Metaverse, blockchain, decentralization – what’s next
By Rishabh Bhansali
The year 2021 will be remembered as the year cryptocurrencies went mainstream. Investors and regular traders entered the crypto exchange world as public awareness grew and profit margins grew. According to reports, there are over 300 million crypto users worldwide. At the end of the year, the worldwide market cap of crypto was $2.21 trillion, with Bitcoin still dominating 40% of the market. Solutions based on crypto and its underlying blockchain technology, such as Metaverse, NFTs and DAOs, have blown up big time, attracting billions of investments from around the world. Risk-takers willing to venture down new paths may be surprised by the enormous potential of the following new technologies.
Metaverse: Portal to the Crypto Future
Understanding today’s metaverse impact is critical before considering potential future advancements. Both governments and large technology companies are heavily invested in the metaverse. Blockchain technology and AR/VR accessories are used in the technology that combines the physical and virtual worlds. Despite being a developing technology, the excitement around it is real. Meta (formerly Facebook) is one of the biggest investors, with an investment of 10 billion dollars. Microsoft, Nvidia, Epic, Roblox and others are among the biggest players.
Meanwhile, at the recent LEAP technology event in Riyadh, multibillion-dollar investments in the field were announced, including the construction of a full-fledged metaverse metropolis. The metaverse economy is powered by cryptocurrencies, while blockchain is the core of the technology. Future predictions show an even better future, with marketing spending projected to exceed $800 billion by 2024.
Blockchain and NFTs in eSports
From fan tokens and digital collectibles to fan loyalty and engagement platforms, blockchain applications for the sports industry are enabling new innovations and revenue streams in a variety of ways. Outside of traditional physical games, this enables clubs to extend their brand online and meet the needs of a younger ‘digital-native’ fan base, thereby growing their fan base and securing their long-term future.
Due to its adaptability and ability to be applied to almost any application, blockchain technology is increasingly helping the physical and digital sports sector meet their challenges head on by monetizing their fan bases, increasing engagement and building loyalty, trust and efficiency.
To ensure their long-term survival, sports teams are turning to blockchain solution providers to help them implement custom blockchain solutions. As seen in the soccer, NBA and Esports industries, these innovations help create profitable new revenue streams, increase fan engagement, improve ROI for sponsors and allow teams to remain competitive.
NFT, DAO, DeFi and more
The ease with which commercial organizations can construct a virtual workspace with greater interconnection, and realize the underlying principle of blockchain decentralization, is a significant advantage of the metaverse. DAOs, crypto-tokens, NFTs and other assets will grow as a result of upcoming metaverse advancements, encouraging the creation of a decentralized digital economy.
While digitally signed collectibles may appear to be a passing fad, NFT trading has increased dramatically, with around $41 billion in digital assets spent in 2021. NFTs are a lucrative revenue stream for artists, singers, celebrities and content creators, with sales increasing by 704% in a quarter in 2021. Retail markets are performing well and are likely to continue to do so.
DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations, aim to distribute rights among all members of a blockchain network. DAOs have been successful with venture capital, NFT marketplace development, social media platforms and charity funding due to their smart contract management and rights tokens. The United States Constitution DAO raised more than $40 million to purchase an original copy of the United States Constitution. With 497,000 active DAO voters and 1.7 million governance token holders, the worldwide DAO value in 2022 is expected to be around $21 billion.
Decentralized finance is another important component in the creation of a fully decentralized economy. The exciting alternative offers different solutions to the problems of the old banking system. It is capable of protecting user valuations and is often backed by stablecoins and digital smart contracts. However, users should be skeptical of the service provider’s legitimacy. Scams and scams involving DeFi are widespread, with a global total of $10.5 billion reported the previous year.
NFTs as collectibles
Unlike regular digital collectibles, digital collectibles (also known as crypto collectibles) powered by Non-Fungible tokens (NFT) are usually individually unique (or likely rare) and limited in quantity. This means that NFTs can be used to create “limited edition” collectibles and their uniqueness can be verified by immutable blockchain technology. This makes them an ideal tool for clubs and teams to use when creating digital trading cards, in-game assets (for esports and the gaming industry), and game memorabilia for fans to buy and trade.
Practical Blockchain Applications: Futuristic Technology
Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming is an NFT application that has gained ground in recent years. P2E games, as the name implies, are games where participants can acquire NFTs and other crypto-assets as compensation for participating. These in-game assets can be kept, exchanged and traded for money on the blockchain. With eSports events becoming increasingly popular, prize betting is not really a new thing, but the P2E model has a number of distinctive aspects that distinguish it from the winner-takes-all strategy of eSports.
P2E games, unlike traditional prize games, include the earning and creation of digital assets in the gameplay. The NFTs collected will often be valuable as in-game assets that provide a competitive advantage, as well as collectibles in real-world terms.
With its distributed storage features and ability to filter data/transactions through unified consensus, blockchain is seen as one of the biggest disruptors in today’s technological scenario. Other sophisticated technologies, such as AI, Big Data, Cloud and IoT, can be easily integrated with the technology. Banking and finance, fintech, healthcare, space technology, logistics and supply chain management are just some of the industries where blockchain solutions are in demand. But the possibilities certainly don’t end there.
When we take a closer look at blockchain technology, we can see that its inherent qualities can be applied to a wide range of applications. Ease of access, transparency, immutability and traceability are all priorities for distributed ledger technology. As a result, the blockchain architecture can be easily leveraged to create solutions that benefit end users and the overall process, both financially and in terms of performance efficiency.
We currently live in the digital age, where anyone’s work can be copied and distributed to millions of people with a single click, even without the owner’s consent or knowledge. Since the Internet provides the instruments for unauthorized unlimited replication of people’s intellectual property rights, current Digital Rights Management (DRM) techniques have been largely ineffective. Using blockchain to eliminate the gatekeeper curtain will allow creators to communicate directly with their followers, measure engagements and sales in real time, manage their copyright licenses and conduct individual auctions.
Blockchain development companies have delivered blockchain breakthroughs through better performance solutions for white label exchanges. The architecture can be adapted to forex, cryptocurrency and stock trading. Real estate (both physical and virtual), reputation exchange, and even games are all possible solutions.
Future goals
The Internet, like the rest of the world, is evolving. Unless you’ve been living under a rock on a desert island, you’ve probably heard that the internet is transitioning to Web 3.0 – the third version of the World Wide Web. Simply put, the third version of the web promises users that they will become “(de)owners” of the internet, owning data, information, creations and transactions instead of depending on a group of large technology companies known as “The Big Tech. ”
Furthermore, users can finance themselves by accepting payments (and prepayments) from their customers and patrons, reducing their dependence on investors and financial institutions. The third version of the web promises to focus on the creators by controlling and converting their URLs into a wallet and high security box. There is no way for the world to avoid Web 3.0.
The author is the co-founder, FanClash
Also read: Web3.0-based Mona launches AI-oriented technology for material design
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