The first lesson on transitioning to Web3 development Illustrated Version 05 The Architecture of Web3

Last weekend, I completed a live streaming course called “Transition to Web3 Development Lesson 1”. In the following days, I divided the content of this first lesson and re-recorded it into 7 shorter videos, which were subsequently released on platforms such as Bilibili, Weibo Video, Douyin, and Zhihu.
Bilibili has subtitles, while the other platforms do not.
If you enjoy watching on Bilibili, you can search for “Transition to Web3 Development Lesson 1” to find this video course, or you can directly search for my name, “Keegan小钢”.
Below is the text and image version of the fifth article, and the links to the previous four articles are as follows:
01 | Self-Introduction
02 | What is Web3
03 | Why Transition to Web3
04 | Opportunities for Ordinary People
【Web3 Architecture】Text and Image Version


Hello, I’m “Keegan小钢”, and we continue with “Transition to Web3 Development Lesson 1”. In this section, let’s get to know the architecture of Web3. Since we are transitioning to Web3, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of the entire Web3 ecosystem.
Last year, I summarized and shared a popular article that many people have reposted. The article is called “A Comprehensive Discussion on the Architecture of Web3” and, although it is quite long and contains a lot of content, it is really worth reading, especially for many Web3 newcomers.
I have abstracted the entire Web3 ecosystem into four levels, from bottom to top: the blockchain network layer, middleware layer, application layer, and access layer.
The blockchain network layer is the bottommost layer, also known as the foundation layer of Web3, mainly composed of various blockchain networks. This includes networks such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Solana, and so on. It is important to note that consortium chains are not included in this category.
According to statistics, there are currently at least 150 or more blockchains. With so many blockchains, they can be divided into different categories based on different dimensions. Here are a few dimensions I have listed.


Firstly, they can be divided into Layer0, Layer1, and Layer2 based on hierarchy. Layer0 is defined as the blockchain infrastructure service layer, mainly composed of modular blockchains, with representatives such as Celestia, Polkadot, Cosmos, etc. In addition, cross-chain bridges and protocols are also included in the scope of Layer0.
Layer1, also known as the main chain, includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Solana, and others.
To address the scalability issues of Bitcoin and Ethereum, Layer2 gradually emerged. Layer2 exists as a sub-chain attached to the main chain, mainly used to handle the transaction volume of Layer1 and take on the role of the execution layer, while Layer1 can serve as the settlement layer, greatly reducing transaction pressure. The mainstream Layer2s are currently expanding Ethereum’s sub-chains, including Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync, StarkNet, Polygon, etc. Bitcoin also has Layer2, with previous well-established projects mainly including Lightning Network, Stacks, Liquid, etc. After the NFT boom, a large number of new Bitcoin Layer2 projects have emerged.
From the perspective of virtual machines, blockchain can be divided into EVM chains and Non-EVM chains. EVM stands for Ethereum Virtual Machine. Many chains now support EVM, so EVM is already the largest ecosystem in the entire blockchain network. Non-EVM chains mainly include Solana, Aptos, Sui, etc. In addition, EVM chains primarily use Solidity as the programming language for smart contracts, while Non-EVM chains mainly use Rust or Move languages to develop smart contracts.
Finally, blockchain can be classified based on the size of stored data, into computational blockchains and storage blockchains. The ones mentioned above belong to computational blockchains, while storage blockchains mainly include Filecoin, Arweave, Storj, Siacoin, and EthStorage. Storage blockchains are actually not very common.
These are all about the blockchain network layer.


The layer above the blockchain network layer is called the “middleware layer”, which mainly provides various general services and functions for upper-level applications. The provided general services and functions include, but are not limited to, security audits, oracles, indexing query services, API services, data analysis, data storage, basic financial services, digital identity, DAO governance, etc. The components that provide these general services and functions can be referred to as “middleware”, and these middlewares exist in various forms, including on-chain protocols, off-chain platforms, or off-chain organizations, including centralized enterprises or decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO).


The layer above the middleware layer is the “application layer”, which is the most prosperous layer and is filled with various decentralized applications (Dapps). When discussing where the opportunities lie for ordinary people, we mainly refer to doing projects, which primarily means developing Dapps. In addition, exchanges such as Binance, OKEX, Bitcoin ETFs, Ethereum ETFs, etc., can also be classified into this layer. Dapps have many sub-categories, including NFTs, DeFi, GameFi, SocialFi, etc.
Due to the characteristics of NFTs, anything with ownership can be represented, which is why there is a saying that “everything can be an NFT”. Therefore, the development of NFTs has entered many different fields. If we focus only on NFTs themselves, that is, the different use cases of NFTs, we can roughly classify them as follows: collectibles, artworks, music, film and television, games, sports, virtual land, finance, brands, and decentralized identities (DID). DID refers to decentralized identity.
DeFi refers to decentralized finance, and it also has many sub-sectors, including stablecoins, exchanges, derivatives, lending, aggregators, insurance, prediction markets, indices, etc. Here, exchanges refer to decentralized exchanges (DEX), while exchanges like Binance and OKEX mentioned earlier are centralized exchanges (CEX), which are different. All the mentioned sub-sectors are decentralized. Some sub-sectors can be further segmented. For example, stablecoins can be divided into three categories: centralized stablecoins, over-collateralized stablecoins, and algorithmic stablecoins. Derivatives are also a very popular sector and can be divided into several sub-categories, such as perpetual contracts, options, synthetic assets, interest rate derivatives.
GameFi and SocialFi have not yet achieved mature development, so there are not many sub-categories in these fields.


The topmost layer is the “access layer”, which is the entry layer directly facing end users. This layer mainly includes wallets, browsers, aggregators, etc. In addition, some Web2 social media platforms have also become gateways to Web3. Wallets are the main entry point and have many categories, including browser extension wallets, mobile wallets, hardware wallets, multisig wallets, MPC wallets, AA wallets, etc. Web3 social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit, which have gathered many Web3 communities, have also become gateways to Web3.
These are the components of the overall architecture of Web3, the panoramic view. For more specific details, you can refer to my popular article “A Comprehensive Discussion on the Architecture of Web3”, which provides more in-depth information. If you’re interested, you can take a look.
Tags:
Keegan小钢
WEB3
Note: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.
Original article link: https://www.bitpush.news/articles/6909062
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