The Web 2.0 digital economy, centered on dominant platforms, generates substantial opportunities for managers and entrepreneurs yet creates critical dependencies. Platform-dependent businesses engage in competitive actions—rivalrous, competitive-cooperative, and relational—vis-à-vis digital platforms to gain a fair share of economic value. While the (supposedly) trustworthy custodians of digital data have captured a disproportionate share of revenue and profits, Web3 promises to tilt the balance away from dominant platforms by providing mechanisms that replace centralized organizational trust with decentralized technological trust. Here, innovations such as blockchains and smart contracts complement antitrust laws and regulations in limiting platform power. Furthermore, this study suggests that end users, peers, and regulators may play an important role in helping businesses draw investors’, users’, and customers’ attention away from Web 2.0 platforms. To effectively leverage decentralized trust as a novel aspect of competitive actions, business leaders must pursue Web3 technologies that are reliable, high-growth market segments that are credible, and ventures that are investable.

以主导平台为中心的 Web 2.0 数字经济为管理者和企业家创造了大量机会，但也产生了严重的依赖性。依赖平台的企业与数字平台进行竞争行为——竞争、竞争-合作和关系——以获得公平的经济价值份额。虽然（据称）值得信赖的数字数据保管人已经获得了不成比例的收入和利润份额，但 Web3 承诺通过提供用去中心化的技术信任取代集中式组织信任的机制，使平衡远离主导平台。在这里，区块链和智能合约等创新补充了限制平台权力的反垄断法律和法规。此外，这项研究表明，最终用户、同行和监管机构可能在帮助企业吸引投资者、用户和客户对 Web 2.0 平台的注意力方面发挥重要作用。为了有效地利用去中心化信任作为竞争行为的一个新方面，企业领导者必须追求可靠的 Web3 技术、可信的高增长细分市场以及可投资的企业。