How Generative AI Transforms Web3

Posted on May 31, 2023May 31, 2023 by Jean Chalopin

As the development of Web3 continues to gain momentum, artificial intelligence is set to revolutionise how we interact with decentralised networks. Among the many AI techniques available, generative AI is gaining increasing attention for its ability to create new and unique content, which has the potential to transform the Web3 landscape.

Generative AI can be used to produce everything from text and images to music and video, providing users with a wealth of new opportunities to engage with Web3 in exciting and innovative ways.

According to a report by ResearchAndMarkets, the generative AI market is projected to reach $200.73 billion by 2032, indicating a growing demand for this technology across various industries.

However, as with any new technology, significant challenges must be addressed, such as ensuring ethical use and mitigating potential biases. In this article, we will explore the key concepts of this form of AI and discuss its potential benefits and challenges to the Web3 ecosystem.

What Is Generative AI?

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence designed to create new and original content, such as images, text, music, and even video, without human intervention. Unlike traditional AI models, which are trained to recognize patterns and make decisions based on those patterns, generative AI is focused on generating new data that does not exist in its training data set.

This is achieved by using machine learning algorithms, such as neural networks, to analyse large data sets and identify patterns that can be used to generate new content.

Generative AI can be used in a wide range of applications, from creative industries such as music and art to more practical fields like medicine and finance, where it can be used to generate new drug compounds or financial models.

Art: It can create original pieces of art that range from abstract to more realistic forms. For instance, The Portrait of Edmond de Belamy was created by a French art collective using generative AI, and sold at Christie’s auction house for $432,500.
Music: AI-generated music is becoming increasingly popular, with some AI tools allowing users to create their own unique tracks. A good example is Amper Music, an AI-powered music composition platform enabling users to create and customise their original music.
Writing: Generative AI can also be used to create original written content, including news articles and even novels. For instance, OpenAI’s GPT-3 model (Chat GPT) has been used to write articles that are difficult to distinguish from those written by humans.
Virtual Clothing: It can also be used to create unique virtual clothing for use in the metaverse or other digital platforms. For instance, The Fabricant, a digital fashion house, has created a range of virtual clothing using generative AI.
Video games: AI can also be used to create original video games, from procedural content generation to NPCs with their own personalities and decision-making abilities. An example is Hello Games’ ‘No Man’s Sky’, which uses procedural generation to create an entire universe of unique planets and creatures.
Finance: AI can be used to analyse vast amounts of financial data and generate predictions and insights to inform investment decisions. For instance, the hedge fund Numerai uses generative AI models to analyse financial data and generate trading signals.

In other words, generative AI is the perfect technology to support Web3.

What Is Web3?

Web3 refers to the next generation of the internet, which is focused on decentralisation, security, and user control. Unlike the current Web2, which is dominated by a few large corporations that collect and control user data, Web3 is based on decentralised networks that enable users to own and control their data.

One of the key features of Web3 is the concept of the metaverse, a virtual world where users can interact with each other in real-time using avatars and digital assets. The metaverse is expected to be a key component of Web3, providing users with a new way to interact with each other and with digital content.

Another important feature of Web3 is smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. Smart contracts can be used to automate a wide range of processes, from financial transactions to supply chain management, without the need for intermediaries.

Generative AI can play a significant role in the Web3 ecosystem by creating new and unique digital assets for use in the metaverse and other decentralised applications. For example, generative AI can be used to create virtual clothing, art, and other assets that can be bought and sold within the metaverse.

Additionally, generative AI can be used to create smart contracts that are more efficient and secure than traditional contracts, thereby reducing the need for intermediaries. However, as with any new technology, there are also potential risks and challenges associated with using generative AI in the Web3 ecosystem, including the potential for bias and the need to ensure ethical use.

Challenges of Using Generative AI Within Web3

While generative AI has the potential to bring many benefits to the Web3 ecosystem, there are also significant challenges and risks associated with its use, particularly in the metaverse.

One of the biggest challenges is the potential for bias in the data used to train the generative AI models. If the data used to train the models is biassed, the generated content may also be biassed, perpetuating existing inequalities and marginalising certain groups. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that the data used to train the models is diverse and representative of all groups.

Another challenge is the potential for misuse of generative AI in the metaverse. For example, generative AI could be used to create realistic deepfake videos or other forms of disinformation, which could have severe consequences for individuals and society.

Furthermore, there is also the issue of ethical considerations surrounding the use of generative AI in the Web3 ecosystem. For instance, generative AI could be used to create realistic avatars of real people without their consent, raising serious privacy concerns.

There is also the question of who owns the rights to the generated content and how it can be used, particularly if it is sold for profit.

To mitigate these challenges and risks, it is essential to establish best practices and guidelines for the ethical use of generative AI in the metaverse and other Web3 applications. This includes ensuring that the data used to train the models is diverse and representative, establishing clear guidelines for using generated content and implementing effective mechanisms for detecting and preventing the misuse of generative AI.

Closing Thoughts

Generative AI has the potential to play a significant role in the Web3 ecosystem, particularly in the development of the metaverse and other decentralised applications. Generative AI can be used to create new and unique digital assets, such as virtual clothing and art, which can be bought and sold within the metaverse.

Additionally, it can be used to create smart contracts that are more efficient and secure than traditional contracts, reducing the need for intermediaries. However, there are also significant challenges and risks associated with using generative AI in the Web3 ecosystem, including the potential for bias and misuse.

To mitigate these risks, it is important to establish best practices and guidelines for the ethical use of generative AI. Despite these challenges, the future of generative AI in the Web3 ecosystem looks promising, with the potential to create innovative content while ensuring that it is used responsibly.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is solely the author’s opinion and not investment advice – it is provided for educational purposes only. By using this, you agree that the information does not constitute any investment or financial instructions. Do conduct your own research and reach out to financial advisors before making any investment decisions.

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.deltec.io.

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.deltec.io.

The Future of NFTs

Posted on April 11, 2023April 11, 2023 by Jean Chalopin

NFTs had their breakout year in 2021, bringing to the art world a digital revolution. They became one of the year’s fastest-growing asset classes.

Non-fungible token technology has allowed artists to offer digital originals while cutting out art broker intermediaries, also being able to receive royalties on their work’s secondary sales. However, art is just the simplest of use cases of the growing functionality being realised with NFTs, blossoming into a new world of web 3.0.

NFTs have an evolving utility that is expanding daily. NFTs are already building communities, enabling novel and tradable assets for gaming, and providing the foundations for ownership and identity outside the coming metaverse. This article will delve into several aspects that NFTs will be used in our lives going forward and why they are beneficial in these roles.

NFTs and Digital Ownership

Because of their blockchain-based immutable nature, NFTs provide a complete history and proof of ownership, what the art world calls provenance, for digital assets and for any other class that is represented by a non-fungible token.

This functionality allows for the creation of unique digital assets or items that anyone can buy or sell freely with confidence in an open marketplace.

NFTs of today have already evolved, creating further utility spanning a variety of industries:

Digital community keys
Ownership of a username and assets in the metaverse
Ownership of game assets, including avatars and virtual real estate

As our online world shifts from web 2 to web 3, NFTs will form the foundations of digital communities, assets, and economies.

NFTs as Entry Keys

One of the first use case evolutions of NFTs is as a form of ‘membership pass’ for a digital community. The ownership of NFTs that were part of a collection, like the Bored Ape yacht Club (BAYC) or the CryptoPunks, became the keystones that were required for membership in the communities that holders built.

More recently, the picture NFT collections such as Oni-Ronin have expanded on this idea, giving owners exclusive access to workshops and events as well as free airdrops of additional NFTs and even private raffles for a trip to Japan.

This type of entry is moving beyond the digital space, with NFTs now being used to provide their holders access to in-person events. Because NFTs are an immutable proof of ownership maintained on their blockchain, NFTs are in a position to solve some of the most common issues with event ticketing, such as digital theft and forging.

Digital Identities and Assets Redefined

There is no need to worry about someone taking your username in the metaverse. Some NFTs already allow for the ownership of custom “.eth” Ethereum wallet addresses (Ethereum Name Service).

So far, there have been nearly 3 million names created by over 600,000 participants.

Being in NFT form, these custom addresses can be integrated into other decentralised applications or Dapps, and they simplify the previously complex wallet addresses, allowing them to be personalised and much easier to remember. Rather than a long string of numbers and letters like ‘0x0078784ef055b06FC5A76B90c26’, it would be a much simpler address, like an email address or Instagram name such as ‘johnsmith.eth’.

Additional projects, such as NFT.com, use NFTs to provide the custom ownership of a personal profile like www.nft.com/johnsmith. The owner can share and display their NFTs on a decentralised social media network.

Tradable and Exportable NFTs

Gaming is a nascent sector where NFTs are already proving their utility. NFTs allow players to own in-game assets. There are some crucial differences between the typical ‘owning’ of assets in games and what NFTs provide. Projects such as DeFi Kingdoms, which is on the Harmony blockchain, have their own ‘NFT heroes’. These heroes can be bought, sold, and even rented out on an open market.

Along with providing ownership of these in-game assets, these Heroes can be productive assets. They can be sent on quests and earn in-game items (also in NFT form). The gained in-game assets can be exchanged for cryptocurrency or used to build other items to ‘power up’ the heroes.

The integration of NFTs into blockchain-based games like DeFi Kingdoms, Axie Infinity, and Crabada have created new and vibrant in-game economies where the NFTs are valued based on their attributes and statistics. The amount of time played is rewarded by these games, resulting in increased earnings and greater chances of finding rare item drops.

The Metaverse Economy

Beyond usernames, Ethereum wallet addresses and in-game characters, NFTs are becoming the technology used as a foundation for assets in the metaverse. The Sandbox already uses NFTs to represent the ownership of digital land, virtual spaces, as well as furniture, décor, and other metaverse assets. In November of 2021, the Sandbox saw a peak monthly sale of NFT assets totaling $47.4 million changing hands.

However, transactions have since plummeted to only about 1.1-1.2 million per month. Buyers have run the gambit of companies and celebrities, including Snoop Dogg, the South China Morning Post, and Atari, all purchasing their own real estate within The Sandbox’s metaverse.

NFTs have only just started to revolutionise the ownership and trading of digital assets, providing the foundations of digital communities and blockchain gaming, but they are poised to move well beyond these digital borders.

Blockchain is the Key

NFT’s utility is based on the use of blockchain tech. These decentralised digital ledgers are almost impossible to hack or alter. Beyond their use in proving the ownership of unique digital assets, NFT technology has nearly limitless applications beyond 8-bit art and in-game swords.

It is easy to imagine a world with a deed to a home existing as an NFT. Rather than having to conduct a title search every time a property is sold, the NFT deed would be a ledger of all changes, showing who is the current owner, when they took ownership, from whom, and the price paid. Closing would be as simple as fulfilling the requirements of a smart contract.

Such a process would be much more secure–no one could forge the ownership of a home because the log of ownership would be transparent and unalterable on the blockchain.

Not Just Real Estate

The real-life applications go far beyond real estate. NFTs would be helpful in any environment where the ownership of something should be tracked and proven. Rather than keeping paperwork needed to prove that you purchased and have ownership of something, an NFT could provide a record of the ownership history of an item and could be used for either a sale or a warranty.

NFTs could be applied to the bidding process of any job or project, ranging from simple gig work to government infrastructure projects. NFTs can also allow for built-in timekeeping and pricing mechanisms, which can make them a digital work order which can be changed in real-time as a job progresses.

A prospective college student could mint an NFT which represents their application profile, allow colleges to bid on them, offering admission and scholarships, turning the college acceptance process on its head.

A Secure Transaction Platform

Paper-based legacy transactions are called red tape for a reason. They are inefficient, require human intervention, and can be misplaced or lost. However, paper transactions have one advantage over more recent cloud-based documentation that is being used today; a paper document’s authenticity is often easier to prove. Cloud-based documents have the potential to be altered, hacked, or duplicated, costing companies millions in losses yearly.

NFTs can solve both of these problems. They provide documentation and digital transactions with a new layer of security while concurrently improving transaction efficiency. Those involved with the transaction can see the life of the NFT from creation to the current version.

NFTs form a virtually unhackable, encrypted system that is easily distributed and unalterable. Identity theft could be greatly reduced or eliminated. The NFT’s underlying asset is tracked and verifiable, providing confidence and security.

Closing Thoughts

Widespread NFT adoption could bring us many benefits. As businesses incorporate more blockchain technologies into their operations and a wider adoption happens among consumers, the sum of benefits is hard to limit.

NFTs will likely become the ‘how’–how we are identified, how we transfer personal data, and how we engage in digital commerce, particularly as the metaverse increases in popularity. Instead of overpriced art, NFTs will be seen as digital objects bringing much-needed ease to everyday business and to our daily lives.

What is Somnium Space?

Posted on January 21, 2023January 21, 2023 by Jean Chalopin

Somnium Space started in 2017 and is by area one of the largest virtual blockchain worlds (VBWs). Like with other VBWs, on Somnium Space, users can create fully customizable environments and programmable independent VR experiences within its larger connected world. These environments are possible through Somnium’s four key offerings:

An SDK to create avatars and property
An NFT marketplace where game-based assets can be traded
A module for building environments and structures within them
Virtual reality experiences

Somnium Space allows creators to build and monetize VR experiences for their users that are from their own imaginations while also integrating blockchain technology. This quality means that the creators are the designers and main recipients of value. Let’s take a deeper look into this second-largest take on the metaverse.

Somnium Space Basics

Somnium Space is a VBW built on the Ethereum blockchain. Somnium is an open-source platform with an immersive VR world that allows users to buy digital real estate, including land, homes, buildings, and several other in-game assets that have value. Somnium’s immersive dynamics allow its players to build and monetize their environments or visit other users’ creations like swimming pools, museums, restaurants, or nightlife and casinos. The possibilities for building within Somnium are nearly limitless, allowing for the construction of unique experiences, worlds, and assets.

While traditional multiplayer VR games have their users divided into mirrored instance rooms via sub-servers, Somnium hosts all the players in a vast interconnected world. Within its broader VR universe, users can create Somnium environments, customized and programmable independent VR experiences.

What’s more, the NFT assets from within Somnium are compatible with other metaverses and platforms throughout the Ethereum blockchain (and potentially other blockchains) ecosystem.

Somnium has its four main elements that are listed in the introduction, and it has deeply incorporated NFTs into its technology, allowing players to bring NFTs from outside its universe (from other parts of the decentralized ecosystem) inside.

Somnium’s Tokenomics

With traditional gaming, the users generate value, which goes to the developer. Players will purchase the game, or with freemium games, they will buy upgrades, access, and customizations a la carte.

They can’t generally take in-game assets out of the game. For example, if the player buys upgraded armor, unlocks a new vehicle, or gains access to a new world, that value remains in-game only. You cannot take the armor or vehicle to another game nor unlock the asset’s value for use in another platform.

However, in Somnium and other blockchain-based games and metaverses, the opposite is true, and assets are valued with tokenization, increasing the benefit to their owner. Being an Ethereum application, Somnium allows for tokenizing in-game assets such as real estate, avatars, wearables, and collectibles, decoupling those assets from Somnium, the company. Allowing for player-generated value allows players to access the token value created in Somnium elsewhere in the broader crypto and token economy.

The Somnium economy is based on three token assets:

Somnium’s Cube Token (CUBE)

The CUBE is an ERC-20 (Ethereum) token that works as Somnium’s native utility token. The CUBE streamlines in-game player transactions and is most similar to tokens bought at an arcade. With an Ethereum wallet, players can hold ETH, CUBE, and NFTs (in ERC-721 form).

CUBE is the bridge between assets for in-game commerce. As Somnium’s universe expands, CUBE will develop in-world utility, allowing players to exist in their VR world.

CUBE’s price, courtesy of Coinmarketcap.com

Somnium’s Land Parcels (PARCELs)

Somnium Space had two “Initial Land Offerings” (ILOs) to issue PARCELs to stakeholders via the OpenSea NFT marketplace. Players who want to build their own Somnium worlds must obtain at least one land PARCEL. Players can also put any NFT on their PARCEL and explore the PARCEL in VR.

Somnium’s Avatars

At the end of 2020, the Somnium team expanded the CUBE’s utility with AVATAR tokenization. Players can mint full-body VR avatars onto the blockchain via CUBE. Players purchase an AVATAR with CUBE, and it’s part of their inventory. AVATARs are compatible with other virtual worlds across many digital platforms.

CUBE tokens can be used to purchase another player’s avatar in NFT form. The buyer’s CUBE is exchanged for the NFT AVATAR of the seller. The ability to create avatars within Somnium exemplifies CUBE’s growing utility.

Somnium’s Karma Levels

The Karma level indicates how VR citizens perceive each other. Somnium will calculate the Karma level of a player with three main metrics:

Rating: how other virtual citizens perceive them based on on-platform interactions.
Engagement: each player’s economic activity value, referring to a score including their time spent gaming, land ownership, and world discovery rate.
Other factors: these include building, public participation, and event organizing.

Players will earn CUBE based on their Karma level, and those that act as instructors or guilds, providing value to the community, will too.

User Opportunities

Somnium offers its Software Development Kit (SDK), Unity, to create customization and personalization for the development of property and avatars, with the avatars interoperable with other platforms and virtual worlds.

The SDK includes a builder mode so that complex and intricate structures can be designed. Once developed, these can be listed as assets on the NFT marketplace and become part of the metaverse.

Somnium is now interoperable with Polygon so users can transfer their NFTs in and out of Somnium, saving on fees. These NFTs can be any of the following:

Cars or other vehicles
Unique avatar wearables
Event tickets for entry to a parcel
Teleportation hubs to travel across the metaverse
Treasure hunts leading to CUBEs

There will be a maximum of 100 million CUBE tokens minted, limiting the availability and generating value for holders. The fees charged by Somnium are minimal, making it easier to gain from a democratized metaverse economy.

Closing Thoughts

VR platforms, such as VRChat, AltSpace, and Rumii, are popular platforms for distanced social interaction and corporate meetings. Concurrently, Ethereum-based blockchain metaverses like Somnium Space have built multiplayer ecosystems, unlocking value in a novel way. The true idea of the metaverse is an entirely decentralized world where we interact using blockchain technology.

By integrating blockchain, Somnium users can create experiences from their imaginations and monetize these VR experiences in a way other platforms do not allow. While the play may be virtual in Somnium’s version of the metaverse, it has created a real economy that moves beyond the space that Somnium inhabits and potentially blurs the lines into the augmented and real worlds.

Somnium could be a hit if it is able to attract the right users that will create exciting experiences that others will be enticed to partake in and, more importantly, pay for. Its potential success is hard to determine. It relies on users for content creation, which is a dangerous proposition, and while it allows creators to gain, it’s always taking its cut.

Somnium has yet to gain a significant following, even though by digital area, it has the second largest metaverse environment, behind Decentraland. At the end of 2021, Decentraland hosted 300,000 monthly users, while in the same period YouTube had 2.6 billion monthly users. Immersive and original content is vital to Somnium’s success. Let’s see what the inevitable future of VR brings.

AR, MR, VR, and XR

Posted on January 5, 2023January 5, 2023 by Jean Chalopin

When someone enters the immersive technology arena, one of the first questions they may ask is: what’s the difference between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)?

These are reasonably easy to distinguish, but additional terms are less standard, such as mixed reality (MR) and extended reality (XR). Because these terms are becoming more prevalent, they will be separate initially but later become joined aspects of the metaverse as we advance.

We will go through all of these concepts to improve our understanding and provide a few examples.

What is VR?

Virtual reality or VR is what most prominent tech companies are pushing as the metaverse. It is an entirely immersive alternative reality that is coming to the mass market. It can be experienced by wearing a VR headset such as “Meta Quest,” formally Oculus.

Wearing a VR headset is like having a large screen directly in front of you. It surrounds your vision, and you cannot see anything else. This setup means you are entirely immersed in the digital environment. For example, a user could be at home but transported to an entirely novel world by wearing the VR headset through its immersive audio and visual experience.

An excellent example of a VR use case is where hundreds of people in a mall could join the European Rallycross Championship winner.

Virtual reality rally with the European Rallycross Champion, Reinis Nitiss, courtesy of Lattelecom

At the shopping center, people only sat in actual racing car seats mounted to the wall. Still, the virtual reality system allowed them to be in the car and ride along with the champion from Latvia on the rallycross track at full speed.

While Oculus was the first widespread application of a VR headset, and while it was priced out of the range of most consumers, the best-known initial application was much more accessible to consumers. It was the Google Cardboard. These simple folding cardboard items are still available and allow their users to insert their mobile phones into the headset for use as the device’s headset.

Samsung Gear was the next, more widely accessible, application of VR using a head mount that came with every Galaxy S6 flagship phone purchase.

VR has broadened beyond these initial devices. With Meta’s (Facebook’s) purchase of Oculus and their intention to take over the metaverse space, the newer generation of devices is compelling and no longer the freebie novelty item they were. VR has several entertainment uses and is now becoming more familiar with gaming.

However, VR can also add a lot of value to other applications, such as education, manufacturing, and medicine.

AR Against VR

The main idea behind AR is to add to the reality we are experiencing at any given time rather than completely overwriting our current surroundings and entering a new world.

While VR takes you away from everything around you, AR enhances the real-life environment by placing digital objects and adding audio to the environment through a handheld device. One of the best-known augmented reality applications that emerged in 2016 was Pokemon Go.

A great use case for AR is the retail sector, providing customers with the benefits once solely the domain of in-store shopping. Through AR, a visual representation–a hologram–of an item, say a piece of clothing, can be overlaid on top of the current environment.

AR can also be an excellent tool to help customers understand the spatial orientation of objects, such as placing furniture, appliances, or fixtures in their immediate location and seeing if it fits into the potential buyer’s kitchen or office.

Other AR companies like Magic Leap are creating lightweight AR solutions and making the technology accessible. They have industrial solutions available from the Americas to Asia. Magic Leap has been working with companies like Cisco, SentiAR, NeuroSync, Heru, Tactile, PTC, and Brainlab to refine and improve their devices for communication, training, and remote assistance for use cases in industrial environments, clinical settings, retail stores, and defense.

The commercial AR market is developing rapidly as well, becoming more accessible for consumers to view AR and create augmented reality content. For example, Overlee has Canvass Prints, augmented photos, albums, cards, or wedding invitations that can be viewed with AR to provide a video along with the photo. In addition, some wine has added AR to their experience.

AR and VR Against MR

MR is similar to AR. It will not remove you from your current surroundings, but rather the tech reads your surroundings and adds digital objects into your environment. However, unlike most AR content, which can be retrieved using a mobile device, you will need a headset from Magic Leap to experience mixed reality fully.

Although the MR and AR use cases often overlap, mixed reality can provide more significant interaction with digital content in many cases. There is no need to hold a mobile device to keep the AR illusion going. However, this requirement makes MR less accessible to the mass market. For example, GSMA data shows 10.98 billion global mobile connections.

A similar number cannot be said of MR headset owners. They are pricey and still in their early stages. There will be an extended time for this to change, but there is enormous potential. Once the hardware and software improvements are mastered and acceptance more comprehensive, this could change quickly.

Closing Thoughts

VR has a head start in the field, being more accessible and easier to implement than AR and MR. However, VR still needs to be established. The area has several growth opportunities, including body suits and treadmills.

Though VR does have a lead, the long-term prospects for other realities are equally good. The main difference between VR and AR is the interface. The current generation of VR is bulky and can lead to dizziness or eye strain while that is not true for AR and MR. In addition, they provide many use cases for marketing, art, education, and industrial applications.

The current devices will become less intrusive, and though we use mobile devices now, items like Google Glass (but better designed) will become more common. The future will speak on the growing number of ergonomic devices for alternative realities instead of cell phones.

Brain-Computer Interfaces and the Metaverse

Posted on December 22, 2022December 22, 2022 by Jean Chalopin

What are the commercial promises of brain-computer interfaces, and how will they further connect us to the promises of the metaverse? These interfaces, initially sensory (on the scalp or skin), and possibly through brain implants in the future, could be the eventual platforms transforming all parts of our diverse societies.

The Brain-Computer Merge

You may not have noticed, but with each passing day, we are slowly merging more and more with the technology around us. Our smartphones are our tools for instant communication and the answers to many of our questions, allowing us to focus on other things rather than that which occupied our minds in the past.

We have implanted pacemakers and defibrillators that tell the cardiologist all about our hearts and correct our irregularities. We have implanted lenses in our eyes to fix vision issues. The technology around us now, especially with our smartphones, will not represent the most common interface in our future.

What our smartphones do, and much more will likely be incorporated into our bodies. Though google glass was not a successful project, many of its users were the wrong targets, and it was also burdened with tech glitches and security concerns. It did, however, show that we could bring technology closer, supplying useful information and sending sound directly into the ear with bone conduction.

As brain-computer interface (BCI) systems progress, they will be an essential step forward in the brain-computer merge. A BCI’s role is the interpretation of the user’s neural activity. A BCI is just part of an environment that is more wired, has more sensors, and is digitally connected.

With the current generation of experimental brain-computer interfaces, using only their minds, humans can play video games, articulate prosthetic limbs, control their own limbs, work wheelchairs, and more. BCIs have the potential to communicate with patients that suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, head injuries, and stroke, allowing them to control computers that help them speak.

BCI technology will likely take a turn for enhancing sensory connection and communication. The most common use for BCI technology is the directional control of a computer cursor. Imagine moving your mouse and clicking without the need for the mouse.

This is already being done only with electrophysiological signals (brain and blood signals to a system of sensors). This BCI control system has already been utilized by users (both humans and animals) to control the external world without the need for conventional neuromuscular pathways (speech).

Brain-Computer Interfaces Alongside the Metaverse

The metaverse is a fusing of the real and digital worlds. It’s either an entirely simulated digital environment, as is the case of virtual reality (VR), or an overlay of a digital experience to the real world with augmented reality (AR).

Thought of in a different way, the metaverse can be a platform where users can feel the real through an animated or digital world encounter. The metaverse that combines augmented reality with the real world can give us more immersive, next-level platforms. The metaverse is intended to make our lives more natural and “realistic,” including socializing, work, and entertainment.

Scientists, researchers, corporations, and entrepreneurs are making strides with their new and advanced applications. Many of these applications are intended to augment human abilities, fulfilling desires to be stronger, smarter, and better looking.

With the BCI connection, it’s believed that part of this initiative will transform technology, medicine, society, and the future. Current devices can cultivate human abilities that exceed the former standards and are not dissimilar to the great powers of Iron Man. SuitX’s Exoskeleton can reduce lower back loads by 60%.

As these technologies continue to merge with BCIs, it’s believed that the opportunity to augment human capability will be even greater.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink has been working on a consumer-intended high-bandwidth BCI that focuses on four parts of the brain.

Neuralink has shared their video of a macaque playing “MindPong” by way of chips embedded in a few regions of its brain. The primate was trained to play the game by simply thinking about moving its hands. The goal is for future “Neuralinks” to tie the brain to the body’s motor and sensory cortices, thereby enabling people with paraplegia the ability to walk again.

Inside a Metaverse

Technical training inside a metaverse consists of providing technicians with advanced features and simulations capable of operating 3D representations of complex systems, instruments, or machinery.

BCIs with simulation technology will combine to empower the metaverse, allowing remote support and maintenance of devices and equipment. This could be a matter of connecting with experts who would control the repair of the system by thinking about moving their own hands to make repairs.

This would allow for the “switching on” of virtual reality engineers and technicians when an unforeseen repair occurs. It’s not so far of a step beyond this to think of the same procedure for doctors and surgeons.

Dating and socializing in virtual reality may become a common occurrence with virtual movies and museum tours. Such interactions could be enhanced with the direct brain interface that enriches the mind of our partners, adding to positive experiences from the external environment (“I wish you could see things from my point of view” would be possible).

Closing Thoughts

Applications of brain-computer interfaces are spread across many fields and are not limited to military or medical purposes. The fullest realization of these technologies will certainly take time and incremental improvements, but they will be well-suited for the metaverse.

This process will require significant testing and a long period of adoption. However, brain interfaces can be game changers in their lives and incredible experiences for many.

We could eventually see a future that no longer has brain-computer interfaces but goes toward the next step of direct brain-to-brain connections. This new type of connection is a very exciting step that would bring humans closer together, allowing us to understand how we all experience the real and virtual worlds.

The Metaverse and Its Ingredients

Posted on November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Jean Chalopin

Since the early inception of the metaverse, starting with the 1982 book by Neil Stevenson, “Snow Crash,” the idea of an immersive world without limitations intrigued many. This interest has been boosted by the increased online presence characterizing the Covid pandemic and Facebook’s name change to “Meta.”

There remain several questions about the metaverse, and we have addressed many of these with our previous article examining the metaverse’s relationship with programmable data. Yet there remain several more questions: Can the metaverse live up to its hype? What is it good for? And how is it distinguishable from any other virtual reality-based world?

The Metaverse’s Core Idea

The metaverse is, at its core, just a named version of the internet’s evolution to a more social, economically sophisticated, and immersive system. The tech world has two perspectives by which they believe this can be accomplished, which are in opposition to each other.

The decentralized approach: An open and interoperable system owned by the communities that maintain it.
The centralized approach: A centralized system that is closed and controlled by corporate mandates. This is like the current “Web 2.0” system that demands economic rents from creators, donors, and residents. Think of the Apple store that prevents some apps from being distributed and demands a cut of every app’s revenue.

Open against closed is the distinction separating these two perspectives.

A closed metaverse is a world created by a single entity and is controlled by them. They dictate rules, enforce those rules, and can decide who is excluded and why they are. We can easily imagine Meta developing this example.

In an open metaverse, individuals govern their own identities, and the collective will enforces property rights and benefits for the users. Transparent, interoperable, and permissionless, an open metaverse enables users to freely build a metaverse of their choice.

A true metaverse is an open one, where in a Web 3.0 style, the users determine what’s best.

The Seven Ingredients

We have identified seven ingredients that are required to build an open metaverse.

1. Decentralized

The overarching fundamental requirement of a healthy metaverse is that it must be decentralized. Centralized networks start as friendly and cooperative places to attract new users and developers. However, as the growth curve slows, they transition to a competitive system extracting more and demanding a zero-sum game.

Powerful intermediaries become involved in repeated violations of users’ rights and then may ultimately de-platform, or phase out a version of a metaverse, of their metaverse entirely. A decentralized platform avoids this by propagating user ownership and a healthy community.

Decentralization is critical. A centralized network stifles innovation while the opposite remains true for a decentralized counterpart. Maintaining decentralization offers the best protection against a failed metaverse.

2. Autonomous

The next ingredient of an open metaverse is the self. The first thing you should have in a virtual world is yourself. A person’s identity must persist when crossing the real-to-virtual threshold and across the metaverse.

Identification is established by authentication, confirming who we are, what we can access, and what information we can provide. This is currently done through an intermediary that conducts the process using solutions like single sign-on (SSO).

Leading tech giants of today (i.e., Google and Meta) built their companies on user data. They collected it by analyzing people’s activity and developing models to provide more relevant and effective marketing.

Cryptography, which is at the heart of Web 3.0, allows users to authenticate without relying on a central intermediary. Users govern their identity directly or with the support of a chosen service. Crypto wallets (i.e., Metamask or Phantom) can be used for identity authentication. Open-source protocols such as EIP-4361 (Sign-in with Ethereum) or ENS (Ethereum Name Service) can be used by projects to build a decentralized system securing identity.

3. Property Rights

The most popular video games of today make money from the sale of in-game items: skins, weapons, emotes, and other digital things. People who buy these are not really purchasing them but instead renting them. If the game shuts down or unilaterally changes the rules, the players will lose access to their purchases.

While we are used to this Web 2.0-based system, digital assets could be genuinely “owned,” transferred, sold, and or taken outside of games. The same logic of what is owned in the physical world can be applied to the digital world. When you buy something, you take ownership. It really is that simple.

These ownership rights should be enforced in the same fashion that courts enforce them in the real world. Digital property rights were not a possibility before the advent of encryption, blockchain, and complementary advances like NFTs. The metaverse can turn a digital serf into a landowner.

4. Flexibility

The mixing and matching of software components in the same way that Legos can be combined is called composability. Each software component is written once, and then it is reused.

This system is analogous to Moore’s law, or the way interest compounds. The exponential potential that such a system provides has shaped the worlds of finance and computing. It can be applied to the metaverse.

Promoting metaverse composability, which is closely related to interoperability, requires a high-quality foundation with open technical standards. With Web 2.0, developers build digital goods and novel experiences using a system’s foundational components, like those found in Roblox and Minecraft.

However, using those goods or experiences outside their native settings is more complicated or impossible. Companies offering embeddable services like Twilio’s communications or Stripe’s payments work across multiple websites and apps, but don’t allow developers to change or alter their code. Composability enables developers to use and modify the underlying codes, similar to open source.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a fairly good example of composability and interoperability. Anyone can adapt, change, recycle, or import the underlying code. Further, engineers can work on live programs, such as Uniswap’s automated market-making exchanges or Compound’s lending protocols, using the memory of Ethereum’s shared virtual computing system.

5. Open Source

Composability is not possible without open source. The finest programmers and producers, not platforms, deserve absolute control so that they may be truly innovative. This way, developers can achieve their goals of creating more sophisticated and trustworthy experiences when codebases, algorithms, protocols, and marketplaces are accessible to all.

This openness produces better software, heightened transparency with economic arrangements, and closes information gaps. All these features aid in the development of more egalitarian and equitable systems that align all network participants. Such systems can make many securities laws obsolete, which were designed to address the principal-agent dilemma and asymmetric commercial knowledge.

6. Community Ownership

When a single entity owns and controls a virtual world, it provides limited escapism without offering a truly virtual experience—like a theme park. Users and programmers must not be forced to adhere to the possibly arbitrary rules of centralized management. All stakeholders should have a say in a metaverse’s governance.

Community ownership is the ingredient that brings together all network players: builders, investors, creators, and consumers. The metaverse, using blockchain and ownership tokens, can provide this level of coordination.

Web 3.0’s decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have taken this idea to heart. They are moving away from the rigidity of corporate institutions and toward more flexible, democratic, and informal governance models. DAO communities can be constructed, governed, and pushed forward by their users rather than through centralized bodies.

7. Total Social Involvement

Tech companies would like you to believe that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware are essential components of the metaverse. They are not necessary but are instead modern Trojan Horses. The tech giants see this hardware as their pathway to being your primary provider of 3D. Yet, the theme park analogy also applies here.

The metaverse does not require VR or AR. The best manifestation of the metaverse demands social immersion. The metaverse enables activities and interactions that are more important than the hardware. People are there to interact, mingle, cooperate, and have fun from anywhere in the real world, as is done with Twitter Spaces, Discord, and Clubhouse.

Covid-19 showed us the need for more immersive experiences. For example, zoom replaced text chatting. FaceTime and Google Meet entered the market by storm.

Closing Thoughts

While companies have started building metaverses, any virtual environment that lacks the above ingredients cannot be considered a fully developed metaverse. Web 3.0 is required to achieve the greatest potential inherent to the word metaverse.

The metaverse is built with openness and decentralization as its core principles. Self-autonomy and property rights must endure the influences of centralized powers and do require decentralization to flourish. With collective ownership, the metaverse avoids the pitfalls of unilateral ownership. With collective ownership, innovation flourishes.

The Metaverse and the Programmable World

Posted on October 31, 2022October 31, 2022 by Jean Chalopin

We have previously discussed both the Metaverse and Web3. Enterprises are reimagining the internet, and we as individuals should prepare for the future that is quickly coming to us all.

Over almost 20 years, companies have developed a wide range of digital capabilities. However, all these solutions were designed for the internet we have at present, generally called Web 2.0, or a digital landscape where the drivers of value are separate entities. The result is more activity offline than online.

The next internet generation will not be restricted by offline thinking or limitations but focus upon connection. Web 3.0 and the metaverse are changing the foundation of our virtual world.

Rather than seeing the internet as a collection of separate websites and applications, only connected by a browser on a desktop or laptop computer, tablet, or phone, the new metaverse is a persistent 3D environment for work and home.

Building the Future’s Metaverse

The future’s internet, or metaverse, will only be created through hard work. This involves building new platforms, creating novel products and services, developing strong partnerships, and actioning the required technology.

The identification of these new business models and use cases is going to require intense effort and much risk-taking. However, there are tremendous opportunities. Many of risk takers who led the shift from Web 1.0 to 2.0 are trying to lead the way to Web 3.0.

The tech titans had narrow business lines. Amazon only sold books, Netflix mailed out DVDs, and Google felt like just a browser. They evolved. What’s more, the metaverse is open to disruption from all entrants, new or old.

The metaverse will likely be a combination of an immersive digital-only world and augmented reality. Internet “browsing” in this context would blend the digital with the physical.

Creating a Digital Domain

Web 3.0 is a reinvention of how data moves, and the metaverse is a new way to experience and interact with that data.

The changes that Web 3.0 is making will result in data with value, authenticity, and provenance. The main goal of all Web 3.0 projects is to create a blanket of trust covering the web, giving data owners assurance that their data is theirs.

The metaverse focuses on solutions that offer life-like experiences. Major companies are reimagining operations to develop use cases for these new technologies.

German Automaker BMW has taken Nvidia’s metaverse development platform Omniverse to construct digital copies of 31 of their actual factories. These models are 3D recreations that include everything from people at their workstations to machinery with which they interact.

They are utilized as virtual test centers allowing engineers to train real-life robots to navigate in the environment. They also allow designers from around the globe to experiment with line layouts.

The real value of Web 3.0 and the metaverse will depend on their final iterations and mutual interactions. A simple and intuitive experience is required to gain widespread adoption–if we are going to reimagine how Web 3.0 data is moved through the internet.

Bringing the Physical to the Digital World

Simultaneously, there are other companies and projects that are moving the physical world closer to the digital world, creating a “programmable real world.” Their goal is based on fundamental software elements, such as customization, control, and automation, and applying them to the non-digital environment around us.

For the past decade, digital technologies have flourished across the physical world, and with the Covid-19 pandemic, this has only accelerated. Cameras are now everywhere, through smartphones, cameras, vacuums, and cars.

The advances in natural language processing, computer vision, and data analysis are building the capabilities of these technologies, making them a persistent layer of our environment. As the rollout of a global 5G network continues, there will be an even wider network of low latency connected devices that are helping (monitoring) us.

Business leaders must bring the real and digital worlds closer together, such as through augmented reality glasses, smart (interactive) materials, and nanotech-based devices.

Making the Real World Programmable

To build a new generation of products and services that are incorporated into the digital world, we will need to work with three elements:

· The connected

· The experiential

· The material

With new technologies in manufacturing, such as 3D printing and self-assembling machines, we are changing how and where physical goods are created.

In the past, internet of things (IoT) devices have had limited abilities, constrained by limited computing power. Emerging tech, including 5G, is redefining those limitations through increased processing power and simultaneous, multiple connections.

Experiential refers to utilizing IoT devices to provide a holistic, immersive experience by creating digital representations of real-world counterparts. These representations provide organizations with real-time insights into environments and operations. The digital twin market, which was valued at $3.21 billion in 2020, is expected to grow to $184.5 billion by 2030.

The second piece to the experiential component is augmented reality. Even at this early stage, the value of combining AR glasses with digital twins is evident: they can overlay any environment with a digital experience.

Material refers to the on-demand and customizable products that are now possible with 3D printing technology. This leads to the possibility of using programmable matter, able to change their physical properties on demand.

Moving Toward the Programmable World

A leader moving toward the programmable world must embrace its three components: connected, experiential, and material. Different businesses will prioritize one element over others but should have competence in all three.

As 5G grows, the programmable world will benefit from industry-wide alliances shaping new technology standards and enabling devices to increase their connectivity and response times.

The experiential component will begin with the continued expansion of digital twins, already providing beneficial use cases and competitive edges. In time, they can be harnessed to design products and experiences providing novel business models. Interactive avatars, terminals, and screens represent only a beginning.

The material component will pair technologies such as IoT or 3D printing with ambitious startups and their ideas.

Closing Thoughts

The digital and physical worlds are coming together. When this marriage will be complete depends on the progress of the metaverse and Web 3.0. Together, they will reinvent how data is created and transferred across the new digital experience.

Having the ability to customize a digital experience through interactive, physical manipulation, now referred to as “browsing,” could create massive new revenue streams for leading tech titans and disruptors alike. The opportunities are vast, but they require vision grounded by solid use cases.

Does the Metaverse Need Blockchain?

Posted on October 27, 2022October 27, 2022 by Jean Chalopin

With the advancement of blockchain technology, many ideas that were once only hypotheses are materializing. The “metaverse,” a virtual environment, is one of them. What impact will this world have on the global online marketplace and the conventional internet?

Neal Stephenson introduced the concept of the metaverse, a virtual world with all the possibilities of a real one, in his science fiction book “Snow Crash” back in 1992. The concept was only a pipe dream in the early 1990s, but has found new ground with the development of blockchain technology.

A completely functional economy inside the virtual world where you may buy and sell any virtual asset has been created thanks to cryptocurrencies and NFTs. A select few individuals have already been successful in making large sums of money by selling digital artwork, virtual properties, and other items. Unsurprisingly, many adamantly believe in blockchain and the metaverse.

Understanding Blockchain and the Metaverse

A virtual, online environment created using 3D technology is the “metaverse.” Modern technology developments like blockchain, augmented and mixed reality, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and many more have a direct relationship to this concept.

Today, several blockchain-based platforms employ cryptocurrencies and NFTs, establishing an ecosystem for decentralized digital assets creation, ownership, and monetization. The idea of the metaverse is incomplete without blockchain because of the problems inherent to centralized data storage.

Because blockchain is a decentralized digital source that can operate worldwide, it fundamentally differs from the capabilities of the old internet, which naturally takes the shape of websites and apps. Any digital place may be accessed through the blockchain-based metaverse without the influence of a centralized authority.

Source: BBC News

Blockchain Unlocks the Metaverse’s Potential

The fundamental operating principles of the metaverse’s ecosystem have already been devised, even if there is still no singular notion of the metaverse. The concept itself is only partially implemented in initiatives like the Metaverse Facebook Horizon and Google Blocks.

Hardware and software are the two significant blocks of any metaverse. Users may comfortably engage with virtual or augmented reality thanks to the hardware component, which incorporates all common controllers. In the case of software, we’re referring to a digital setting where the user has access to the material.

The majority of those in the sector now concur that software should be built on blockchain technology, which stands for a secure decentralized database where independent nodes may communicate in a single, constantly updated network. Looking at blockchain technology’s key features makes it rather clear that it can satisfy the needs of the metaverse.

*Source:* *https://intellipaat.com/blog/tutorial/blockchain-tutorial/how-does-blockchain-work/*

Security. The exabyte-scale data storage of the metaverse presents concerns about secure transmission, synchronization, and storage. The decentralization of data processing and storage nodes makes blockchain technology extremely pertinent.

Trust. Blockchain requires the existence of tokens, which are safe storage units capable of conveying things like encrypted personal data, virtual content, and authorization keys. Because sensitive data won’t be accessible to outside parties, the metaverse blockchain fosters greater user confidence in the ecosystem.

Decentralization. For the metaverse to work properly, all participants must view the same virtual reality. Blockchain-based decentralized ecosystems enable thousands of independent nodes to coordinate.

Smart contracts. Through these, relationships between ecosystem players inside the metaverse may be efficiently regulated in terms of economic, legal, social, and other factors. Additionally, smart contacts let you create and implement the fundamental guidelines for the metaverse’s governance.

*Source:* *https://www.bitpanda.com/academy/en/lessons/what-are-smart-contracts-and-how-do-they-work/*

Finance. Cryptocurrency may function as a reliable substitute for fiat currency because it is an essential component of a blockchain. It is also a valuable tool for settlement between parties in the metaverse.

Centralized ecosystems pose significant hazards to the development and operation of the virtual world. These include viruses, hacking, and even centralized decision-making that affects how the metaverse works. However, the dangers are reduced with blockchain technology, making it feasible to create a reliable virtual environment.

Blockchain Use Cases in the Metaverse

There are several use cases for blockchain in the metaverse.

Virtual Currency

One of the most apparent applications of blockchain technology in the metaverse is settlements. The time when consumers purchase in 3D is quickly approaching. We can be confident that cryptocurrencies will soon find uses in a decentralized environments since offline commerce is progressively giving way to internet businesses.

MANA, which is used to purchase virtual property in the game “Decentraland,” is one of the metaverse instances of how virtual currencies are utilized. Within this metaverse, agreements worth millions of dollars are already being signed, and this is only the beginning.

Users will soon be able to purchase virtual replicas of everything in the real world. This technology won’t be restricted to only video games. The rapidly growing Defi market might serve as a beta-testing environment for metaverse lending, borrowing, investing, and trading. As a result, the potential of cryptocurrencies is potentially limitless.

NFTs

Numerous analysts predict that non-fungible tokens will play a significant part in the metaverse. NFTs also have considerable potential for integration into any metaverse crypto initiatives involving the purchase of avatars, gaming assets, and other such items. Non-fungible tokens will soon be utilized as evidence of real estate ownership if this field keeps growing.

*Source:* *https://mint.intuit.com/blog/investments/what-is-an-nft/*

NFTs will ultimately be used as prizes in metaverse NFT games, instead of fungible tokens. Since practically every digital asset may be copied an infinite number of times, NFTs can assign value to specific digital assets. Only a certificate of ownership integrated into a digital object can verify the right of the legal owner.

Identity Authentication

Identity authentication in the metaverse is carried out similarly to how a social security number is assigned. The blockchain stores all information about a particular user, including their age, activities, appearance, and other traits. As a result, the metaverse becomes as transparent as possible and remains free from criminal activity.

Identity authentication also eliminates the chance that someone would use a fake name in a virtual environment to commit crimes.

Closing Thoughts

Blockchain technology is essential to the metaverse because it allows users to safeguard their digital assets in a virtual reality. Actual blockchain initiatives like “Axie Infinity” and “The Sandbox” emphasize this concept. They both concern the metaverse. By using a metaverse-based cryptocurrency, users may build and trade NFTs, as well as profit from the virtual economy.

Without blockchain technology, experts believe that the concept of a fully functional virtual environment cannot be realized. This is because, as we’ve mentioned, consumers must be allowed to safely own and sell their digital property by transferring assets between the platforms without a centralized authority’s consent.

Blockchain guarantees the economic efficiency and transparency of this metaverse. It is crucial to employ trustworthy algorithms while building a virtual reality replacing tangible assets with digital ones. In other words, the future is digital.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is solely the authors opinion and not investment advice – it is provided for educational purposes only. By using this, you agree that the information does not constitute any investment or financial instructions. Do conduct your own research and reach out to financial advisors before making any investment decisions.

The Metaverse: Immersive or Intrusive?

Posted on July 1, 2022July 1, 2022 by Jean Chalopin

There are two emerging metaverses. The real metaverse based on Web3 technologies such as blockchains. Second, the dystopic metaverse being built by Big Tech, which extends everything going wrong with the original “Web.” The second is much more immersive but also more intrusive—lacking digital property rights.

The metaverses’ goal is to include as many people as possible through virtual worlds where gaming converges with VR and AR. The metaverse is a collection of ideas, hopes, and fears about the future. It’s a framework that makes sense, showing the direction we are hurling toward.

A single game or social media platform cannot be “The Metaverse.” It can only connect to something larger than itself that interacts with other verses, particularly on an economic level, making the immersiveness and ubiquity of technologies like AR and VR possible.

A permissionless system like the crypto world remains the secondary goal. However, the problem here is that, if confronted with a borderless and permissionless super economy, regulators would prefer to choose Big Tech, giving up autonomy and providing centralized control. They would also prefer to incorporate CDBCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) over cryptocurrencies as the latter are, in some cases, impossible to regulate.

The great user experience and hardware that big tech supplies feel compelling to the typical user, but the “Open Metaverse” must improve on that, and quickly. We will describe the way to this autonomous future and the hurdles delaying the open metaverse.

Online Growth

When asked to explain the internet, most may do so from a personal perspective. However, any answer provided now remains different to what was given given in the 1990s, the decade marking its infancy.

The metaverse currently stands at the same precipice. Where is it going? How will it get there?

Web 2.0 development felt significant but ultimately siloed. As we move into Web 3.0, we enter a phase of open-source development long in the making. For example, between 2015 and 2021:

NFTs went from zero trading volume to $17 billion
Daily active users of Minecraft and Roblox grew from $20 million to $150 million
“Virtual skin” revenue grew from $5 billion to $54 billion

The Metaverse’s Potential

As the convergence of Web 3.0 happens, changes will come slowly but speed up exponentially. Since there are two competing metaverses, the pioneers and active participants on the permissioned (Big Tech) and un-permissioned (Web 3 blockchain) teams will conflict with one another as they beach build their vision.

Despite this, the web of our children and grandchildren will hold value, possibility, and wonder exceeding our current imagination. But will they be able to take control of their data without having to give up the internet’s benefits that make it the innovation that it is?

The Creation of Virtual Worlds

In an open metaverse, a virtual world is a simulated space with people, not corporations, forming its core of open-ended possibilities. This differs from a game that has set rules and goals.

Users retain independence and free will within the society being built around them. They explore and expand through participation in local societies and economies.

This convergence of time, value, and resources is what creates the communal utility. Whether digital or physical, any community can thrive given these building blocks.

Worlds Interlinking

Building a metaverse is a monumental task from both the resource and user engagement standpoints. There are a few well-capitalized metaverses attempting to build their respective “verse” from the ground up.

Decentraland, the Ethereum-based metaverse, started in 2015 and is the grandfather agnostic platform selling land for casinos, Japanese shopping centers, or the metaversal headquarters of Sotheby’s.

The Sandbox is the next ETH-based competitor holding relationships with Deadmau5 and the Walking Dead. But it is not at all dead with a Softbank-led series B funding round that raised $93 million, giving it a $2.5 billion valuation, with virtual real estate’s portion totaling $144 million (the highest in the space). The most of any metaverse.

Somnium Space is backed by the Facebook-famous Winklevoss Twins and is positioned as the high-end metaverse optimized for VR.

CryptoVoxels is popular for digital art and has islands of communities. It’s accessible from a smartphone with no VR headset necessary.

Bit.country does not have land scarcity, but an infinite number of interoperable worlds. It’s the closest thing to an accurate representation of an open metaverse.

Like in the real world, culture is the fabric that ties a digital society together. It is a shell until populated.

Each “verse” will have its own culture and customs. Decentraland had a first-of-a-kind four-day Metaverse Festival. Somnium Space has its Sky City Concert Hall.

These worlds will need to connect to be a true metaverse. Auki Labs has invented a way to effortlessly share AR (augmented reality) experiences across devices and applications, making it a true social experience.

Virtual World Colonization

Web 3.0 has digital rights and ownership tags, borders and virtual land plots. And there are already a wide spectrum of uses for digital lands.

Or these lands can be rented for simpler, more commercial reasons, such as creating passive revenue (i.e., ATM feesand advertising). Alternatively, the land can be sold through an NFT. The Sandbox has 12,000 landowners.

The next step requires the development of virtual structures and governments. Will there be zoning? Will there be jurisdictional differences and disputes? Will there be planning?

Separate verses within a metaverse necessitate some foresight to ensure harmony and to create bridges between diverse communities.

This is done with open standards, cross-chain NFTs, and populating more than one world with a single personalized avatar. These are the required developmental steps vital for giving the metaverse expansive depth.

Finance in an Open Metaverse

Our hope is that DeFi will be driven by the application layer of the metaverse. The current MetFi is like the metaverse; a layer above the real world, yet it’s always the base, application layer that matters most.

This layer enables the financial inclusion of creators, gamers, and other digital natives with their wealth not in traditional finance. MetFi is all-encompassing, with services, products, and protocols connecting non-fungible and fungible tokens within a wider ecosystem. With this layer and its tools, pioneers can create a parallel economy for users of the various metaverses.

Identity Through Avatars

As the metaverse grows, so too does its need for identity solutions. This will likely happen through avatars and wearables becoming more fluid and context specific.

Identity is what makes us unique. How we are identified shall be unique as well. Then, our avatar’s ownership must be indisputable.

In the real world, you create several personalities, reacting to different individuals, that are potentially pseudo-anonymous. It’s possible to do the same in the metaverse, but this brings an ethical question: Should anonymity remain permitted?

FilterYa brings the digital and real worlds together by providing a digital identity and replicating your actual self in the digital beyond. Similarly, CryptoAvatars creates NFT Avatars through a Virtual Reality Modeling (VRM) format that can be used in Twitch, Meet, and Zoom33, among others.

Summary

As we move into the metaverse, we contend with several questions at once. Do we want to turn over our rights and control to Big Tech, or do we want the metaverse to remain open? For the user who wishes to be free, the open pathway makes more sense. With the Web 3.0 pathway, your data is yours, not the property of a corporation.

Financial services may similarly come from centralized authorities, or they may come from a new system utilizing cryptocurrencies. NFTs may form a key pillar of this new system by allowing for fractionalization and democratizing access to capital.

Finally, the idea of the self will be tested. How identity is thought of will be in question. Will a digital identity be one and the same as a real-world identity? Will anonymity bear with it moral consequences?

All futures are possible with the metaverse. It’s important that we retain the right to choose the future best for us.

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 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.