The Metaverse concept traces its origins back to the early 1990s, but it’s only in the past few years that technological advancements have made the idea more palpable. In early 2021, Mark Zuckerberg publicly announced the rebranding of the corporate entity overseeing Facebook, renaming it ‘Meta’, unveiling ambitious plans to actualise the Metaverse.
Over the years, Facebook has made substantial investments in virtual and augmented reality technology. It has also expanded its reach into various sectors, including the Facebook marketplace, app store, live-streaming, advertising, and analytics programs.
Other major players expressing a keen interest in the Metaverse include Epic Games, Microsoft, Apple, and Nvidia. These companies naturally align with the immersive virtual reality multimedia world. Epic Games, with support from Sony and Lego, is actively developing a family-friendly Metaverse.
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Building the Metaverse on the blockchain
By employing a unified protocol where network event code ultimately condenses into Bitcoin script, we can guarantee a certain level of functionality retention with considerably lower technical complexity compared to transitioning a backend infrastructure from Kubernetes clusters to a new database system, for instance.
Furthermore, the presence of a neutral monetary unit for value exchange could facilitate seamless fund transfers between different realms, eliminating the need to route them back to a central payment processor like PayPal or depend on the integration of PayPal accounts with separate accounts offered by various Metaverse proprietors.
Implementing this approach would lead to reduced fees for customers and establish a significantly more secure monetary exchange system. Even if the Meta Metaverse relies on PayPal for funding, it must still manage internal accounting for user exchanges and implement mechanisms to prevent double-spending, effectively acting as a mint.
Apple and Epic Games would follow suit, adding to the technical burden of interoperability and security. This arrangement is highly inefficient, as multiple providers independently tackle identical problems in isolated silos.
If these companies were willing to relinquish some control over user-generated content within their respective Metaverses and instead focus on competing to offer appealing services denominated in a token settled on a suitable blockchain, it would benefit all parties involved. While transitioning from a mentality of locking people into one of healthy competition might be daunting for these companies, it’s crucial to remember that a rising tide lifts all ships.
BSV blockchain is the perfect fit
Without being underwritten by a stable career technology which allows for interoperability, immutable records, a robust suite of transactional capabilities, and micropayment capabilities with near-zero fees, the idea of the Metaverse is dead in the water.
Regrettably, a significant portion of the established Silicon Valley and big tech industry has embraced a parasitic business model centred around confining users within walled gardens and maintaining extensive silos of user data. They exploit this access by selling the data to advertisers, thereby worsening the overall Internet experience.
Consequently, these industry incumbents perceive a threat in emerging technologies that have the potential to entirely undermine this exploitative business model.
