Crypto glossary
Web2
Web2 is the platform-centric internet of social networks, marketplaces and cloud apps, where companies control accounts and data; Web3 is framed against it.
The term Web 2.0 became popular in the mid-2000s to describe a web where users create content, on blogs, social networks, video sites and wikis, instead of just reading static pages. It is the internet of Facebook, YouTube, Google and app stores: free to use, interactive and built around large platforms.
In crypto, Web2 is used mainly as a contrast. Advocates of Web3 argue that in Web2 the platform owns the account, the data and the audience, can ban users or change rules unilaterally, and captures most of the value through advertising. Web3 promises ownership through wallets and tokens instead. Projects also talk about Web2 users when they mean mainstream people who have never used a crypto wallet.
The contrast is often oversimplified. Web2 services are fast, convenient and offer account recovery, while many so-called Web3 apps still run on centralised servers, cloud hosting and company-controlled front-ends. Most successful crypto products today blend both, using familiar logins and interfaces over blockchain settlement.
Example
A game studio advertises that its Web2 players can sign in with email and start playing, while a wallet is created in the background to hold in-game items as tokens.