decentralized.
Wrapping up
Though Web3 and Dapps are all the buzz right now, it’s rewarding to see examples where they are hard at work supporting real platforms, real users, and real ecosystems. Web3 is essential for all of these things. As Web3 evolves, Avalanche, other blockchain ecosystems, will continue to look at use cases and provide support services that allow them to bring more innovation through Web3.
Shubham Dahage photo on Unsplash