Once upon a time, the internet revolution kicked off with Mosaic browsers and crashed spectacularly with the dot-com bubble. Humanity learned a costly lesson: every tech bubble eventually collides with reality. Twenty years later, the stage changed, the players changed but the script was eerily familiar. This time, it was blockchain, tokens and Web3 promising a brand new Ownership Revolution. And once again, millions believed they were building the future of the internet.

The Promise of Ownership: “This Time, It’s Truly Yours”

The dark side of Web2 -users turned into data slaves, profit hoarded by platforms, censorship, monopolies- triggered a new rebellion. A group of engineers, entrepreneurs and ideologues put forward a simple idea: “Replace centralized servers with on-chain data. Swap ad-based platforms for token-powered economies. No control, no censorship, no shutdowns. Everything is open, transparent and owned by all.”

NFTs became the first poster child of this revolution. A simple JPG could now have royalties written into the chain, making it unique and letting revenue flow automatically to its creator. DAOs showed us that communities could not only use platforms but own them too.

Web3 introduced a new layer to the internet: the Ownership Layer. A transition from “read and write” to “read, write and own.”

The Hype Waves: ICO, NFT, GameFi, DeFi

This ownership revolution unleashed wave after wave of hype.

• 2017: The ICO (Initial Coin Offering) frenzy. Thousands of copy-paste projects, ponzi tokens and inevitable scams.

• 2020: The DeFi wave. Yield farming, liquidity pools, APY hunters and a new generation of DeFi degens.

• 2021: The NFT explosion. JPEG collections sold for millions. OpenSea broke trading records.

• GameFi: Play-to-earn projects drew in millions but most ballooned, then popped.

And yet, one truth remained: projects that delivered real value and met actual user needs survived. The rest? They evaporated like water in the desert once the hype dried up.

Web3’s Infrastructure Victory

Despite the bubbles, Web3 achieved something historic: it proved that digital ownership was technically possible. Smart contracts, wallets, decentralized exchanges, on-chain identities - these weren’t theoretical anymore. They landed in the pockets of millions.

Today, chains like Ethereum, Solana and Base process millions of transactions daily. Tools like Binance, Coinbase and MetaMask onboarded tens of millions to Web3. The catch? This ownership layer is still under construction. The value it creates for everyday users remains incomplete, the promise, unfulfilled.

Mass Adoption’s Dilemma: Ownership, But How?

Has Web3 succeeded in “sharing the wealth”? Partially. A few successful NFT artists, indie creators and DAO leads stand out as proof points. But for the majority, complexity, friction and speculative noise still cloud the picture.

Still, one fact holds: Being a hype bubble doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

Just as Amazon and Google survived the original dot-com crash, 95% of today’s Web3 projects may vanish but what remains will power the next generation of the internet.

The New Dot-Com: What’s Different This Time?

The first dot-com bubble burst as the internet moved from idea to commercialization. This new one is bursting as the internet builds its ownership layer. The difference? This time, we have a clue. On-chain data. Self-custody wallets. Decentralized identities. Community-run protocols. All of it is being battle-tested now for the platforms of tomorrow.

And this story isn’t over. The next chapter? Bringing the ownership revolution into social networks: the rise of SocialFi. Human connections, communities, social feeds and on-chain reward economies... But is this dream truly being built? Or is another bubble about to burst? Find out in the next chapter of the InfoFi series: The SocialFi Dream.

See you next Sunday.

Once upon a time, the internet revolution kicked off with Mosaic browsers and crashed spectacularly with the dot-com bubble. Humanity learned a costly lesson: every tech bubble eventually collides with reality. Twenty years later, the stage changed, the players changed but the script was eerily familiar. This time, it was blockchain, tokens and Web3 promising a brand new Ownership Revolution. And once again, millions believed they were building the future of the internet.

The Promise of Ownership: “This Time, It’s Truly Yours”

The dark side of Web2 -users turned into data slaves, profit hoarded by platforms, censorship, monopolies- triggered a new rebellion. A group of engineers, entrepreneurs and ideologues put forward a simple idea: “Replace centralized servers with on-chain data. Swap ad-based platforms for token-powered economies. No control, no censorship, no shutdowns. Everything is open, transparent and owned by all.”

NFTs became the first poster child of this revolution. A simple JPG could now have royalties written into the chain, making it unique and letting revenue flow automatically to its creator. DAOs showed us that communities could not only use platforms but own them too.

Web3 introduced a new layer to the internet: the Ownership Layer. A transition from “read and write” to “read, write and own.”

The Hype Waves: ICO, NFT, GameFi, DeFi

This ownership revolution unleashed wave after wave of hype.

• 2017: The ICO (Initial Coin Offering) frenzy. Thousands of copy-paste projects, ponzi tokens and inevitable scams.

• 2020: The DeFi wave. Yield farming, liquidity pools, APY hunters and a new generation of DeFi degens.

• 2021: The NFT explosion. JPEG collections sold for millions. OpenSea broke trading records.

• GameFi: Play-to-earn projects drew in millions but most ballooned, then popped.

And yet, one truth remained: projects that delivered real value and met actual user needs survived. The rest? They evaporated like water in the desert once the hype dried up.

Web3’s Infrastructure Victory

Despite the bubbles, Web3 achieved something historic: it proved that digital ownership was technically possible. Smart contracts, wallets, decentralized exchanges, on-chain identities - these weren’t theoretical anymore. They landed in the pockets of millions.

Today, chains like Ethereum, Solana and Base process millions of transactions daily. Tools like Binance, Coinbase and MetaMask onboarded tens of millions to Web3. The catch? This ownership layer is still under construction. The value it creates for everyday users remains incomplete, the promise, unfulfilled.

Mass Adoption’s Dilemma: Ownership, But How?

Has Web3 succeeded in “sharing the wealth”? Partially. A few successful NFT artists, indie creators and DAO leads stand out as proof points. But for the majority, complexity, friction and speculative noise still cloud the picture.

Still, one fact holds: Being a hype bubble doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

Just as Amazon and Google survived the original dot-com crash, 95% of today’s Web3 projects may vanish but what remains will power the next generation of the internet.

The New Dot-Com: What’s Different This Time?

The first dot-com bubble burst as the internet moved from idea to commercialization. This new one is bursting as the internet builds its ownership layer. The difference? This time, we have a clue. On-chain data. Self-custody wallets. Decentralized identities. Community-run protocols. All of it is being battle-tested now for the platforms of tomorrow.

And this story isn’t over. The next chapter? Bringing the ownership revolution into social networks: the rise of SocialFi. Human connections, communities, social feeds and on-chain reward economies... But is this dream truly being built? Or is another bubble about to burst? Find out in the next chapter of the InfoFi series: The SocialFi Dream.

See you next Sunday.