The State of Web2

The rise of the centralized internet has been a double edge sword. Our platforms and apps have helped the flow of information, commerce, and exciting new movements gain traction. This has has provided finanual freedom and education for many while also empowering historically oppressed groups which has been a big win for us all.

However, today's web experience often reminds users of how little perceived control they have. The problem with the internet today, aka Web2, is that it manifests how neoliberal capitalist society is structured with the good, bad, and ugly. Almost all engagement is centered around social media and search engines, owned by just a handful of powerful companies or individuals that have extraordinary influence over the future of the internet and society—resulting in a macro conflict between democracy and centralized authority.

Unfortunately, the treasures won through hard-fought societal development have declined over the past 10 years. The virtues of freedom of speech, mutual respect, and liberty of truth hold naught power over the addictive algorithms that happily indulge, enrage, and divide in the name of 'maximizing engagement' for profit. This problem is further exasperated by tech companies becoming increasingly authoritarian, sometimes at the whim of government bodies. Flexing their power with ever-growing censorship of information and invasive narrative fostering. Therefore impacting policy and democratic elections throughout the western world.

The main problem with Web2 is a need for more trust and power over the flow of information and people's assets. No fact is true unless we can find it online and our financial institutions more or less own everything. We must abide if they implement a harsh new withdrawal policy, and when they go bust, users lose everything. In Canada and China, some members of the public are punished by having their financial assets frozen for merely engaging in a protest.

Just ten years ago, 'New World Order-like conspiracy theories were mocked and sneered at as they warned of societal shifts toward centralized power, social credit systems, and censorship. Fast forward to today, and aspects of said theories were worryingly accurate. When Orwellian conspiracy theories hit home, it signals for many that there needs to be significant societal change - starting with the internet.

For that reason, many founders and developers view the emerging Web3 sector as much more than the future of the internet. In truth, it's about empowering society to regain control of the freedom and the values they hold dear.

Crypto, Web3, and The Fight for Freedom

Over the past decade, attempts have been made to 'break the system' politically, which has shaken longstanding establishments to their core. Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn waged unsuccessful uphill battles from the left, and following Brexit; figures on the right such as Donald Trump and recently elected Giorgia Meloni continue to fight the establishment with more success, but this has been divisive and ethically questionable at times. Hence why a different approach is now being attempted through Web3.

The transformative nature of blockchain technology could have the potential to cut through the dogma and baggage of politics, driving change instead through necessity, technology, and the very market forces that got us into this dilemma. Thus Web3 leaders are working to avoid the mistakes of a centralized Web2.

Web3 organizations champion cryptocurrency and NFTs to primarily facilitate immensely secure and financially empowering transactions. While each transaction is public, they remain anonymous, meaning they cannot be traced to the user. Therefore removing the threat of unwanted hacks or account seizures by malicious individuals, institutions, or governments alike, providing a safety blanket to those pesky protesters. Due to the option of private wallets, banks are not required, meaning personal wealth is safe from the decisions of others during economic turmoil or periods of unrest.

New governance systems are being tested with the emergence of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which are exploring alternative ways of collaborative working without the need for a centralized governing authority. The most successful DAO currently is the decentralized crypto and NFT marketplace, Uniswap, a company now worth approximately $1.66 billion. In short, DAOs are a community organized around specific rules enforced on a blockchain. They typically make decisions from community elections, empowering teams to gather in a loose union to execute an assignment. After completing that objective, the team dissolves and reintegrates into the DAO's wider population. Begging the question, would invasive and ethically questionable algorithms even be permitted by the voters of a DAO?

Cautious Optimism for Web3

It took a long time for the internet to become commercialized and then monopolized, which helped to create the moral dilemmas we face today. A worry with Web3 is, in many ways, it was born from greed. Overpriced monkey images, crypto scams, and misinformation show that the industry has a long way to go until mass adoption is possible. When it does, will the Web3 community stay true to its democratic values in the face of immense profitability? The decentralized technology element and the community voting systems of DAOs should act as a buffer to this. However, it's not guaranteed.

Nevertheless, Web3 is a promising start to a new model that could help replace the faulty structures of governance that unfortunately run things today. Idealistic start-ups should avoid opening doors to hungry conglomerates without setting firm boundaries first. They might stampede into the house of Web3 and eat the very ideas which could make it spectacular.

Polygon is Winning the ZK-Rollup Arms Race

The main roadblock inhibiting wider adoption of Crypto, NFTs, and Web3 has been its poor user experience, high fees, and slow transactions. All of this, however, is about to change, and Polygon is currently winning a technology arms race.

Polygon is a scaling solution for Ethereum that provides one of the most comprehensive and secure smart contract platforms. Polygon creates multiple zk-rollups, the name given to layer 2 scaling solutions capable of computing thousands of off-chain transactions, before posting a validation proof on the Ethereum layer 1 blockchain. As a result, Polygon's zk-rollups provide the lightning-speed secure transactions essential for building futuristic Web3 projects at scale. 

The most thrilling of these is a comprehensive zk-rollup named zkEVM. EVM stands for the Ethereum Virtual Machine, and Web3 developers use it as a virtual computer for creating DApps (decentralized applications) and smart contracts, which are the bedrock of next-generation web3 innovation. The arrival of this zk-rollup scaling solution, however, is different. It marks the very first compatible zk-rollup with the EVM making it, without a doubt, a revolutionary technology, and I'll explain why.

While zk-rollups are nothing new, their compatibility with the EVM is game-changing, as most Web3 applications are built using the Ethereum blockchain. There are competitors in this space, but Polygons zkEVM will be the first of its kind. In turn, promising, much lower gas fees, meaning lower operating costs, higher transaction volumes, exponential scalability, and added security for decentralized creators. This will create brilliant conditions for exponential growth within the Web 3 Industries as developers can spend less time on back-breaking migrations. Instead, they'll be free to focus on creating new innovative content such as new Web3 games and DApp technology for users.

Innovative Web3 Gaming Ecosystem

The gaming industry of the near future will likely be decentralized. I grew up playing roleplay RPGs and can imagine the excitement of unearthing super rare and valuable NFT mounts, weapons, and armor while traveling worlds like Red Dead Redemption or The Witcher. With blockchain technology, users can find valuable NFT loot that they could either keep or sell for profit. Hardcore gamers could make a living from this, likely captivating a new generation. This is something Web3 developers know all too well.

Some pioneer gaming projects are experimenting in this space. The worlds of Blankos Block Party, Atari, and Ember Sword are going from strength to strength. However, they are typically very niche and still need to compete with the quality, and talent experience of the big-budget AAA games. After all, Web3 gaming is still in its infancy, so we cant expect them to be there just yet! Interestingly though, Polygon has made moves that will eventually bring this industry in the right direction. 

In July 2021, Polygon shifted its focus toward supporting NFTs and play-to-earn gaming projects with the launch of Polygon Studios, the home of all NFT, Gaming, and Metaverse projects on the Polygon protocol. As a result, Polygon holds the most significant Web3 gaming ecosystem in the industry and has won them favor with multiple large NFT exchanges such as Magic Eden, PlayDapp, and, of course, OpenSea.

Publishers like Ubisoft, Sandbox, Atari, Decentraland, plus countless others have joined the fold, ranking Polygon as the industry champion for decentralized Metaverse and NFT gaming projects. With the launch of Polygon Studios, new games built on Polygon saw user volume skyrocket, with many of its DApps enjoying increases of over 1000%.

As the gaming industry becomes more and more decentralised over the coming years, you’ll likely end up thanking Polygon.

Longterm Investment

In 2021 Investors begun pulling out of energy-burning projects in the crypto space. There was an uproar over the large quantities of energy required to mine transactions/blocks ther were damaging to the natural world. Luckily, Polygon and Etherium were one step ahead of the curve as they moved towards a new proof of stake mechanism. This was a new way to validate their transactions which consumes much less energy.

On average, just 1 kilowatt per validator is used, which amounts to only 788,400 kilowatts per year. Retailers have also benefitted from this, UQUID joined the Polygon ecosystem towards the end of 2022 and now facilitates payments using MATIC. This dramatically reduces transaction energy usage, making the Polygon a go-to for green institutional investment and partnership. 

Additionally, since Etherium transitioned to proof of stake, zk-rollups have become the bastion of innovation within DeFi and Web3. As Polygon has created the gold standard of all scaling solutions with its zkEVM, this provides yet another inspiring incentive for investors. I can picture this compounding with the vast potential of Polygon's bustling Web3 gaming ecosystem, which will likely attract a sea of investment in its own right. 

Before the zkEVM announcement, Polygon's native token MATIC appreciated in value before steadily recalibrating to its previous market value, a standard 'buy the rumor, sell the news' response that's nothing new in the crypto market. However, this will be different during the next crypto bull run, which will be more influenced by institutional investors than ever before. Large investors will look for utility over hype, and Polygon is alluring, to say the least. 

There has been four Crypto bullruns since the invention of Bitcoin, the worlds first cryptocurrency in 2009. The first two went largely unnoticed, the third turned many into millionaires and the fourth saw the beginning of huge institutional investment. The fifth will be most commercialised of them all, and will likely transform whole industries, finance and the lives of many forever. Moreover, NFTs are relatively new to the crypto scene with the latest bear market being the very first it has experienced. As Polygon, and its native currency MATIC aims to benefit from both sectors, it may just provide one of the best opportunities for those with a keen eye for detail.

Disclaimer - this is not financial advise.