The Web, and with it the Internet, are entering a new era. In this indispensable book, Alex Tapscott, co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute, reveals the technologies and concepts that will lead to the biggest shake-up of business, culture, and society in a generation.

Over the past three decades, we’ve moved from the “Read-only Web,” which had little more than static content, to the “Read-Write Web,” which turned internet users into content creators and offered endless opportunities to collaborate. While this new Web revolutionized the media, retail, and other industries, the profusion of cyberattacks, data hacks, and online profiling have led many to view digital life as a Faustian bargain. Intermediaries and tech giants became gatekeepers, enacting barriers and imposing tolls on everything we do, stifling innovation and economic freedom online.

Enter Web3, the “Read-Write-Own Web”—a decentralized Internet where individuals own their own identities and online creations and can securely trade assets like money, securities, intellectual property, art, and data peer to peer. Web3 allows us to reimagine cultural industries, transform money and markets, usher in new kinds of assets and organizations, and support greater global participation in our digital economy. If the spread of technology truly makes the world flatter, then Web3 could be a steamroller, remaking the world in profound and unexpected ways.

Like all revolutionary innovations, Web3 comes with immense promise and potential peril for leaders in business and society. Tapscott’s Web3 is an essential field guide to the internet’s next era. It is a book for everyone who cares about the future and wants to play a role in shaping it.