How will Web 3.0 work?

In Web 1.0 and 2.0, HTML defined the layout and delivery of webpages. It will continue to be foundational in Web 3.0, but how it connects to data sources and where those data sources reside will probably be different.

Many websites and nearly all applications on Web 2.0 rely on some form of centralized database to deliver data and enable functions in applications. On Web 3.0, applications will instead use a decentralized blockchain that lacks an arbitrary central authority. In theory, this more democratic way of creating and affirming information will give users more control over the web and how their personal data is used.

Another difference between Web 2.0 and 3.0 is that Web 3.0 will give AI and machine learning more prominent roles in delivering relevant content to each user, instead of content others have chosen to provide. While Web 2.0 essentially enables users to contribute to and sometimes collaborate on site content, Web 3.0 will most likely turn these jobs over to the Semantic Web and AI.

Web 3.0 will thus be more "intelligent" and responsive because data will be more logically organized in the Semantic Web structure that Berners-Lee envisioned for the first version of the web, and AI will be more adept at understanding it.

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), an emerging governance mechanism in today's blockchain and Web 3.0 communities, could also revolutionize management of the web by wresting control from central authorities and devolving it to self-governed digital communities.

And because Web 3.0 also fundamentally relies on cryptocurrency rather than government currency, financial transactions will be conducted on decentralized blockchains rather than through the current financial service companies.

Both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 were primarily built with the IPv4 addressing space. As a function of the web's massive growth over the decades, Web 3.0 will need far more internet addresses, which is what IPv6 provides.