# Is web3 a well-defined term?
Web3 does not have any universally agreed upon definition.

Web3 has been accused of becoming an intellectual nexus for many internet "thought leaders" to pontificate about grand visions of technical and financial reconfiguration largely detached from any concrete plans or implementations of these ideas. This may give rise to a [bubble](bubble.md) in the sale of [security](../concepts/security.md) tokens detached from any progress on building real companies or technologies and may even disincentive productivity in favour of pure [speculation](../concepts/speculation.md).

Web3 has also been described as a means of doing [regulatory arbitrage](regulatory-arbitrage.md) on [securites](security.md) offerings to enrich venture capital firms using the broader public as exit [liquidity](../concepts/liquidity.md).

Web3 has been [criticised](https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/web3-bullshit.html) as being an intentionally ambiguous buzzword.

## References
* [https://web3isgoinggreat.com](https://web3isgoinggreat.com)
* [@diehl_web3_2021]
* [@weaver_web3_2021]
* [@white_its_2022]
* [@morozov_web3_2022]
* [@patterson_internet_2022]
* [@oreilly_why_2021]
* [@tante_third_2021]