Why you should invest in a metaverse, NOW!
The metaverse economy is set to reach up to 13 Trillion Dollars by 2030, as predicted in multiple researches published by Citi, Goldman Sachs and others. This economic exchange will be powered by metaverse's five Billion unique active inhabitants. Wait, that is larger than the market value of the Information Technology, Telecommunication, and Oil and Gas industries... combined! If you read the above statement casually without any raised eyebrows or a dropped jaw, please don't waste your time, stop reading here and get on with your life. Debating the metaverse now is like debating the Internet 40 years ago, or debating online streaming 20 years ago!
But if you are like me, then I guess this deserves the 13 Trillion Dollars question:
root@d1008af8c4cfd98:/#What_the_heck_is_a_Metaverse!?
28th of October 2021 is when Facebook rebranded itself to Meta, and Zuckerberg introduced us all to the concept of the Metaverse. Now this is what I call the power of true influence!
A quick look at Google Trends for Metaverse shows you clearly what I mean by "introduced us all!"
apt-get/ But_was_Facebook's_CEO_the_first_to_use_this_concept?
In 1992, the term "metaverse" was used by Neal Stephenson in his 480-page science fiction novel "Snow Crash". His main character, conveniently named "Hiro Protagonist", is a computer nerd who uses his goggles and earphones to access the "Metaverse" and interact with its habitants.
Hiro’s not actually here at all. He’s in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his goggles and pumping into his earphones. In the lingo, this imaginary place is known as the Metaverse. Hiro spends a lot of time in the Metaverse.
This "Metaverse" is inhabited with other users, who are strolling through vast stretches of roads, lands, homes, shopping districts and amusement parks.
Hiro is approaching the Street. It is the Broadway, the Champs Elysees of the Metaverse. It is the brilliantly lit boulevard that can be seen, miniaturized and backward reflected in the lenses of his goggles. It does not really exist. But right now, millions of people are walking up and down it.
The plot of the novel is about a virus that affects the Metaverse's users in the real world, and our "Hiro" is destined to stop it!
Also, the dystopian future of the metaverse is frighteningly depicted in the Black Mirror's Striking Viber, and USS Callister episodes. Please, I plead you not to watch them!
geth account new --What_is_a_"Meta"_anyway?
The prefix "meta" is used in the English language such as metaphysics, metaphor, metabolism, metanalysis, metadata. The word "meta" is originally Greek, which simply means "beyond". So metaphysics is relating to concepts beyond the physical world such as being, knowing, identity, time, and space. Metaphor refers to meanings beyond the literal material or "phoros", for example a Blue Ocean is a metaphor for a new market with little competition or barriers standing in the way. You get the idea.
Address: {0x_So_how_many_"verse(s)"_do_we_have?}
Interestingly, we have the Universe, Multiverse, Omni-verse, and now the Metaverse. For our very beloved "Universe", Uni means "one", which makes sense since the universe is the only known and observable of the bunch, and it's the building structure for the others (now go take a look at the origin of University!). The multiverse, refers to a theory of multiple universes, multi referring to more than one universe.
The Omni-verse refers to "all of them", i.e. all of the universes, known and unknown.
A metaverse in this case refers to "beyond" the world, a virtual one that is above the physical life we live in, but resembles it to a certain degree.
INFO Ok, but what IS the Metaverse?
A metaverse is a virtual reality-based economy and information platform, which has a value exchange system using decentralized currencies. A new digital world with its own echo system made possible due to the advent of a foundational technology called blockchain. I wrote an article about how this new foundational technology will change our world, forever.
The Metaverse is an application that sits on top of a Blockchain, which is run by computers that are connected to the Internet. Below is a "nerd-view" of what that looks like technically:
Now, the average person doesn't need to know this to use the metaverse. And all that still does not answer the question, what is a metaverse!? If you have played Minecraft, Roblox or even Legends Of Zelda, then you had a taste of what the metaverse could look like. Let me explain.
>minder.stop(); //What_makes_a_Metaverse,_a_Metaverse?
Many predict the Metaverse to be the next Internet, but instead of visiting a group of interconnected websites on a screen, we are visiting virtual spaces, mainly through virtual reality. However, it is not that simple. It must run on a blockchain.
Many attempts claimed to have metaverse applications ready in multiple industries such as events, education, entertainment and others, but they lack a fundamental cornerstone of the blockchain; that is a decentralized ecosystem of economic value exchange. To illustrate this, let's breakdown the components of a metaverse:
A world
2. Properties (homes, avenues, districts)
3. Inhabitants (users / avatars)
4. Items / value exchange / shops
5. Currency / Money
Examples are Decentraland, which uses MANA as its currency with an average daily transaction value of $25M, and is based on the ethereum blockchain. Sandbox uses SAND as its currency, and ethereum as the blockchain. Cryptovoxels uses Ether as the currency, and is also based on the ethereum blockchain. Upland which uses UPX as its currency with an average daily transactions value of $1.8M and is based on the new EOS blockchain. To name a few. Some consider Second Life as a metaverse but it is centralized, which means it is not running on a blockchain and is controlled by a single entity.
But wait a second, would people assign real value to virtual merchandise, pieces of land, properties and pay real money for them, to be used only in the metaverse?
Apparently they do!
Why would people do that? This is not entirely a novel idea, I am sure you have spent actual money on some items from a game for your kids such as "skins", special weapons or even characters, in games such as Fortnite, Roblox, Mobile legends using currencies such as Robux, Tokens and Diamonds.
To facilitate this economic exchange in the virtual ecosystem, we need an infrastructure that is immutable, secure and reliable. Blockchain is the only foundational technology that facilitates this requirement. Virtual Reality, Augmented reality, AI and other means of displaying or processing the metaverse are all optional, they add to the immersion of the metaverse experience.
>eth.mining false (So,_Should_you_invest_in_the_metaverse?
Well, it's complicated, and I am not in a position to tell you what you should or shouldn't do with your money! BUT... remember those who invested in Amazon in 1995, or Microsoft in 1985! Remember your friend, who you called crazy when he purchased Bitcoins back in 2015 for $327 a coin? At the time of writing this article a Bitcoin is traded at $39,659. That is a 12,000% increase in value! If only we knew, right?
Wait, before you get your credit card and go on a Metaverse shopping spree, I also want to remind you that some people who invested in Elon Musk's supported Dogecoin (another cryptocurrency) lost 80% of their investments overnight. And did you hear about The Million Dollar Homepage?
Back in 2005, a collage student created the above website, and sold every pixel for a dollar. The student became a millionaire, but the companies who purchased the website "estate" can probably question their investments at this point.
puppeth [In Conclusion]
The only people who will benefit from the Metaverse craze are the metaverse creators who are selling pieces of land, the designers and developers who are developing properties within it, game developers who are using these platforms, and early "flippers". It is a classic "high risk, high gain" situation, so unless you have extra cash laying around that you would like to burn, and you don't feel generous enough to hand it over to me (I only accept Zelda Rupees), you are probably the addressable market at this point. Outside of the metaverse though, you could direct your investments to stocks of publicly trading companies who are prioritizing metaverse developments such as AR/VR hardware, 3D creation software, interactive platforms, connectivity, semiconductor, and security companies. Do your own research, and pray it won't become the next Y2K or IPv6 bubbles! It's exciting though because, we are still living in the stone age of a new era, and no one can predict with any degree of certainty how the future will shape up to be!
What would you like to do next? (default = slack)
1. Read more about cryptocurrencies, blockchain and metaverse
2. Slack around and keep doing what I know
3. Handover my extra cash to usama to do some work for me
4. Buy NFTs
5. Invest in metaverse ETFs
>|
