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The innovations revealed by Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's company formerly known as Facebook, mark the beginning of a new journey. The future of the internet and metaverse is closely connected. If 2022 was year zero for the metaverse, 2023 will follow the trend, thanks also to the development of the third iteration of the Internet, Web3.
Perspectives
In November 2022, Elrond, a blockchain startup born in 2019, announced a rebranding, a strategic move similar to the Facebook/Meta situation. Elrond becomes MultiversX, a blockchain/Web3 project focused on the metaverse. The company's growth, previously focused on blockchain technology, shifted its attention towards a Web3 vision of the Internet, making virtual reality a key point. Obviously we are talking about two different dimensions: a company like Facebook, one of the giants of the tech industry, and a startup like Elrond, a three year old firm unknown to the masses. Despite those differences, it is no coincidence that just thirteen months after the Facebook rebrand, one more company decided to take a leap into the metaverse. This is an important signal that demonstrates the relevance of the metaverse market only a year after Meta’s change of direction.
Metaverse and Web3: the new decentralised Internet
People usually mix up Web3 and metaverse. These are by no means synonymous; while the metaverse concerns virtual worlds and it is still at the beginning of its evolutionary phase, Web3 is indeed steps ahead. In recent years, a wide range of Web3-based technologies, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrencies, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), have become increasingly familiar to mainstream culture. The Web3 is in fact the decentralization of the Internet, a new way of using the Web, where users have more customization options and much more control over their own contents. The metaverse, on the other hand, is one of the many ways in which the user can take advantage of the new Internet and this method aims to be the central hub of Web3. By creating an avatar, we enter a virtual world with which we can perform so many tasks: shop online, pay taxes, look for job vacancies, work and so on. According to McCann Worldgroup studies, by 2026 about 2 billion people will spend at least an hour within the metaverse to perform one or more of the aforementioned daily tasks.
Some potential Web3 trends for 2023, provided by industry analysts and researchers, are:
- Increased adoption and use of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications: DeFi refers to financial applications and services that are built on blockchain technology and operate in a decentralized manner. DeFi has gained significant traction in recent years and is expected to continue to grow in popularity, potentially leading to the mainstream adoption of web3 technologies.
- Development of decentralized identity solutions: Web3 technologies have the potential to provide individuals with more control over their personal data and online identity. Decentralized identity solutions that are built on blockchain technology could allow individuals to securely and privately store and manage their personal information, potentially replacing traditional forms of identification such as government-issued IDs.
- Emergence of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs): DAOs are organizations that are run entirely by code and operate on a decentralized basis. They have the potential to revolutionize traditional business models by allowing for decentralized decision-making and the ability to operate globally without the need for physical offices or legal entities.
- Integration of web3 technologies into traditional industries: Web3 technologies have the potential to disrupt and transform traditional industries such as finance, real estate, and supply chain management. As these technologies mature, it is likely that we will see increased adoption and integration of web3 technologies into traditional industries.
Numbers and statistics provide a clear picture of the importance and impact of the Web3 and the metaverse on the near future. It should also be noticed how, among the market drivers and development factors, the integration of artificial intelligence is also a key point for both areas. We often talk about different fields of work, yet the technological-scientific development is more solid and joint than what we see on the surface. We specialize more and more but the world of new technologies is deeply interconnected.
A digital evolution
The pandemic has dramatically speed up the development of new emerging technologies. Plus, thanks to the rebrand of Facebook in Meta, the push towards VR is the result of the digital transformation: jobs have been transitioning to platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet; the blockchain development and the adoption of cryptocurrencies are symptoms of the aforementioned digital transformation; the metaverse seems to be an imminent reality, not a mere futuristic concept. Furthermore, 87% of Generation Z has an average weekly playtime of around 7 hours.
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Sources:
https://mccannworldgroup.com/news
https://cointelegraph.com/news/elrond-rebrands-as-multiversx-shifts-focus-to-the-metaverse