> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.theblockchainlibrary.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Web3 fundamentals

> Understand the idea of user-owned digital systems and decentralized applications.

## What Web3 describes

Web3 is a broad term for internet applications and infrastructure that use blockchain, cryptographic ownership, decentralized networks, and programmable digital assets.

## Common characteristics

* Wallet-based identity or authorization.
* User-controlled digital assets.
* Smart-contract execution.
* Open protocols and composable applications.
* Decentralized or distributed infrastructure.

## The practical test

The most useful question is not whether something is called Web3. It is whether decentralized infrastructure meaningfully improves ownership, interoperability, transparency, resilience, or coordination for the use case.