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As the Metaverse expands, it becomes an increasingly vital part of our lives. Those entrepreneurs specializing in technology will be the forerunners leading this immersive, digital world. However, thought leaders from any industry must understand how the Metaverse works so they may implement it into their own company’s sphere.
Therefore, we wanted to expand on the different areas where the Metaverse will likely impact your firm. There are at least 13 elements we have identified and which you may need to consider. We will briefly discuss the Metaverse, these elements, and then how they interconnect.
The Metaverse is a collective virtual open space, blending a digital reality with physical features. It represents the next level of online browsing, gaming, or living.
Adoption of this technology is still in its infancy. Most business leaders will limit their investments yet continue to learn about future implications. Certain groups are vying to make their virtual “spaces,” but all these projects currently have limited functionality. They resemble rough prototypes, not finished products.
The range of possible activities within the Metaverse expands daily. Today, we have avatar-driven socializing, actual commerce, real estate bidding, and even virtual land purchasing, among other options. The Metaverse takes all possible physical activities and makes them virtual. This is what we traditionally have called augmented reality.
Gartner estimates that a quarter of us will be spending at least one hour a day in the Metaverse, working, shopping, studying, and viewing social media by 2026.
Each plays a part, and most overlap in some ways with one another.
Courtesy of Gartner
Digital currency is the first requirement. Various Metaverse-based projects seek to make their cryptocurrencies the default options for their networks. With multiple cryptocurrencies, how will central banks respond?
Will they opt for fiat-linked digital bank currencies (DBCs) or instead for the hands-off approach, letting the private crypto markets determine fiat equivalency? What is not up for debate, however, is regulation. Criminal or other underworld elements shall be weeded out. Coins which favor transparency and layman use will very likely succeed.
Currency is the foundation of the marketplace. You could say that trading is the secondary point of the Metaverse, with the first simply connection. AI-led kiosks shall replace waiters, cashiers, and clerks. Casual chats shall replace checking out forms while still utilizing advanced card encryptions.
Tokens are the digital equivalents of traditional certificates; objects themselves worthless but for what they represent. This is exactly like the first instances of paper money.
Digital tokens fit perfectly into the Metaverse, acting as authenticators and infallible provers of ownership made possible through blockchain technology. NFTs take cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum by proving ownership of unique objects. The classic examples already well known to the digital world are art and real estate.
NFTs are divisible to custom specifications, enabling fractional ownership of expensive items such as centuries-old paintings or elaborate mansions. Aside from collecting, NFTs open a new class of investing.
The infrastructure to underpin the Metaverse will be the foundation for all of us. Companies which use this foundation, especially early on, will lead the rest in terms of bragging rights and bottom lines.
Decentraland, the Sandbox, and others, including Meta (formerly Facebook) want to win this race. However, Intel engineer Raja-Koduri argued that a persistent, immersive, and global real time computing needed to support the Metaverse will require a computational efficiency of 1,000 times today’s latest technology. To showcase both the virtual environments and its avatars is the goal of this decade’s computing race.
No single company shall make the Metaverse. Cloud services providers will handle reliable data migration, network service providers will eliminate bottlenecks to virtualizing key functions, and vendor-neutral partners must weave it all together.
The Metaverse should be hardware-independent. Any device must retain the capacity to access it. Headsets present high barriers to entry as the Metaverse is designed for all.
Despite the attraction of virtual and augmented realities, they are not required for the Metaverse’s success. Its claim to fame is wide-ranging use. While companies and designers must understand that experiences will not carry across devices, the Metaverse must retain its accessibility.
Gaming makes a permanent, solid pillar of the upcoming Metaverse. 3D rendering has its origins in gaming. Even Super Mario is a type of Metaverse.
Second Life, Roblox, and Minecraft represent the first wave in Metaverse development. Players use virtual materials to upgrade their avatars or avatar “homes” while meeting other players freely. Fortnite is not just a first-person shooter; gamers are playing, interacting with friends, and watching movies.
In the spirit of gaming, it’s clear that most of our time in the Metaverse will include personal experiences. The sheer programming scale required is incredible.
Social media will also shift to a hyper personalized form, particularly with virtual reality. With this will come intense scrutiny of false information, cyberbullying, and speech limitations. AI shall likely play a key role here.
The security and safety issues we face now with identity theft will be even more critical in the Metaverse. How we shop will feel more experiential. 3D visualization will unlock a new world of global commerce and retail trading. There is a virtual certainty that most, if not all, retailers will utilize this impending transformation in online shopping.
For some, the Metaverse means the workplace. We don’t simply mean the engineers and programmers, but for all industries. While fantastic, AI has its limitations and human-driven avatars will want human-driven assistants.
Also, more people will have an opportunity for work since this is an advanced form of remote working. Knowing about employees will be less important than their ability to do the job, indirectly and very fortunately opening a door for those with disabilities.
The Metaverse will also bring with it AI, and to some extent, AI the Metaverse. This has the potential to increase productivity if done correctly but can also cause problems with service failures. As companies grow, they must consider the incorporation of AI bots into their business practices so to improve customer satisfaction where possible.
The process of communicating with AI will require NLP. And NLP requires the semantic web. Artificial code must understand natural words and intonations.
An AI equipped with solid NLP will provide users with real-time, hyper-personalized experiences. However, even humans have trouble understanding each other, and this semantic barrier is a tall one to pass. It is best to understand the limitations of NLP and work around them until technology improves.
As we move forward into the new Metaverse, these elements will play interconnected, vital roles shaping how we interact with the world.
Every element must be considered from various angles: regulatory, legal, commercial, user, health, and moral. The Metaverse will likely grow in a wild west fashion until overseers catch up. Most companies should take small steps to pinpoint where the highest return on investment is for them.
Disclaimer: The author of this text, Jean Chalopin, is a global business leader with a background encompassing banking, biotech, and entertainment. Mr. Chalopin is Chairman of Deltec International Group, www.deltecbank.com.
The co-author of this text, Robin Trehan, has a bachelor’s degree in economics, a master’s in international business and finance, and an MBA in electronic business. Mr. Trehan is a Senior VP at Deltec International Group, www.deltecbank.com.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this text are solely the views of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of Deltec International Group, its subsidiaries, and/or its employees. This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific provider, service, or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade.
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