The latest decentralized version of the worldwide web may host tens of trillions of dollars worth of economic activity in less than a decade. Capitalizing on the opportunity that Web3 presents may not be all that different from adapting to the virtual communities that emerged from Web2 according to Peter Evans, chief strategy officer at McFadyen Digital. Where Web1 focused on static pages and Web2 thrived on user generated content, Web3 is about assigning value to that content. Web3 makes it possible to assign digital assets to nonfungible tokens which become digital identifiers that cannot be copied or changed. Therefore there is assurance that creators will be paid, as in the past they have had a hard time because their work was very easy to copy. Although blockchain technology has existed for roughly two decades, it has only taken off in the past few years with an explosion of ecosystems.

CitiGroup has estimated that the total addressable market for Web3 will be somewhere between 8trillion and 13 trillion by 2030. In addition, we are going to see an explosion of growth in virtual stores. There is immense interest in the ability to tokenize illiquid assets and create whole new values. At the recent MIT Platform Strategy Summit, experts discussed how Web3 will signal a pivotal transformation in retail. Whether it is virtual versions of physical products or redesigned brick-and-mortar stores, retail is well positioned for this shift. There are going to be things you can do in the metaverse that you will earn rewards for and can redeem in physical stores, or you can go to physical stores and redeem assets in the metaverse. There is going to be an exchange between these two spaces. Web3 will enable more creativity and ownership as well as virtual stores and monetized digital assets. Web3 needs to be on businesses’ radars. Web3 is going to be a part of the next frontier. Thinking about how you invest in this space and the positioning of your company could be a big deal for the future.