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Web 2.5: A practical steppingstone for Web3
Web 2.5: A practical steppingstone for Web3

September 6, 2022

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Web3 is considered as the next iteration of the internet, and is still in its infancy, and will serve as the base for Metaverse. While we are talking about transitioning to decentralised means of storing data, smart contracts and DAOs to host services, the reality of legal ambiguity, and true / complete decentralization, however, hinders complete web3 activation by large companies.

Therefore, moving towards Web3, isn’t a binary jump from Web2. It is a migration, which should be implemented steadily in various distinct components that come together gradually over time keeping the adoption readiness, technology awareness and security concerns of the end users.

To gear up for the future internet evolution and embracing the Web3, various companies in the recent times have been figuring out how to lean into web3 as a migration instead of rushing into end-to-end web3 arena. To achieve a way to experiment with Web3 assets in the Web2 environment, the companies have adopted the “Web 2.5” model.

web2.5

 

How can we define Web 2.5?

Web2.5 model can be defined as the adoption of decentralized technologies such as NFTs within web2 frameworks and infrastructure that allows to develop efficient, scalable applications that helps in engaging communities, experiment and explore with digital asset play, and reach the next generation of users. Centralized exchanges, front-end NFT marketplaces, and custodial wallets all provide clear structural examples of Web2.5 model.

Why Web 2.5?

Providing Web3 asset experience on scalable Web2 infrastructure

Given the slow and expensive nature of present day blockchains scaling of the end-2-end decentralized network and applications is not cost and time efficient. Therefore, while the web3 is still being explored and technologies are considered for improvisation, web 2.5 models are being leveraged to use Web 2 infrastructure in combination with blockchain to give a certain degree of decentralization and Web3 asset experience. For example, play to earn game, CryptoKitties was one of the first dApps that tried to keep certain portions centralized such as their breeding logic which was not public. Although the gamers did show apprehensions to the move, it hasn’t stopped users from spending money to purchase cats bred by this logic. Another example is Gods Unchained is where the game itself is hosted on a standard cloud infrastructure, but ownership of assets is tracked on the state layer.

Foster adoption from people who are not crypto natives and increase Web3 awareness

Web 2.5 can serve a great model to educate and onboard non-crypto or web 2.0 savvy users to adopt Web3 and accelerate the adoption eventually growing the user base. Web2.5 model allows users to swap Web3 assets utilizing Web2 infrastructures like credit cards and fiat currencies. Enabling debit / credit card purchases has also significantly accelerated the adoption of crypto. For example, ARC, a members-only app-based community enabled by NFTs as proof of access, provides in-person experiences at its physical venues known as Playgrounds, while also using the ARC app to access their membership with utility NFTs, or unique digital assets that can provide access and other perks. Further, another gaming app Mythical games aims at providing the functionality of Web3 (such as asset ownership, decentralised finance and staking) in a familiar environment making gamers more comfortable with concepts of signing transactions and best practices for protecting private keys. This might serve as a seamless path to migrating to a full non-custodial experience.

Bridging the Web3 and Web 2.0 gap

So far, Web 2.5 has included a set of reactionary compromises that somewhat adjusts blockchain-based assets into Web 2.0 infrastructure.

Centralized exchanges, marketplace front ends, custodian wallets, and more bridge that gap between infrastructure and assets. These solutions such as centralized exchanges, marketplace front ends and custodian wallets epitomize Web 2.5, allowing for existing brand consumers to adopt web3 assets more easily within familiar web2 infrastructure. As the experts have predicted the long way for Web 3 and fully realized decentralised ‘metaverse’, Web 2.5 helps us being prepared for the next generation world wide web and providing the enhanced user experience with prospect monetization models.


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Experienced Research professional with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology consulting industry. Skilled in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Market Research, Primer Reports, and Competitive Intelligence projects.

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