What is Web4 of the European Union? What are the advantages for which industries?
"Open and permissionless blockchain will play a key role in the open virtual world... We are at the beginning of a major technological transformation, Web 4.0 will completely change people's daily lives."
- EU "Initiative" document
On July 12th, a piece of news from the policy side began to spread in the cryptocurrency world. Documents disclosed by the European Union revealed that the European Commission has adopted a new strategy on Web 4.0 and virtual worlds. The strategy aims to guide the next technological transformation and ensure an open, secure, trusted, fair, and inclusive digital environment for EU citizens, businesses, and public administrations.
While the cryptocurrency world is still stuck in the narrative of Web 3.0, the European Union has already advanced to Web 4.0. Finally, the traditional world is no longer a follower in the narrative, and has taken a step ahead to open the next mainstream narrative for the cryptocurrency world.
Whether you have understood Web 3.0 thoroughly or not, Odaily takes you one step ahead to quickly review the EU's Web 4.0 plan.
What is Web 4.0?
Before looking forward to Web 4.0, let's first review Web 3.0. The EU document also provides a definition for Web 3.0: "The main characteristics of the third-generation internet Web 3.0 are openness, decentralization, and complete user sovereignty." It can be seen that the EU has embraced the concept of decentralized Web 3.0 advocated by the cryptocurrency world for years.
As for the future Web 4.0, the EU disclosed in the document that it refers to "the expected fourth generation of the World Wide Web." Specifically, this generation of internet uses various advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and ambient intelligence, the Internet of Things, trusted blockchain transactions, virtual worlds, and XR functionality.
In the fourth generation internet, digital entities, real-world entities, and environments will be fully integrated and able to communicate with each other, achieving a truly intuitive and immersive experience, seamlessly blending the physical and digital worlds.
It is worth mentioning that, although the EU has embraced the decentralized Web 3.0 concept, Web 4.0 is not limited to a decentralized structure. It is a broader concept that includes various advanced technologies.
The Alliance also regards blockchain as one of the cornerstones of Web 4.0, but the wording of the proposal is for a trusted blockchain, rather than a trustless blockchain supported by the crypto world. Is Web 4.0 far from encryption? As a long-term development strategy and future prospect, the technology of Web 4.0 seems to be too distant for the crypto market. Although blockchain is one of its technological cornerstones, a trusted blockchain is truly distant from the crypto world. In this strategic planning, what relevance does Web 4.0 have with the crypto market? The committee believes that this technological transformation is of great importance, as its open and free ideals have reflected the values, principles, and fundamental rights of the European Union from the very beginning. This strategy aims to ensure that European citizens can use the virtual world safely and confidently, and enable European businesses to develop world-leading applications. "Web 4.0 should be driven by open technologies and standards to ensure interoperability between platforms and networks, and to guarantee user freedom of choice." This sounds compatible with the spirit of the crypto world, but what about specific use cases and scenarios? In terms of specific implementation, the European Union also provides some specific prospects. For example, digital twins are helpful for testing and optimizing production processes, which is of great significance to the manufacturing industry. The virtual world also provides new ways for content creation, promotion, distribution, and audience interaction, which is crucial for the cultural and creative industries. Unfortunately, these are not closely related to the crypto market. Which sectors of the crypto market are expected to benefit? Although this strategy is too broad for us to immediately identify the focal points that are beneficial to the crypto market, the Web 4.0 initiative still has extensive prospects for cryptographic technologies.The European Union believes that blockchain is key to realizing the virtual world, as its trustless nature can support the permanent recording of relevant information for a large number of individuals and organizations without the need for a trusted third party authority. The initiative mentions that blockchain technology can be used to manage assets in the virtual world, such as virtual currency or virtual real estate, and allows for secure and transparent transactions within the virtual world. This may be good news for sectors like the metaverse, as the "virtual world" is one of the main future directions mentioned in the initiative. In addition, the initiative also mentions virtual real estate. (Perhaps future metaverse land will be deployed in Europe in the real world?) NFTs are another area highlighted in the initiative. The document points out that NFTs are being widely used in various applications. "NFTs promote innovation in content creation and provide opportunities for artists and creators. NFT platforms directly connect artists and creators with potential buyers and facilitate direct transactions at lower costs." This part of the description seems cliché and has been used in the previous bull market. Fortunately, the EU still provides insights into the implementation scenarios: "In fact, NFTs have already been introduced into new business models. NFTs can also be used for sales and event tickets in specific use cases such as sports, fashion, gaming, music, etc." Currently, when it comes to the integration of NFTs and traditional business, although the narrative is also outdated, at least the development of use cases is not yet perfect, leaving ample room for further exploration, which also provides abundant imagination space for NFTs. Lastly, the importance of blockchain for Web 4.0 is mentioned in terms of security and privacy protection, cross-border payments, and international trade, but not discussed in detail. This may potentially bring growth opportunities for the zk technology that is currently hot in the cryptocurrency market and the yet-to-be-popular payment applications. Fun fact: In the 113-page initiative document, "Blockchain" is mentioned 31 times, "Crypto" is mentioned 7 times, "Bitcoin" and "Ethereum" are not mentioned at all, but "NFT" is mentioned 40 times.Related Readings:
EU Initiative: Head Start in the Next Technological Transition with Virtual Worlds
Information, Insights, and Market Trends on Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds
