Cryptocurrencies and the surrounding ecosystem surged throughout most of 2021, with Bitcoin and Ethereum hitting record high market values day after day. Institutional investors and retail investors alike joined in the market momentum and speculation in hopes of significant returns. The excitement around cryptocurrencies brought terms like Web3, decentralization and blockchain into the spotlight. With all of the speculation, many have begun to ask whether these terms actually hold merit or are simply buzzwords tossed around to increase valuations.

While governments operate on constitutions, laws and legislators holding centralized powers, Web3 brings governance through mathematical proofs and verifiable algorithms in a system that anyone can participate in. Applications execute publicly and transparently on the network where users are encouraged to audit. Furthermore, assets belonging to users are fully and entirely their own: no government could change the ownership of a user's asset or decide an individual is no longer eligible to participate in the financial system. Web3 guarantees rights for users in a digital world. It is on this fundamental layer of trust that services can be built to run on.

Web3 could be described as the real world application of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. At its core, however, it is much more than any individual technology alone. It’s a movement that’s bringing trust, equity and equality to the internet on an international scale — without regard to borders, race or identity.

Political activist John Perry Barlow wrote in 1996, as the internet was still in its infancy, “We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.” It could be said that Web3 provides the tools for the realization of this dream — Web3 is digital rights and freedoms.

The current internet, running primarily through large tech giants like Google, Amazon, Netflix and Facebook, is undeniably and unapologetically profit-driven. Companies are increasingly incentivized to monetize their users as much as possible. In Facebook's 2021 annual report, they specified that their average revenue per user was $40.96. This user value ranged drastically from region to region, where users from the U.S. and Canada were worth an average of 60.57 U.S. dollars. Users from the Asia-Pacific region, however, were worth just under 12 percent of that: 4.89 U.S. dollars. These discrepancies result in partial or non-existent support for countries deemed “unprofitable” by these corporations. Amazon, for instance, only has country specific sites for 21 countries.

One of the most promising implementations of Web3 technology is in the financial services industry and the economic empowerment that could follow. In 2017, the World Bank found that 1.7 billion people do not have access to a bank account. With the introduction of technologies like cryptocurrencies, any individual living anywhere in the world with a smartphone could immediately gain access to the full suite of financial services that are currently available only to those lucky enough to be born in the right country.

For those sending money home to family members in different countries, the process is no longer slow and arduous with every institution along the way taking a cut. Transactions can now be irreversible, cost fractions of a penny and are available to recipients instantaneously.

This system of “programmable money” is far more than digital cash. It can be used to reorganize societies and resources in completely unique and unthought of ways. The Web3 movement represents a fundamental shift away from centralized powers to a system that’s designed for and managed by its users. In these systems, every government, business and citizen is held to the same standards and given the same opportunities, bringing about a fair and level playing ground no matter their circumstances.

In this new system without intermediaries, trust can be shifted from individuals and institutions motivated by profits directly to the users participating and maintaining the network. In essence, where previously companies and organizations were asked nicely to act in the best interest of its users and avoid corporate misconduct, users now have verifiable proofs and algorithms to validate how some outcome will be followed through.

Backing these algorithms and their verifiable execution are the participants in the Web3 network. These participants can be anyone, from businesses to individuals to governments. Using cryptography, every participant individually verifies every transaction in the network. If a participant attempts to cheat the system, every other participant will recognize and reject their attempt to do so. This community participation in the network is encouraged through intermittent rewards. As the community grows, the network becomes more and more secure. It’s through this community-driven network model that trust can be guaranteed without any central authorities.

The integration of Web3 in our society presents an end to the denial of resources to those who may not have been born in the correct country or do not have the right paperwork, offering in its place economic empowerment and a new provision of rights in a digital space — tools to completely reorganize our societies in a way that benefits every person. As the movement and technology of Web3 grows, it will continue to provide new opportunities for all users who choose to participate.