As the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, developers are constantly searching for new ways to improve decentralization, accessibility, and functionality. Ethereum has been at the forefront of innovation, enabling developers to build a range of decentralized applications (dApps) that can revolutionize industries from finance to art. One of the latest innovations to come out of Ethereum is the web3:// Access Protocol, a new way for virtual machines to access data on the blockchain.

In this article, we’ll explore what web3:// is, why it’s necessary, what new applications it enables, and what obstacles still need to be overcome.

What is the web3:// Access Protocol?

In simple terms, web3:// is a URL that enables decentralized access to web objects hosted by smart contracts. It has a similar syntax to HTTP, including path and query parameters, and is fully compatible with HTTP. Web3 URLs can display a range of web objects, including JSON files, images, videos, and JavaScript, and are designed to support multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, and others.

With the recently approved ERC-4804 standard users can interact with the content on decentralized websites by directly running a query to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and rendering any web content stored on-chain using human-readable URLs.

Why is it necessary?

The Importance of Censorship-Resistance in Decentralized Networks

The principle of ‘censorship-resistance’ lies at the core of the value proposition offered by decentralized networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum. This principle ensures that everyone, regardless of their background or status, has unfiltered access to a decentralized financial system. However, in recent years, the censorship-resistance of these networks has come under threat due to their disproportionate reliance on centralized infrastructure and services.

Data from ethernodes shows that more than 65% of Ethereum’s nodes are hosted on centralised internet service providers (ISPs), with 66.9% of those nodes using the same centralised ISP, Amazon Web Services (AWS). This creates a single point of failure that could compromise the network’s censorship-resistance.

The dependence on centralized infrastructure has led to several examples of decentralized services being affected, such as the blackout that affected Tornado Cash, the suspension of dYdX due to an AWS outage, and Uniswap Labs’ delisting of token pairs.

Fully decentralized NFTs

One other main motivation behind developing the web3:// Access Protocol was the increasing number of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are moving fully on-chain. NFTs have become increasingly popular in recent years, and many creators are choosing to host their digital artwork, music, and other multimedia assets on the Ethereum blockchain. However, hosting these resources using third-party platforms can be costly, inefficient, and counter-intuitive to decentralization. With web3://, users can browse all images, multimedia content, and web content directly on Ethereum smart contracts, enabling a fully decentralized experience.

In the end, a completely decentralized Internet is the ultimate goal.

What new applications does it enable?

The Web3 Access Protocol opens up a range of new applications that were previously unimaginable, like dynamic websites with multi-user interactions. Things like decentralized blogger, decentralized Dropbox, decentralized Email, decentralized Git, decentralized Craigslist and so on become doable.

Everything we can imagine in the Web2 world is now possible in Web3.

Some dApps that are accessible by web3:// right now:

Challenges

One of the critical challenges for Web3 URL is the storage costs on Ethereum. Currently, one gigabyte of on-chain data can cost a whopping 10 million US dollars, making it way too expensive for most Web3 applications.

That’s where EthStorage comes in. This new native storage layer for Ethereum is designed to scale the storage to petabytes while reducing costs by up to 1,000 times. With this innovative technology, developers will be able to create more advanced and sophisticated applications that can handle vast amounts of data without worrying about cost constraints.

Conclusion

The web3:// Access Protocol is an exciting innovation that will enable developers to create new, decentralized applications that were previously impossible. It provides a new way to access data on the blockchain, making it possible to host entire websites and other multimedia content on Ethereum smart contracts.

While there are still challenges to overcome, including the cost of storage on Ethereum, web3:// represents a major step forward for blockchain development and could pave the way for a more decentralized and accessible internet. web3:// is expected to revolutionize the web as we know it today.