For many people, the problems with Web 2 are glaring and painful. For many of these people, Web 3 is 

 solution. In one of our previous blogs, we covered the intentions and possible benefits of 

. Since NFT London is this week, in the following blog, we’ll cover what Web 3 might bring to the UK in practice and what the future might hold.

What effect will Web 3 have on the UK economy?

, blockchain technology could grow UK GDP by £57 billion by 2030. There are also recent reports that 

the UK is the largest crypto economy in Europe

. Here are some of the ways that could be realized.

Blockchain technology offers considerable efficiency gains thanks to its ability to securely store and share data. So for large public sector industries like healthcare and education, ones that store mountains of data on the British people, blockchain should be a game changer.

In terms of benefiting the private sector, the power of tokenization can be harnessed particularly well by the UK economy. The UK is already a world leader in fintech and decentralized finance. It has a thriving startup scene, so the market is already in place. 

 and tokenization also have the potential to transform an otherwise slow to adapt real estate sector. Tokenization gives entrepreneurs a new, more efficient way of raising capital. And it gives seed investors more options and liquidity to play with than they would have otherwise.

But it’s not just startups that can benefit. Medium to large sized businesses, charities, and even enterprise level businesses won’t say no to avoiding the bureaucracy and high barriers to entry that banks and institutions often put in the way of raising funds.

Another area of the private sector that’s particularly well positioned to capitalize on Web 3 is the UK’s video gaming industry. Since UK game studios are heavily export focused, video games are worth 

 to the UK economy. Gaming and the Metaverse are intimately twinned. The two industries could be almost indistinguishable in a few years. So as the demand for metaverse experiences increases, UK gaming talent will be there to provide it.

Finally, one area that every nation will improve in thanks to blockchain is supply chain management. According to the aforementioned report by PwC, the UK economy could be boosted by £30 billion by the end of the decade thanks to improved tracking and tracing of products. From mining to fashion, industries will have a clearer insight into the goods they use. Those demanding more ethical, sustainable business practices will no doubt welcome this technology.

What problems or gaps will need to be addressed?

It’s pretty safe to anticipate there being a skills gap. There’s 

a skills gap in many areas of the tech industry; we don’t have enough devs, we need more UI/UX specialists, etc. This will be even more apparent within Web 3 disciplines since they’re so new. For example, finding a quality smart contract developer is hard since the required language (Solidity) isn’t as widely mastered as something like JavaScript or Python.

There also needs to be adequate buy in from leadership teams. All too often blockchain technology is relegated to some “crazy young person thing” that doesn’t require serious attention. In the words of PwC global blockchain leader Steve Davis.

“It needs C-suite support to identify the strategic opportunity and value and to facilitate the right level of collaboration within an industry. Establishing proof of concept uses which can be scaled up if successful will enable businesses to identify the potential usages of Blockchain while building confidence and trust in its ability to deliver.”

Blockchain technology isn’t as much of a question mark as cryptocurrency. However, cryptocurrency can be inexorable from certain blockchain technologies and is therefore an element of Web 3 that’s hard to avoid.

Cryptocurrency can be highly volatile and if UK institutional investors – or any other country’s investors for that matter – were to bet big on crypto, a crypto crash could have such pronounced effects that other assets will suffer to pay off any losses.




How does the UK Government feel about Web 3?

How they feel about Web 3, blockchain, and crypto could end up being the deciding factor for its ultimate success in the UK. So far the UK Government has been rather bullish. As far back as 2015, they declared their approval of crypto. This was a pretty progressive attitude back then. You can learn about the approach that was taken by the Government to 

More recently, in April 2022, the Government set out more plans for further crypto integration. They announced that they wanted to make stablecoins seen as legitimate forms of payment. In the words of then Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) Rishi Sunak,

“It's my ambition to make the UK a global hub for cryptoasset technology…

We want to see the businesses of tomorrow – and the jobs they create - here in the UK, and by regulating effectively we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest long-term.”

In the same announcement, the UK Government has stated its plans to explore Distributed Ledger Technology in financial markets. This could facilitate more efficient and transparent data sharing. The government has also stated its interest in making the UK tax system more competitive and nurturing to the cryptoasset market. Full details of these announcements are available 

In addition to the April 2022 announcements, there have been several other key votes of confidence for the Web 3 space.



Back in 2019 they declared that they wanted to make HM Land Registry digital. In their words, they wanted it to be “the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity, and an open approach to data.” Since HM Land Registry provides a state-backed guarantee of ownership, entwining it with a blockchain backed guarantee makes total sense.

Storing trade documents on the blockchain

The efficiency and security gains offered by blockchain make it a very attractive pitch to governments. In October this year, the Government proposed a bill that would adopt blockchain as 

technology for storing trade documents. The Government’s long term goal with this bill is to become paperless. This would have several benefits.

If the bill is approved, it would greatly reduce bureaucracy, with the projected carbon emission reductions being at least 10%. This will also be an efficiency boost, which could (in theory) save taxpayers’ money. Security and compliance is another area for improvement since these e-documents will make record tracing easier.



In April 2022, Rishi Sunak asked the royal mint to develop an NFT to represent the country’s 

." A bold move indeed, since NFTs are still considered (by some) to be fringe assets.

The Royal Mint often creates collectible coins here and there so in some ways this isn’t that radical. Still, nothing more has been said about this NFT since. And it’s also come under a fair amount of scrutiny, being 

Nevertheless, Web3 proponents in the UK can take solace in the fact that the man who first put this idea forward is now the Prime Minister.

Many people still think that blockchain is just a crazy piece of technology, exclusively tied to bitcoin: the world’s biggest geek-money-ponzi scheme. Both the UK Government and its businesses are leading the charge in declaring that blockchain is nothing of the sort.

As one of those businesses, VerseProp couldn’t be prouder. As the platform dedicated to the buying, selling, and renting of metaverse real estate, facilitating your entry into this area of Web 3 is our number one goal.

If you haven’t already, click below to sign up to our mailing list where you’ll be first in line to receive the latest in metaverse and Web 3 educational content, as well as updates on our marketplace, launching in December.

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The UK’s Relationship With Web 3

Ah gas fees. That last minute money drain that rudely surprises so many NFT enthusiasts and first-time creators. Nobody likes paying extra - 

! But as we’ll see in this blog, gas fees are a necessity. We’ll cover that below, along with all the basics required to familiarize yourself with them. At the time of writing this, the Ethereum Merge had been proposing serious changes to NFT gas fees so we’ll cover those too. But before all that, we’ll need to outline the basics.




Or rather, what are Ethereum gas fees? Because the majority of NFTs are recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. Defining a blockchain is probably best achieved via a quick YouTube search. Still, for the purposes of this blog, a blockchain is a new (ish) way of recording data that’s decentralized. I.e. there isn’t one central person/company/entity storing and controlling it. Essentially, it’s a very large spreadsheet of data that everyone can view.

For this shared spreadsheet of Ethereum data to be adequately updated and maintained, traditionally, a fair bit of computing power is required.

Validating and updating Ethereum transactions requires resources, with “miners” supporting the Ethereum network by using their computing power to record these updates (this process is called “proof of work”, a detailed explanation of which can be found 

). The gas fees are essentially a financial incentive to the miners. However, the validation process is changing, with Ethereum now having completed “The Merge” (more on that later), signaling a move from “proof-of-work” to “proof-of-stake”,  whereby ‘miners’ no longer need to solve complex code puzzles to validate the network (a time-intensive, expensive and energy-consuming process), but instead can loan out or effectively “stake” their resources.

Any transaction/recording of data to Ethereum will require ‘gas’. That includes minting an NFT or sending some Ether (Ethereum’s native currency) to a friend. Think of it like a processing fee for a card transaction. Ether is also the currency you’ll be paying all gas fees in when using the Ethereum network.

Without gas fees, the Ethereum network, or any blockchain for that matter, would be left for dead since there would be zero financial incentive to update and maintain it. Gas fees are what keep the blockchain safe, functioning, and ultimately, valuable.

Ethereum has become a victim of its own success. A couple of years ago, before the NFT boom that began in 2020, gas was cheap since far fewer people were transacting on the Ethereum blockchain. Now NFTs and Web 3 activity have increased, which means demand for updating the Ethereum network is outstripping supply, the simple economics of which has pushed up gas fees by anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars.

Ethereum and NFT gas fees aren’t necessarily high all the time though. Prices vary thanks to these two main factors.

How many transactions are being made on the Ethereum network

It makes sense. If there are lots of people using the Ethereum network at the same time it’s essentially congested. And if there’s a large load to bear, then more fuel is needed to bear it. It’s a bit like surge pricing for Uber, but if Uber also charged for how large/heavy the cargo was.

Another potential cost involves paying an additional tip to make the transaction process quicker. Or you can set a higher gas limit to give your transaction priority over transactions with lower gas limits. “Gas wars” can occur where users fight over who gets their transaction processed next by raising their tip accordingly. If the final amount needed is below the set limit, then the difference will be refunded. Set your limit too low though, and your transaction can fail, wasting your gas fee completely.

To make NFT gas fees on Ethereum a little less offensive, the blockchain world has come up with an effective workaround. Polygon gas fees are minimal in comparison to regular Ethereum gas fees. This means it’s perfect for small time NFT creators that would otherwise face unaffordable costs.

Polygon is what’s known as a sidechain or Layer 2 solution. It runs alongside but separately from the Ethereum blockchain, recording transactions, bundling them together, and then updating Ethereum later on. This takes a huge amount of stress away from the Ethereum network. Polygon gas fees have a proof of stake consensus behind them, which, as we’ll see below, makes transactions even quicker.

Rollups like Optimism and Arbitrum can also help

These are both other forms of Layer 2 solutions. Both Optimism and Arbitum can help scale up the Ethereum network and improve its performance by lowering the time needed to confirm a transaction and increasing how many transactions can be processed a second. 

 is a little beyond the scope of this paragraph but to give you a quick overview, they’re called rollups since they roll up (i.e combine) multiple transactions into larger, less frequent batches. This makes them easier and more efficient to record to the main Ethereum blockchain.




On September 15th 2022, the long awaited upgrade to a new consensus mechanism began. This change saw a shift from the aforementioned proof of work model, to proof of stake. This change will eventually improve the efficiency, and scalability of Ethereum. However, for now, as we’ll outline below, this is only a change in how the network reaches consensus; as in how Ethereum validates transactions.

As we’ve mentioned, until now, Ethereum transactions were validated by a proof of work “mining” mechanism. One that requires a considerable amount of computing power and ultimately, energy. With proof of stake, miners are replaced by stakers: individual Ethereum users offering up their ETH as a “stake” in the network. When they do this, stakers validate transactions, i.e. they confirm that a transaction is legitimate and add the block to the Ethereum blockchain.

If you’d like a closer look into how proof of stake works 

. Otherwise keep front of mind that proof of stake offers to be more (energy) efficient/sustainable, more affordable, more scalable, and arguably more secure. It’s also marginally faster, with the current merge taking new block publication from every 13.3 seconds to every 12 seconds.

What’s key to note though, is that this efficiency boost will only happen once “sharding” is implemented, and that won’t be with us until 2023. Sharding will take Ethereum from roughly 30 transactions a second to around 100,000 transactions a second. It works by creating parallel blockchains (so that there are 64 in total), which can be added to simultaneously, avoiding the bottleneck of adding consecutively to a single Ethereum blockchain. Until this is introduced, expect a continuation of the high gas fees that we’re used to.

Until sharding enters the picture and Ethereum’s scalability dreams are fully realized, you’ll probably want to do everything you can to keep gas fees down. Here’s how.

, some days are cheaper than others. The best time for Ethereum gas fees can often be when most of America is asleep, Europe is just waking up and Asia’s workday is ending. If you don’t want to wait by your computer, then setting a level for the transaction to complete at when gas reaches that point could be an option. Naturally, make sure you watch the price and set your limit to something reasonable, otherwise, it could be rejected completely.

Use “collections” if you’re listing NFTs

This is the act of combining NFTs into a single package; get multiple NFTs without paying the gas price of multiple transactions.



Try this route if you want to add your NFT to the blockchain but don’t want any gas fees to be involved until someone actually purchases it. In this instance, the gas fees are usually paid by the buyer upon purchase. This is great if you want to test an NFT out and make sure there’s demand before you pay gas fees.



As mentioned, there are currently blockchains offering minimal to no gas fees. Along with Polygon, the Wax blockchain and Flow blockchain are good options.

As a buyer or a seller, you need to consider the price of gas fees in relation to the final price of the NFT. Otherwise, your gas fee could wipe out any potential profits. This is why you should always ensure you keep an eye on recent prices and set limits accordingly.

At VerseProp, we want to give you every chance of success when it comes to your investments, and fully capitalizing on the 

; that’s why our platform offers full transaction histories and analytics on any virtual land NFT bought on our marketplace, providing you with a clear picture of the investment as a whole, and allowing you to frame the gas fees within that context.

If you would like to be the first to hear about our marketplace when it launches, click below to sign up to our mailing list. You’ll also get our blog content and any other updates we have on the world of NFTs and metaverse real estate delivered straight to your inbox.

What You Should Know About NFT Gas Fees

 it was only a matter of time before commerce’s new obsession with blockchain began presenting serious opportunity. It’s taken quite a while to reach this point; the real estate industry is notoriously slow at adapting to new technology. We’re still in the speculation stage as most of the results blockchain will achieve are theoretical. But even if what we outline below only ends up being partially correct, the industry and the planet can welcome a host of benefits.

, Mohsin Masud, thousands of households have similar attributes to accredited investors and would be prime candidates for real estate investing – if only it were easier. Well, with blockchain and Web 3 real estate, it can be. We’ll explain how in the forthcoming blog, but first, we’ll quickly outline the complications the industry has historically faced.


Especially in commercial real estate, deals move at a glacial rate, and are subject to a mountain of administrative and legal paperwork. The investment industry is dominated by those that work ‘in the industry’, and have the contacts, know-how and resources to execute transactions.  To say that blockchain will disrupt all this is an understatement and great news for everyone – except for maybe a few property lawyers and accountants. Here’s why.



Here’s how blockchain real estate will solve this problem

, blockchain has only been a thought for some since 2008 with the publication of the 

. Defining blockchain is an ample task that’s probably not quite within the remit of this blog. But for now, whether you’re clear on the definition or not, keep front of mind its ability to offer a decentralized, standardized data set, its ability to tokenize (definition to follow), and its ability to enact what’s known as smart contracts.

Offering an immutable, transparent, decentralized data set means that important information like ownership rights, financial data, transaction history, etc. can all be logged, viewed and accessed much more efficiently than previously; no more digging through piles of paper. Tokenization allows for fractional investment. And smart contracts help to mandate and automate many of the requirements that need to be met between buyers and sellers. These main pillars of utility play out as follows.



Real estate will be fractionalized and part owned

This can be achieved through tokenization; the act of transferring an asset’s value to the blockchain and dividing it up. Yes, there have always been ways to divide up the value of our real estate but not without sufficient time and bureaucracy.

This method of easy division means that investors can purchase as much or as little real estate as they like. They won’t need to find a large pile of cash and they won’t need to take on debt. This will be particularly useful for the individual that previously couldn’t afford to enter the commercial real estate game, one that has historically had a high financial and ‘professional’ barrier to entry.

You will be able to invest in a wider variety of real estate

This fractionalization will mean that you can easily spread the same amount of money across multiple different real estate assets. Yes, this is currently possible with indirect investment in publicly listed companies like REITs, but here you have little control over exactly where the money is invested. If you want to be hands on 

 spread your risk, then tokenized real estate will be your answer.

You won’t need to be an accredited investor

Having the credentials of an accredited investor presents you to a fresh pool of companies and institutions looking for investment partners. This will vary from country to country but in the US, accredited investor status is only available to those with an annual income over $200,000 or $300,000 if it’s combined with your spouse. Alternatively, you could achieve this status if you have a net worth above $1 million. Again this can be either individually or with your spouse.

Few people can meet these requirements but there will be plenty of people under these thresholds that are itching to access quality real estate opportunities. Fractionalized real estate will offer this cohort the same opportunities that high net worth/accredited investors might. Albeit with returns scaled down to match the smaller sums involved.

Online portals will streamline the process – similar to an investment portal

When selling real estate online, technology has historically focused on only connecting buyers with sellers. You can’t exactly buy real estate online like you would a pair of shoes. But with online blockchain real estate portals, since you’ll be buying tokens, the product is there, available for purchase directly. Similar to buying stock or any other financial product.

On top of that, blockchain real estate portals will offer the user access to a range of processes that can be less efficient when done traditionally. You can receive things like tax documents within the online portal, proof of identity is easier, security and compliance processes are more efficient, etc.

This is probably the most disruptive aspect of blockchain real estate since it may compromise a vast number of careers. The months of paper pushing from accountants and lawyers can be cut right down when the typical bureaucratic processes involved in real estate purchasing are automated. Mortgage approvals, ID checks, registration processes, etc. can all be turned into code. This produces two fantastic outcomes. Saved time and saved money.

The ownership record will be transparent, indisputable, and less susceptible to fraud

In our current world of paper documents and fragmented data sources it can be surprisingly hard to pin down important facts about certain real estate assets, especially those that haven’t changed hands for a while. A real estate blockchain will track all records on an immutable, easily accessible ledger for all relevant parties to see. This will minimize the chances of fraud and scams as well as eliminate any friction should a “who owns what?” style dispute emerge.

This will boost the real estate market’s liquidity

As we know, real estate sales take ages. This makes real estate a pretty illiquid asset. But with the help of tokenization and fractionalization, percentages of a property’s value could be released and traded rapidly. Basically like selling shares. Sean Stein Smith of The Department of Economics and Business at Lehman College 

 that this increased liquidity could create new markets for asset owners. Entire properties could even be bought and sold as NFTs. In theory, we could be buying our next home or next piece of commercial real estate with a few clicks.




Blockchain real estate won’t just make life easier for the customer

Many of the points above will please the individual/non-institutional real estate investor since they help to democratize the industry and move it away from those “in the know.” But blockchain real estate can directly benefit businesses too.


If you’re a developer, you could raise millions by selling tokens

The building’s projected value could be divided up and sold as tokens. The developers can then use that money for development and the token holders can receive a percentage of the net rental value. The value of the tokens will of course move in line with the value of the building but either way, this can be a very efficient way for developers to finance their projects.

Construction will be made more efficient and trustworthy

The construction supply chain can be made more transparent when you can easily access a supplier’s and subcontractor’s track record. This can help incentivize high performance – a bit like viewing driver/passenger ratings on Uber. The blockchain can show the authenticity and quality of materials, it can track the movement and use of materials more easily, and as always, automate what would otherwise take far longer.

This reduction of costs and bottlenecks won’t just make life easier for investors, developers and contractors. These savings could (hopefully) be passed onto the average homebuyer. Namely by making it easier and cheaper for governments to meet their new homes targets.



If the banks are on board, then blockchain real estate has a serious advocate in its corner. All the efficiency and transparency gains we’ve covered will be equally useful to financial institutions. Things like immutable transaction monitoring, ownership rights, and single versions of verifiable information will make the loan/mortgage process easier for everyone. It will even make life easier for regulators by delivering real-time reporting.

It will make life easier for property managers

The data sharing that blockchain real estate facilitates can let property managers do their due diligence more easily across their portfolios. This in turn will improve efficiency and lower costs. It will also help improve the efficiency of rental collections and owner payments. Again, creating more cost savings.

If this all sounds like we’re on the cusp of a new era in the real estate industry, it’s because we are. Private property ownership and real estate investment could be available to the masses. Blockchain real estate could open up real estate the same way the internet opened up traditional media. Emphasis on the 

 aspect though. Although crypto may become a popular method for purchasing real estate, this blog is by no means about crypto real estate. It’s about what the blockchain and Web 3 real estate can offer.

When we factor in the Metaverse the future becomes even more jaw dropping. We’re already using virtual and augmented reality to view properties, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. It’s not too difficult to entertain a possibility where physical, blockchain real estate is twinned with metaverse real estate. You might buy a property to live in, or office space to work in with a metaverse counterpart offering additional space for community interaction, entertainment, shopping, etc. Throw in the potential for IoT devices and the lines between the Metaverse and the real world could start to merge. No wonder there’s been a 

The real estate industry is of course painfully slow to adapt. And we’re still in the early phases of the blockchain real estate revolution, with many applications only working in theory.

At VerseProp we’re trying to help accelerate Web 3’s involvement in the real estate sector via our metaverse real estate platform – launching in December – and our 

, a collaboration with leading architectural practice PLP Architecture. Ultimately, the 

 is only going to happen with sufficient education, hence why it’s one of our top priorities. Our blog aims to address and clarify as much of the Web 3/metaverse real estate/NFT space as we can. That way you can be as informed as you need to be about the future.

Click below to subscribe to our list, where you’ll be in a prime position to learn about all things metaverse real estate.


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Blockchain Real Estate: How It Will Change Everything

It’s hardly been three decades but the Web has come a 

 long way, and VerseProp’s goal is to help give you a front row seat to this evolving spectacle. To help clarify where the Web is heading and why our new and improved Web 3 is so important, we’ll start by outlining the stages that led us to where we are now!

In a nutshell, the Web started as a crowdsourced online magazine that let you jump around its pages when you clicked on things. Then Web 2 made the experience more complex and responsive to the user. Now Web 3 is putting it all on a blockchain. Let’s elaborate on this.

The first incarnation of the Web dates back to the mid-90s when the dot-com boom was underway. This came fresh from the mind of its creator, Tim Berners-Lee. This has been dubbed the “read-only Web” as early sites were mostly just digital pages of text and images connected by hyperlinks. Visually it was characterized by pretty basic 2D graphics, although it should be noted that this appearance was not a defining characteristic. You could easily create an experience with the defining characteristics of Web 2 or Web 3 and make it appear like the image above.

What’s also key to the Web 1 vs Web 2 vs Web 3 comparison is the barrier to entry. In the Web 1 days, if you wanted to create content, you had to be a developer or know/hire one. This meant that Web 1 content was mostly produced by corporations and techy first adopters.

Probably a little easier to picture since this is the Web we’re all familiar with. Web 2 gave us something more interactive. It turned everyone into a content creator and allowed us to share our thoughts and opinions more easily. A common misconception is that this was impossible beforehand; Web 1 had online forums and a few basic interactive functions. Still, it was things like social media, drag-and-drop website builders, and CSS that made the internet and the Web mainstream.

For those unfamiliar, CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It’s a layer of styling code that sits on top of regular HTML web code and, for want of a better term, makes web pages look prettier, and lets them appear more intricate. The rise of dynamic apps has also contributed. From Google maps to Uber, Web 2 apps started updating content in real-time and created a whole new world of functionality.

Big technological leaps forward have underpinned so many of Web 2’s developments. Improved internet speeds and better servers let people and corporations deliver superior levels of Web content.

Another big leap in tech has been the smartphone. Putting serious computing power in people’s pockets, mobile internet, complemented by the rise of social media, made the human race connected at all times. Social media gave everyone a voice and online personality, taking us from being media consumers in Web 1 to becoming both consumers and producers in Web 2. Whilst Web 1 creations like internet forums paved the way for social media, the smartphone was the key component that made the social media world explode.

Thanks to these big technological leaps, the mega content platforms that most of the Web is built on came into our lives. Platforms like WordPress let anyone spin up a website. And YouTube and TikTok provided us with all the user-generated video we could ask for. Along with Instagram and a few others, they helped establish 

These sizable amounts of content and interactivity were facilitated by equally large companies that knew exactly what to do with it. Facebook/Meta, Google/YouTube recognized the world’s lust for media. They built platforms that made publishing and interacting with content so attractive, that the data generated from doing so became its own commodity. Along with other big tech giants like Amazon, Twitter, and Netflix, Web 2 fell into the hands of a select few, i.e. an oligopoly.

In Web 3, the tech giants won’t be at the helm like they are in Web 2. True, Web 3 enterprises will rely on blockchain technology to hold data. The centralized server that holds the entire platform’s data will essentially be distributed amongst its users. This decentralized Web puts the individual in charge and – as we’ll see later on – gives them several benefits. For those unfamiliar with what a blockchain is, 

. The explanation is used within the context of money but blockchains can be applied to all kinds of applications and tools.

Cryptocurrency is a big part of Web 3. To make Web 3 decentralized, you can’t be paying in standard, government fiat money all the time. Whether it’s the native currency of a 

 or a major cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ether, Dollars, Pounds, and Euros are avoided at all costs in Web 3.

Although it’s been featuring in Web 2 for some time, AI and machine learning will make Web 3 a richer and more engaging environment. A significant feature in all this is the Semantic Web, something Google’s been using lately. That’s 

 to go down. But to give you a quick idea, it's essentially the use of metadata to help computers make better judgments and interpretations. Basically making AI more akin to human comprehension. Google has been using the Symantic Web to serve more effective and relevant search results to users for some time now.

There are of course several similarities between Web 2 and Web 3. They both require engaging and responsive UX. They both need to work in standard web browsers (for now).  And they both encourage content creation from participants.

Tim Berners-Lee’s original vision for the Web was one of decentralization. He wanted an online world where…

“No permission is needed from a central authority to post anything on the Web, there is no central controlling node, and so no single point of failure...and no ‘kill switch’! This also implies freedom from indiscriminate censorship and surveillance.”

Web 3 brings the Web back to being the democratic force for good that it was designed to be, and (in places) has been. When our data is decentralized and recorded on blockchains, this vision is well within our reach, and tech oligopolies can be circumvented.

There are also privacy and security gains to be had in Web 3. Without a centralized, third party platform capturing and making money off the data you generate, you’ll have the ability to be the only one who controls it. Since it's stored on a blockchain, your data will be harder for hackers to steal and corrupt. These gains are very much the missing piece of the Web 1 puzzle; many were suspicious of the early Web, perceiving it to be more dangerous than it actually was.

Being the sole custodian of your data also means that you choose how it’s used and monetized. Right now you have no say in how your behavior influences your personalized algorithm. And you have little say in what ads you’re shown. Web 3 data ownership gives you a say in what data you share. You will be able to choose how you feed a platform’s algorithm, giving it what it needs to create a better experience and not giving it your life story. As the owner of your data, you could even monetize it to your liking; you’ll be able to sell as much, or as little of it as you want, directly to corporations.

If you want to go full libertarian, then Web 3 can help you avoid the traditional financial system too. As mentioned, Web 3 platforms are developing their own economies with in-world currencies. Whilst many are purchased in fiat currency, we can certainly see a point where users are earning and spending the bulk of their income within Web 3.

How the Metaverse and NFTs are part of this change

, Mark Zuckerberg is planning on morphing Facebook into a metaverse company. And whilst his world will be anything but decentralized, we already have several alternative metaverses that will support the true Web 3 ideals outlined above.

The decentralized Metaverse is here to be the decentralized social environment that Facebook and Twitter never could be. The content you create in the Metaverse can be experienced, owned, and even 

. Social media has become an online world where we spend several hours of our lives but where we have very little control over the environment. Now it’s time for the Metaverse and Web 3 to give us the power and richness of experience that social never could.

Equally, NFTs complement the metaverse by letting users own their own little piece of Web 3. Whether it's 

 funneling value back to the creator, NFTs can help Web 3 users bypass the oligopoly.

This is a big driver behind our current NFT collaboration, 

. Working with architecture studio PLP Architecture, we’ve created 5000 unique NFT images of a concept building designed by PLP. Ownership of the NFT will give owners access to exclusive utilities that will help them navigate the world of Web 3 and the Metaverse with ease. With this NFT our goal is to help establish 

 as a creative force to be reckoned with, and demonstrate how a new business model can serve both real world 

It’s not necessarily a case of Web 1 vs Web 2 vs Web 3 when we’re ultimately aiming for the best of all of them. In the next few years, we should see the benefits of all three bubble up. However, we’re very much in the early stages of the Web 3 movement. We’re probably where Web 1 was in 1995 or so. For another view of the Web 3 timeline, Bill Gates has some thinking that feels pretty accurate.

“We usually overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.”

This means that right now Web 3 is in baby mode. Developing rapidly, sensitive to all sorts of influences, but still miles from its final form. New economies, new forms of content, and new groups of people are forming. And for the keen entrepreneur, now’s the time to be the early bird.

VerseProp is here to help you do that by giving you the virtual keys to the Metaverse. Whether it’s via our NFT mint or our 

 we want to make your journey into Web 3 as rewarding and easy as possible.

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