The majority of enterprises will continue using Web2 for most applications until 2030, but Web3 innovations are beginning to take the internet to the next level, according to Gartner. 

Web3 is a term popularized by Gavin Wood, cofounder of Ethereum, for a vision of the next iteration of the World Wide Web, envisaged as being decentralized and powered by blockchain technologies. Web3 enables peer-to-peer interactions with no reliance on centralized platforms and intermediaries. Users will be able to control their data, privacy, content and algorithms, and smart contracts will efficiently utilize trustless computing, which eliminates the need to trust and pay intermediaries.

Tokens and cryptocurrencies power the business models and economics of Web3, and are built into the blockchain protocol.

Source: Gartner (March 2022)

Web3 provides building blocks for new types of applications. It supports new business opportunities in relation to, for example, the monetization of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in new “metaverse” applications.

The terms metaverse and Web3 are often conflated, but they actually describe distinct (yet related) concepts. Metaverse denotes an evolving vision of a digitally native world in which we will spend our time working, socializing and engaging in all types of activities. Web3 provides decentralized protocols and a technology stack that can be used to build parts of a metaverse, and the new communities and economies that it will enable.

Web3 already provides well-defined, proven solutions that can address some negative consequences of Web2. These consequences include gatekeepers, such as big tech companies and governments, siphoning off end-user data for their own financial or surveillance purposes, censoring users and content, and manipulating customer experiences based on algorithms designed for their benefit. By contrast, existing Web3 applications, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, play-to-earn games and community-organized decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), have already yielded previously unachievable gains for everyday users, investors, artists, creators and communities.

Between now and the end of the decade, enterprises will dabble with Web3 for applications that benefit from new blockchain-enabled business models and new social/gaming networks. In the nearer term, Gartner expects 25% of enterprises to integrate legacy apps and services with decentralized Web3 applications by 2024.

Gartner recommends organizations start implementing applications and processes that benefit from trust-minimized computing and new business models and opportunities that only Web3 promises to enable.

Read the full report by Gartner.