Opera has launched a new web browser, calling it a major step toward a Web3 experience, although some experts are still not very impressed.

The Crypto Browser Project, currently available in beta for Windows, macOS, and Android, claims to have integrated web3 into its core to essentially make it easier to buy and organize cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFT). While some experts we spoke to praised Opera for spearheading the decentralized web movement, others were outright dismissive that the average desktop user would ever need a web3 browser.

"The average user doesn't need one and never will," Liam Dawe, owner of GamingOnLinux and an outspoken critic of buzzword co-opting tech, told Lifewire via email. "Once 'web3' becomes more than just a silly buzzword used by crypto-bros, the actual major trusted browsers will implement whatever is needed, and users probably won't notice much of a difference."

Unlike the current iteration of the web that is served from centralized servers, the web3 movement essentially envisions the next version of the internet as distributed or decentralized across networks of computers. And most web3 proponents agree that the technology of choice for this decentralization would be blockchain, which they claim has proven its worth by decentralizing finance with cryptocurrencies.