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“Machine Hallucinations Space: Metaverse,” an immersive art installation by Refik Anadol, in Hong Kong a couple of months ago.
Lam Yik/Bloomberg
Web3, the next-generation internet that includes the metaverse, is far more hype than reality. But a battle is brewing over whether an internet based on blockchain technology will be decentralized—as crypto advocates would like—or controlled by Big Tech.
Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square, has weighed in with tweets, taking a shot at companies aiming to control—or try to dominate—Web3.
“You don’t own web3. The VCs and their LPs do,” Dorsey tweeted Tuesday, referring to venture capital funds and their limited partners. “It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk piped up, tweeting “has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.”
MicroStrategy
(ticker: MSTR) CEO Michael Saylor, a Bitcoin billionaire, chimed in, too. #Web3 is marketing,” he tweeted.
As tech visionaries see it, decentralized blockchain technology will be at the core of the next-generation internet. The idea is that everything from payments to social networks to e-commerce will be distributed over a global computing network that is run and governed by its users—not large companies.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or stablecoins, designed to maintain a fixed value, would play a central role, displacing fiat currencies like the dollar. Ideally, according to the crypto libertarians, no corporate…
