Author name: @nobumei (https://twitter.com/nobu_mei)
<aside> 💡 This chapter explains the overall structure of the Web 3.0 market, based on the previous chapter.
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In the previous chapter, we explained "blockchain technology," the core technology of the Web 3.0 market, the global situation surrounding this market, and Bitcoin, which is gaining worldwide recognition as digital gold. The blockchain market size has exceeded $2 trillion, and it is Bitcoin that has led the way in what has become a major movement.
Half of the $2 trillion market that Bitcoin has taken from the existing asset market is being reinvested in a new layer of Web 3.0. The trend has been rebranded as "Web 3.0," and it has become an even bigger trend, and huge amounts of money and human resources are flowing into this Web 3.0 industry.
Please keep this diagram in mind as it will be used as the basis for the explanations in this book.
Overall structure of Web 3.0
The details of each layer will be explained in the next and subsequent chapters, but this chapter will explain the reasons why Web 3.0 is required.
Let's look at the numbers.
The current Web 3.0 population is estimated to be around 120 million, based on cryptocurrency holders.
Comparing this number to the Internet population, it corresponds to the Internet around 1998~2000. Below is a chart of the Internet population and the population holding cryptocurrency.
In 1998, it was about the time Apple completed the first iMac, indicating that Web 3.0 was far from the general public.
Based on the speed at which the past two major technologies, the Internet and smartphones, spread to the general population, some analysts believe that technology will not penetrate the general population until after the one billion user mark.
Compared to the current Internet, the scale of Web 3.0 is about 1/10, but conversely, it can be seen as a market with the potential to grow tenfold or more, and a large amount of money and human resources are currently flowing into this area.
To explain why so many resources are being devoted to the Web 3.0 area, we will look at the reasons why Web 3.0 is being pushed forward in terms of "internal" pressure from within the IT industry, where those who have been involved in the Internet are trying to evolve Web 2.0 into Web 3.0, and "external" pressure from outside the Internet industry, where social justice demands that everyone must agree with Web 3.0.