Editor's note: As part of CoinDesk's "Metaverse Week," we asked a number of engineers, executives, and experts to weigh in on the key issues facing the crypto industry. In this roundtable discussion, they answer the question of how the metaverse will be integrated into the Internet as we know it and how that will change economic incentives.
The answers touch on the discussion of the new business models that could emerge, as well as how to make traditional Internet advertising more "palatable." Given the amount of time we already spend online, how might the metaverse change the way we socialize, and what technical aspects do we need to consider?
This article is part of "Metaverse Week
":An open metaverse prevents bad business modelsSimple
truth: The decentralized Web, or Web 3, will grow exponentially this decade - but it won't have a real impact until the next decade. Web 3 can truly change the identity, utility, and equitable monetization models of the Internet as we know it. When that day comes, the Internet will run primarily on decentralized nodes and will realize the potential of the token economy.
In contrast, the archaic and centralized Internet (Web 2) will continue to be controlled and manipulated by corporations, tech billionaires, and nation-states. It is likely that the tech giants of today will integrate CBDCs [central bank digital currencies] and easily monitored identity protocols over time.
Only time will tell how technology will evolve, and Web 2 could also serve as a door for people and platforms to enter the open metaverse. In such a world, the historical manipulations and injustices of today's technology - such as business models based on exploiting users' free personal data - will be discredited and no longer applicable. Ultimately, the metaverse and the promise of the token economy will spawn a plethora of different monetization approaches that were not possible before. Let's keep learning and building.
-IrinaKaragyaur, Head of Metaverse Growth at Unique NetworkAdvertising with
flavorSometraditional
internet business models, such as advertising, are likely to persist in the metaverse. However, with blockchain-related technologies like decentralized identity and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), privacy can actually be preserved in the metaverse if we get the basics right. Nonetheless, the use of these types of privacy and identity technologies, especially ZKPs, can come with the added hurdle of lower latency, [because] zero-knowledge proof itself can be very computationally intensive to execute.
On the Internet, recommendation engines operate in real time, matching the viewer with the most relevant ad every second. Because CCPs can introduce latency of several seconds or minutes, companies need to find clever solutions. In a decentralized metaverse, recommendation engines (used not exclusively for advertising, but also to alert users to new experiences, events, or people) will actually compute recommendations while out of view of the virtual banner in the spatial environment or completely offline.
The result can be thoughtful recommendations for products, services, or experiences tailored to the individual, while preserving privacy rights and also, if desired, full transparency about why and how that recommendation engine decided to show me what it did. I believe these types of experiences will emerge in the metaverse. We can still rely on the tried-and-true business models of "yesterday's Internet" to create value for infrastructure providers, but we can do it with more class and flavor.
-JoshuaTobkin, CEO of SupraOraclesMetaverse
, meet DeFiTheMetaverse
is becoming one of the many places where people's digital and IRL (in real life) identities inter
sect.More and more social, gaming, and financial companies are recognizing the unique connection they can make with their users through the metaverse and will begin to move their products and services into the metaverse.
For decentralized finance, an industry that is removing gatekeepers from economic instruments, this will lead to the creation of opportunities for users to trade their cryptocurrencies in the metaverse. This could include sending tokens to friends, interacting with staking pools, and more. Much of the excitement is in what is possible but hasn't been done yet.
-Ryan Berkun, Founder and CEO of Teller
FinanceFindYourTribeIt
'shuman nature to crave community and connection. We form groups based on similar values, interests and experiences. The metaverse is just a new expression of our identity and will reflect the things that people care about and want to connect with. There will be many metaverses that serve specific inclinations.
Individuals will be able to move from one metaverse to another, taking their identity and assets (financial, data or otherwise) with them. Sports lovers will be able to play games and share experiences with like-minded people. Music lovers will be able to discover and interact with up-and-coming artists in ways that were not possible before, because fan communities were so dispersed that it was difficult to meet in real life. Fashion brands will be able to showcase their collections, solicit feedback on new products, and sell their wares in a personal way that is no longer limited by the geographic footprint of their stores.
In many ways, the Internet has enabled each of us to find "our tribe" or a group of like-minded people who share the same values and interests. This creates a sense of belonging and being understood, which can be highly beneficial to one's self-image. But it can also lead to social fractures and dangerous echo chambers if contact with new ideas and ways of life is completely prevented. We will need thoughtful innovation to foster both connection and cross-fertilization to keep our society healthy in the future.
-Tara Fung, Co:Create co-founder and CEO of Gesso LabsPublic
GoodIn
away, we've all been living in the first iteration of the metaverse since the [coronavirus] pandemic began. Living in Zoom calls, building personal relationships with people we've never met before, and normalizing being online illustrate how much the "real" metaverse will be embedded in our daily lives. Because the metaverse will function as a utility, unlike what is marketed by Facebook/Meta [FB], the metaverse will be classified as a public good, just like access to the Internet.
As with the use of the Internet, there will be tremendous benefits, but also certain dangers that must be considered. This underscores the importance of having tools available to help users protect their privacy, improve security and resilience, and remove the barriers of an outdated username and password authentication process to provide a secure and user-friendly experience.
-JohnJefferies, chief marketing officer of BlocknativeInterconnected
, composable, collaborativeThe term
"metaverse" was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. The book describes the metaverse as an immersive successor to the Internet, not so different from the Oculus-connected version we know today. It explores anarcho-capitalist themes in which people eschew the U.S. dollar in favor of less regulated "electronic currencies" and nation-states are "decentralized" and replaced by private agencies.
When Facebook rebranded itself as Meta last October, it was hard not to draw on some of Stephenson's dystopian themes. Meta's embrace of the metaverse is a clear indication of its future plans: to create an immersive, original extension of the current Web - that is, a platform overseen and maintained by a few giant companies, powered by ad-supported models for content and games, and built on Facebook's existing social graph.
In contrast to Meta's centrally controlled Metaverse, developers around the world are collaborating to develop the foundations of an alternative ecosystem: the Hyperverse. The Hyperverse, also referred to as Web 3, is a progressively decentralized Web as well as a networked, composable, collaborative Internet. It is a nonlinear digital space. It incorporates multimedia, community, and financial protocols and is supported by blockchain technology, which acts as a permanent and permission-free shared infrastructure layer.
This movement represents a reconstruction of online power dynamics, where ownership is redistributed through a network of interconnected technologies, media, and protocols. Applications range from audio, video, stories, art, and games to tokenized incentive systems or programmable money.
New organizational models such as DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) are emerging to support this evolution and align the incentives of platforms to create collective value. The goal is to reopen the Internet through the collaborative economy - through a mix of traditional entities paired with DAOs, through traditional incentives paired with tokenized models, and through traditional technology paired with blockchain-enabled systems.
-Timshel, one of BitDAOMore's key players
fromMetaverse Week:href="https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/metaverseweek/2022/05/23/how-the-metaverse-could-be-a-game-changer-for-nft-gaming/">How the Metaverse could be a game-changer for NFT gamingRather than allowing players to port weapons or powers between games, non-fungible tokens will serve as building blocks for new games and virtual worlds
. The Metaverse Will Make Gamers of Us All Essentially,the "Metaverse" is a game - but one with real-world consequences and possibilities
. What can you do in the Metaverse in 2022?The future possibilities of the Metaverse are probably limitless, but is there anything you can do in the Metaverse right now?
Rather than allowing players to port weapons or powers between games, non-fungible tokens will serve as building blocks for new games and virtual worlds
. The Metaverse Will Make Gamers of Us All Essentially,the "Metaverse" is a game - but one with real-world consequences and possibilities
. What can you do in the Metaverse in 2022?The future possibilities of the Metaverse are probably limitless, but is there anything you can do in the Metaverse right now?