What Is The Metaverse and What Is Crypto's Role In It?
- The Metaverse is still in the conceptual stage. It’s currently more of an idea that represents the integration of virtual, physical, and financial realms.
- It is most likely to emerge from the connection of various web-based platforms, with a unique digital avatar serving as the bridge between it and the physical world.
- Cryptocurrencies and smart contract technology will play a large role in the Metaverse, serving as the foundational pillars for important transactions that take place in the space.
What is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is an emerging 3D landscape that represents the integrations of the virtual and physical as well as financial realms. While still in its early stages, the Metaverse is already on the path to push the boundaries and become the next stage of digital development.
Emerging out of the evolving spirit of human interaction and dependence on digital devices, the Metaverse will ultimately include data from all virtual and smart devices connected to the internet. It will also offer an immersive and unique user experience - something that has only been fantasized about in science fiction.
DeFining the Metaverse
Have you seen the popular movie Ready Player One by Steven Spielberg? Well, the Metaverse is a similar concept of an ever-operating online 3-dimensional virtual reality connecting every aspect of a user’s life. The Metaverse will be an intersecting hub for multiple web-based platforms similar to how you can connect to multiple websites through a single web browser.
The prime interacting driver in the Metaverse will be augmented and virtual reality. Every user will be able to control their unique digital avatar which will be their window into the Metaverse. For instance, you will have the ability to host work meetings, manage your portfolio, and play blockchain games - all through your avatars in the Metaverse.
The idea may seem odd to those who remember how the world used to be before the popularity of the internet. However, the concept of the Metaverse has already popped up in multiple aspects of modern society, from games like Second Life to work socialization tools like Gather Town. As it currently stands, these applications are still in the beginning stages and are more like the foundational pillars to the future possibilities that can someday be brought by the Metaverse.
Expanding our scope to more than just gaming or social media, the Metaverse will gradually incorporate other aspects of our day-to-day life, such as digital identity, decentralized finance (DeFi), economy, governance, and more.
What is the role of cryptocurrency in the Metaverse?
Besides the visual and 3D aspects of the Metaverse, there are more crucial sections of the Metaverse, such as proof of ownership, that only cryptocurrencies will be able to manage.
Whether you need to easily transfer value or participate in governance voting efficiently within a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be needed to conduct these securely and reliably.
Most likely, the Metaverse in the future will consist of various aspects of modern gaming combined with blockchain technology. Some of the prime contributors that the blockchain will bring to Metaverse will comprise of:
Accessibility
Anyone with an appropriate device and internet connection can generate a wallet on a public blockchain without needing to provide their personal information.
Digital collectibility
You will be able to prove that your item is original and unique due to non-fungible token (NFT) technology.
Digital proof of ownership
You will be able to instantly prove your ownership of an asset on a blockchain.
Governance
You will be able to have an important say in creating the rules and deciding the future roadmap of projects within the Metaverse.
Interoperability
The compatibility between different blockchain networks to create an interconnected community of platforms that can seamlessly interact with each other.
Transfer of value
You will be able to transfer value anywhere in the world without requiring to trust a middleman, all thanks to cryptocurrencies.
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