Web 3.0 explained: token incentives, ownership and investable categories
Thread510 words
Defines Web 3.0 versus Web 2.0, arguing tokens finally fund open-source infrastructure and give users ownership and governance rights. Ends with example exposure by category: base layers, storage, domains, identity, video, data markets, VPNs and browsers.
Key claims
Value in Web 2.0 accrues to a few centralized companies
Tokens, fungible and non-fungible, enable community ownership and governance
0/ The term Web 3.0 is very broad. It is often referred to as a paradigm shift towards a more democratized internet. An internet governed by the collective rather than corporations & special interests, enabled by distributed networks & token incentive models
#Web3 🧵 (0/16) 👇
1/ It was Web 2.0 that made the web interactive. Web 2.0 for the first time enabled anyone to publish content online, regardless of their technical skills. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube & Twitter provided easier ways for people to create their own web pages & content
2/ But unfortunately, most of the value in Web 2.0 accrues to a handful of centralized companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook and their shareholders, leaving users at the sidelines
3/ Web 2.0 also suffers other issues ranging from centralization of data and misalignment of interests to censorship, surveillance and data leaks/hacks
4/ Web 3.0 on the other hand is a comprehensive vision of a decentralized, community owned & community governed internet that is immutable, while being resilient to censorship and surveillance
5/ #Web3 achieves this by being built on open protocols and transparent blockchain networks and relies on token-based incentive models
6/ Cryptographic tokens also enable community ownership & governance. In Web 3.0 ownership and control is decentralized. Users and builders can own pieces of internet services by owning tokens, both fungible (e.g. governance tokens) and non-fungible (NFTs)
7/ These tokens give users property rights and hence the ability to own a piece of the internet. While governance tokens typically convey ownership & governance rights over protocols...
8/ ...NFTs give users the ability to own objects, which can be art, photos, code, music, in-game objects, credentials, governance rights or access passes
9/ Surely, Web 3.0 is a very disruptive vision and for many it might be hard to grasp the vision in its entirety. Nevertheless, the issues with Web 2.0 are certainly undeniable
10/ It’s therefore no surprise that many attempts towards creating a more decentralized & democratized internet have been made in the past two decades
11/ But so far, open-source Web 3.0 projects were lacking both the necessary funding & the technological infrastructure to compete with their centralized counterparts
12/ With cryptographic tokens finally enabling efficient funding of the open-source infrastructure needed to build a decentralized internet, while also aligning interests...
13/ ...and the continued innovation/development around blockchain infrastructure (e.g. Polkadot & parachains) this drastically changes
14/ Taking all of this into consideration, the vision of Web 3.0 has enormous potential to disrupt the internet and the emerging Web 3.0 ecosystem certainly poses a highly interesting investment opportunity
15/ Get exposure through:
- base layers (e.g. $DOT, $GLMR)
- storage (e.g. $AR)
- domains (e.g. $ENS)
- identity ( e.g. $KILT)
- social networks (e.g. $SUB)
- video streaming/transcoding (e.g. $THETA, $LPT)
- data markets (e.g. $OCEAN)
- VPNs (e.g. $OXT)
- browsers (e.g. $BAT)
16/ Those are just a few example projects and not meant to be financial advice. The #Web3 space offers a very diverse investment universe. Alway DYOR and invest responsibly
How the mapped assets moved · since 23 Jan 2022
Prices as of 23 Oct 2026This is a landscape piece, not a set of calls. Price moves since publication are shown as market context.
Mapped in this piece · best to worst since
$ENSEthereum Name Servicesince publication−65%−85% vs BTC
$BATBasic Attentionsince publication−76%−90% vs BTC
$OCEANOcean Protocolsince publication−79%−91% vs BTC
$ARArweavesince publication−88%−95% vs BTC
$THETATheta Networksince publication−93%−97% vs BTC
$LPTLivepeersince publication−93%−97% vs BTC
$OXTOrchid Protocolsince publication−96%−98% vs BTC
$KILTKILT Protocol [OLD]since listing 17 Jul 2025−99.7%−99.6% vs BTC
No reliable price feed for $SUB.
Since then
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- Polkadot ecosystem status: Hydration, Mythos, peaq, PolkaVM, JAM and DOT ETFsOn Polkadot
Daily closes in USD from DefiLlama and Yahoo Finance. Only a bullish or bearish thesis is read as a call; explainers, maps and mentions are context. Not financial advice.