The term "Web 3.0" was created by a computer scientist, who laid out his vision for the future of the internet.
The phrase, also shortened to "Web3", has become an internet buzzword recently with high-profile technologists, including Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk, debating the meaning of the term.
Wood spoke to CNBC about his vision for Web3 on the Beyond the Valley show.
Web3 is a version of the internet that is not dominated by a few powerful players such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
The internet we know today is the result of the birth of trillion dollar technology companies that have a strong influence over the internet and own a lot of the infrastructure.
If something goes wrong with one of these services, the service is suddenly unavailable for an awful lot of people, and that's the big problem with this.
The word trust is used here. We have to trust the people behind the services. We have to trust the owners of the companies that run the service. We kind of architected ourselves into a version of what the world could be.
Web3 is a more democratic version of the internet.
Web3 is an alternative vision of the web, where the services that we use are not hosted by a single service provider company, but rather they are hosted by everybody. It is very peer to peer, right? Wood said the idea was that all participants contribute a small slice of the ultimate service.
No one has an advantage over anyone else, at least as far as you know, when you go to eBay or Facebook, the company behind the service really has an advantage.
Web3 is powered by a key technology. The technology that underpins it is most often associated with the coin. There is a public ledger of activity on the network. A central authority like a bank does not issue the digital currency, because it is not owned by a single company or person. The network is maintained by a global group of people running specialized computers.
The phrase decentralization is an important one.
Web3 is based on the idea of a trustless model. We need to trust companies to deliver on their promises. If Web3 products and services are built on a distributed ledger, you don't have to trust the underlying algorithm to deliver them.
That carries its own risks.
Wood gave an example of a Web3 version of the social networking site which he said would give more users control over their posts and make it easier to verify their identities.
It's much harder for someone to fake my identity because we have proof.
There are elements of freedom of speech in the system, but it isn't going to be like the way that there are employees that act as a kind of gateway to the internet.
The future of the internet will be influenced by cryptocurrencies. There is a Web3 application that uses a specific digital coin.
ether-based digital token may be required for services that run on the Ethereum blockchain.
Over the past few years, there have been thousands of virtual currencies. Wood said that Web3 may not rely heavily on cryptocurrencies.
I think currency will continue to play a role in services. Wood told CNBC that services will be delivered without the need to use token.
I think that's going to be a big jump. He said that it is one of the key factors that will open the door to the mainstream.
It is very difficult to regulate a currency that is not owned by a single entity. Exchanges that deal with cryptocurrencies often find themselves under some sort of regulation.
If a Web3 service is built on the same theory of decentralization, how will regulators approach it?
The world is still trying to figure out how to regulate cryptocurrencies. Web3 is a part of the conversation.
Wood thinks that it will be difficult for authorities to regulate the services themselves. Wood said that it could be in an app's self interest to bring in rules that align with regulators.
Regulators might look to regulate the users of the service rather than the service itself.
Web3 advocates think that the power of technology giants could be challenged.
The same companies that are investing in Web3 are also investing in other things.
It will be hard to make a difference in these companies, but he compared their plight to that of Microsoft.
Wood said that the web could be used on any operating system.
Ultimately... I hope that Web3 can fulfill the needs of the future in a way that can never be fulfilled by these centralized service providers.
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