Essentials
Getting Started
Artist Guides
Decentralisation & Blockchain Technology
An introduction to Web3, the concept of decentralization, as well as a brief primer on blockchain technology and how fxhash builds on top of it.
fxhash is a platform that builds on top of Web3 principles and blockchain technology for the distribution of digital code generated artworks. To understand how fxhash makes this possible it is important to have a general idea of what the term Web3 means and how blockchains power this new era of the internet.
What is Web3?
With the terms Web1, Web2, and Web3, we are essentially referring to different phases of the World Wide Web - they are different paradigms in which people interact with the internet, and with each other via the internet.
Web3 refers to the newest of these paradigms: it is focused on decentralization, blockchain technology, and user empowerment. Here it is beneficial to briefly tackle the previous iterations of the internet to get a better understanding:
- Web1 (The Static Web): This was the early stage of the internet, where websites were mostly static and read-only. Users could view information, but there wasn't much interactivity. Content was created by a limited number of entities for users, but users themselves couldn't directly create content.
- Web2 (The Social Web): This is the current version of the internet that most people are familiar with. It's characterized by social media platforms, interactive websites, and user-generated content. Examples include Facebook, TwitterX, YouTube, etc. Web2 essentially focuses on the participation of users to generate content for each other.
Although Web2 mainly revolves around user participation, the created user content/data is handled, controlled, and stored by centralized authorities, such as social media platforms and search engines. In this setting, users are reliant on these intermediaries to interact with and view the content. Web3 is an attempt at moving away from such centralized authorities and making the internet more user-centric. This version of the internet places an emphasis on user ownership, digital identity, transparency and security, as well as interoperability of applications.
In essence, Web3 aims to make the internet more decentralized.
Decentralization in the context of Web3 means distributing control and authority across a network of participants rather than relying on a single central authority, like a traditional server or company.
In a decentralized system, data and processes are spread out among many nodes or computers, making the network more resilient, resistant to censorship, and less dependent on any single point of failure.
This shift toward decentralization in Web3 aims to empower individuals, giving them greater control over their data, identities, and interactions online, and reducing the dominance of centralized entities in the digital landscape.
What is a Blockchain?
Blockchains are the underlying technology that makes decentralization in Web3 possible. They serve as the technological backbone of Web3 and enable digital ownership, a crucial notion in the context of fxhash.
A blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger technology that securely records transactions across a network of computers. Each transaction is grouped into a block, and these blocks are linked together in a chronological chain using cryptographic hashes.
The decentralized nature of blockchains ensures that no single entity has control over the entire system, reducing the risk of tampering and enhancing trust.
Initially, blockchains were conceived as alternative financial systems, and to create decentralized and tamper-resistant systems for conducting and recording transactions without the need for a central authority such as a bank. The technology has evolved significantly since then, opening up many other use cases. One of which is digital ownership.
These immutable and tamper-proof digital ledgers make it possible to tie specific digital tokens to transactions, and the ability to unambiguously trace back to whomever effectuated a transaction makes it possible to attribute ownership of these digital tokens. This is explained in greater detail in the sections NFTs and Smart Contracts.
A great introduction to how blockchains work is the seminal video by 3Blue1Brown, although it focuses on the bitcoin blockchain as an example, the concepts introduced can be extrapolated to other chains as well:
← Previous