User guide

### What are the application cases of Web3?

Since Web3 is newer than the concept of DeFi (decentralized finance), there are relatively few specific examples. But, as an analogy, just as finance has applications such as lending and borrowing, the Internet is made up of services and components.

Internet Architecture & Services

The internet isn't built the way most people think it is: our internet either works, is delayed, or goes offline. But ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like T-Mobile and AT&T promise fast connections and then charge for them due to their monopoly. In contrast, companies like Andrena and Althea bypass Internet providers by creating social networks within which individuals can operate and get paid.

For example, landlords can invest in an Andrena hotspot, and all tenants can then join the Andrena wireless network, with tenants paying the landlord based on data and network usage. Other blockchain networks, like Handshake and companies like Unstoppable Domains, aim to democratize the existing Domain Name System (DNS), which maps IP addresses to peer-readable addresses. DNS is controlled by organizations such as ICANN and has unilateral control.

### Data storage, distribution and monetization

For individuals like us, data is hard to monetize. But if the data sets of many individuals are in the hands of a large group, it is easy to make a profit. In the first half of 2020, Robinhood earned nearly $300 million in revenue from the sale of customer order flow data. Everyone understands this concept, which is why Snapchat loses money every year, but investors understand that the company has millions of Gen Z users, and the potential value of this data is very high.

Groups like Ocean Protocol, Streamr, and Numerai are building protocols to enable open data marketplaces where anyone can share their data or monetize it (sell it for profit). Data is a fundamental part of our discussion of how value is stored and transferred on the Internet. Data commoditization has yet to happen because data is siled, sensitive or proprietary.

The Web3 protocol provides a means for the marketplace where sensitive data can be shared and proprietary data can be accurately priced and sold. Turning data into tangible data assets (such as tokens) will unlock value and develop a stronger data ecosystem.

Another critical part of data is stored across servers, which is largely controlled by a few large corporations. Decentralized data storage and web hosting services like Sia, Arweave, and Filecoin are supporting the creation of new decentralized applications.

### App and other Internet infrastructure services

We use a lot of services that you may not realize. WIFI, location services (GPS), Bluetooth connectivity, messaging services (iOS, Android), video and audio streaming (Youtube, Twitch, Spotify) and more.

These applications are controlled by giants, and more importantly, the services and infrastructure utilized by these applications are centralized or controlled by a few large companies (such as Google, AWS, Microsoft). New protocols and companies like Helium (open wireless networking), Foam (open location services), Livepeer (video transcoding and streaming), Orchid (distributed and private VPN), and more are building distributed and community-operated services.

These community-run services are cheaper because they can cut out the middleman step. Traditionally, streaming giants such as Youtube offer "free" data storage for content creators for all their videos. Youtube assists users with video transcoding to ensure viewers can watch videos in a uniform format. Delivering all of these services seamlessly locks content creators into each platform.

The protocol in the Web3 scenario can weaken the power of a single company by splitting all the services a company provides to users. Audius (music streaming), OurZora, Mirror (decentralized publishing platform) are all creating platforms where users own the content they produce and have a say in the governance of those platforms.

In the future, content creators will be able to store their data openly, separate from where it is consumed. While these services are inconvenient today, in the future they may be built into the underlying platforms we use every day.

### What are the arguments against Web3?

However, there are also voices against Web3. For example, James Grimmelmann, a professor of law and technology at Cornell University, said: Web3 is a pseudo-concept, which is a product that has been announced but cannot be delivered.

Grimmelmann believes: "Web3 is a fantasy future Internet. It just makes up for all the characteristics that people don't like the current Internet, and even some contradictions." Chain cannot be a solution, because it will make more data public.

### Supervision

At 23:00 on December 8, Beijing time, Maxine Waters, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, hosted a panel on the theme of "Encrypted Assets and the Future of Finance: Understanding the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States". Hearings.

Members of the House of Representatives sought the hearings to gain a better understanding of crypto assets and debate the proper rules to regulate them. The debate topics mainly focused on regulatory methods, stablecoins, investor protection, Web3.0, and other issues in the industry.