Today, you will hear a lot about Web3 from social networking sites, media, friends, colleagues, etc. Web3 is the future of innovation of the next generation Internet. Delivers transparency, no middleman enhanced privacy and data control. Opening up many great opportunities for economic, social, and financial development.

But actually, Web3 does not have a clear definition of the concept and how it works. We are in the technology transfer process from Web2 to Web3, but these are two completely different models and very difficult to change, widely applied as a straight line. The time of transition between the two leading technologies is Web 2.5. Let’s learn about Web2.5 with Omatech! 

Web2.5 is the transition between Web2 and Web3, a hybrid that allows users to navigate through Web2 while using Web3. For example, we are using Web2’s interface to interact, buy and sell NFT transactions, Web2.5 will be the bridge between Web3 and Web2 Internet today.

In Web2.5, we will use Web3 assets inside Web2’s infrastructure, including IP, DNS domain from Web2 centralized model, centralized cloud, etc. And it’s challenging to migrate to a new version immediately, so Web2.5 is part of Web3’s evolution–a blend of Web2 and Web3, centralized and decentralized, and that’s what we’ll see this time around.

Any new technology that wants to be widely adopted and used must be easy to use and have a good user experience. If Web3 is called “advanced”, using Web3 today also requires knowledgeable users to be “advanced”.

User experience is one of the problems for Web2 users to Web3. The way we connect the existing touchpoints of Web2 users and bring them into Web3 in the most user-friendly and easy-to-use way is by mixing models between Web2 and Web3, we will see a lot of exciting combinations. Position of the two worlds in the next few years without being completely Web3, which is still very challenging to educate Web2 users.

As an example of the NEAR ecosystem, FLOW has intensely focused on accessibility and user-friendliness when designing features such as Wallet. For regular wallets, the public key string makes it impossible for users to remember and easy to copy/paste errors when transferring money, but NEAR wallet has solved the social problem when built-in. Domain name.NEAR (eg: omatechblockchain.near). In addition, domain name services such as ENS, TNS, SpaceID, Unstoppable Domain, etc. are gradually gaining popularity in the current Web2.5 development trend.

The current Web2 business model of most significant platforms is to provide free services and sell customer data, there will be problems like the law going after. Recently, new rules have been introduced to protect user privacy. The latest, in particular, is the EU user privacy protection act, which many countries will follow. Many Web2 companies have been fined for violating user privacy data, including big companies like Google, Facebook, etc.

The question is:

1. Who owns user data? The company, collector, or user?

2. Under what conditions is the data owner sold?

So, where is the model Web3 aiming to answer this problem?

We will need a long way to shape how user data is stored so that users can control and decide their data. Web3 will help empower users, but it will take some time for Web3 to solve this problem; in Web3 there is no clear way to do it. This is one of the essential things because it will affect the viability of the Web3 business model, and “New data is the Business model of the Web, not Coin, Token.”

The current business model of cryptocurrency projects mainly revolves around increasing the use of Crypto to exchange and sell tokens, and this model will not be sustainable because there is no circulation of value exchange. Cash flow or it is often said merely, is the problem of revenue, cost, and profit concerning the market cap of that business.

The valuation problem based on the actual value of a business through revenue and expenses will always be essential and sustainable, whether Web2 or Web3. Everything takes time, as the limited understanding of investors in the new field, combined with the extreme level of hype, is driving the market valuation of startups related to cryptocurrencies to be pushed too high, similar to DOTCOM, the early days of the Internet. This is the leverage of Web3’s early startups, and everything has two sides; this leverage is both beneficial and harmful.

Cryptocurrencies will not be the main model of Web3, but just the leverage and tool to create easy economic models within these small ecosystems and between ecosystems that use cryptocurrencies. Web3’s business model will revolve around data, bringing user data back to users, who may control, empower or decide to sell their data.

Therefore, in web development, blockchain technology is more valuable and essential than cryptocurrencies because of the direction of protecting user data and a new business model. This is not to underestimate the cryptocurrency market but to show that the current market size is small compared to what Web3 will create. The most apparent illustration for you to understand is that a company with a business model based on user data is that Google is worth as much as the entire crypto market combined.

To do this will take some more time. Currently, there are many promises or advertisements about the roadmap of many projects that will do this perfectly, bringing maximum benefits to users, but I think it is like a promise that flying cars will soon become popular everywhere when the first flying cars were successfully built and tested 10-20 years ago. Every development needs a process to mature.

If Web2 has a monopoly and Web3 has so many vulnerabilities, how can Web 2.5 be beneficial and perfect?

To fully adopt the Web3 architecture, a business model may have to violate some of the same laws as the sharing economy models we’ve seen, and it will take time for these models to be recognized as well. It would require adaptation to comply with the law, but with Web2.5, these businesses can comply with Web2 legislation and still offer Web3 products such as NFT.

For example, current DEX exchanges have many vulnerabilities or anonymity in many blockchain projects that are incompatible with legislation in many countries and international anti-money laundering laws. I wouldn’t be surprised that new generation DEXs will require KYC users but still ensure users’ privacy in transactions by using improved algorithms like Zero Knowledge Proof. … and these exchanges will be able to cooperate with investigative agencies when necessary.

An example of a hybrid model of Web2 and Web3 is exchanges like Coinbase or Binance, which allow people to exchange Web3 assets using Web2’s infrastructure.

In the Web2.5 model, we will solve each step of the way about models of technology, economy, law, etc. In the present and future time, there will be many mixed projects. Between Web2 and Web3, bringing Web2 users to Web3, the model will not be completely decentralized but will solve the problem of stepping stones to Web3 in the future.

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