Web 3.0 use cases and applications

Web 3.0 use cases are expected to draw heavily on the web's emerging, AI-driven ability to understand users' intentions and preferences and tailor the content it delivers to them based on personal data that the users control. Much of the content will be automatically curated and delivered, saving companies time and money.

With blockchain at its foundation, Web 3.0 will enable new applications and services based on blockchain technologies in active use today. They include the following:

• NFTs. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a type of unique cryptographic asset used to create and authenticate ownership of digital assets. NFTs will be important in how things of value are created and exchanged on Web 3.0.
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• DeFi. Decentralized finance (DeFi) is an emerging blockchain technology that could be the basis for Web 3.0's decentralized financial services.
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• Cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are blockchain-based digital currencies that use cryptography to secure the processes involved in generating monetary units, conducting transactions and verifying changes of ownership. Crypto will be the Web 3.0 coin of the realm, according to supporters.
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• dApps. Decentralized applications (dApps) are open source applications built on decentralized blockchains. They can be augmented by others, with a record of such changes recorded on the blockchain's distributed ledger. There are already dApps for middleware, charitable donations and social media platforms, among thousands of others.
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• Smart contracts. A type of dApp, the smart contract is already the basis for emerging blockchain applications and is expected to play a central role in Web 3.0. Smart contracts execute business logic in response to events. They're program code, not contracts in the legal sense -- their legal status has yet to be determined in most jurisdictions -- but they're more responsive to changing conditions than traditional contracts. They'll be powerful Web 3.0 mechanisms for blockchain users and apps to interact in trusted ways.
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• Cross-chain bridges. Blockchains will be numerous in the Web 3.0 world, and enabling a degree of interoperability across them is the purpose of cross-chain bridges.
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• DAOs. DAOs could be the organizing entities that provide the structure and governance needed to make a decentralized approach to Web 3.0 services practical.