The Metaverse Wars
There is a bigger picture that many don't care to notice.
The modern digital economy will keep growing rapidly, and it will eventually include everything while enhancing global economic activity.
Especially because of Covid, the world economy is quickly transitioning into its digital counterpart.
The real world is the main chain, and the Metaverse will be a sidechain running on top of it.
Visionaries are shaping and developing technologies that will “soon” host the Metaverse. Some key components are already there, but a Metaverse still needs time before all technologies are ready.
There will be a “tech” war, though, starting right now.
In the next five years, we will witness various 3D worlds and millions will use them. The first necessity will be a monetary unit since we will not be talking about a game but an economy. On this 3D ground will be the ultimate battle between real cryptocurrencies (non-custodial, censorship-resistant, decentralized) and the bank cartel (CBDCs).
In about a decade, most of the required infrastructure and technologies (except perhaps neuroscience) will be ready.
This will be the mass adoption phase of the real Metaverse. There is a serious question that arises, though.
Will the Metaverse be under government/corporate control, or it will contain a certain degree of decentralization.
The Metaverse - Every Entity (Person, Business, or Machine) Will Provably Own A Part Of It
We refer to a decentralized Metaverse, the one based on blockchain networks running on PoW to validate transactions and governed by Decentralized Consensus. "Systems inherently tamper-proof, censorship-resistant, and permissionless" (reference-quote).
The Metaverse, as a technological and financial breakthrough, will deliver absolute economic freedom, if we base it on decentralized models.
Otherwise, it will be yet another centralized, censorable, government-controlled, and censorable Internet 3.0, with VR/AR capabilities (as the Zuckerberg version suggests).
It will (probably) take 20 years before we can experience a fully functional 3D Universe. One that we can undoubtedly call a Metaverse, similar to what a few popular science fiction authors envisioned many decades ago.
The Metaverse will be an economy equal to the size of the real one and perhaps even larger.
All current networks will require upgrading since speed, reliability, security, and cost-efficiency would be demanded at a maximum level.
From speed and low fees to total security and decentralization. There are no cutbacks at anything, the vision for the digital economy is clear. Decentralized, secure, fast, and cost-efficient networks will become the standard.
There is no room for weak and over-hyped blockchains in the technology that will host the digital counterpart of the real world. There is no room for $200 ETH fees or 6-confirmations either. Any financial transaction must be instant and virtually feeless.
There is no room for centralization and control either. This will be the decisive battle for control or autonomy of the Metaverse and to an extent the remaining internet.
We are setting the standard today.
It will be CBDCs together with centralized digital currencies in control, or decentralized cryptocurrencies that will become established.
We already understand the reasons CBDCs should not become the standard, but what are the current alternatives, from the crypto field though?
Can BTC or ETH Compete Against any Banking Payment Network?
Bitcoin (BTC) is undoubtfully weak as a payments network and looks more like a relic of a previous and forgotten era. Bitcoin (BTC) has missed critical upgrades that would have sufficed to increase its adoption and become what the Satoshi Whitepaper aspired for.
Ethereum at least is trying, but the historic level of delays in any developments of this network point us to the fact that any kind of results will take at least a decade, and still, there is no guarantee that Ethereum will achieve scaling and manage to accommodate mass adoption.
Bankers laugh all this time, at the low TPS (Transactions Per Second) and the high fees of the two leading cryptocurrencies. Is Elon Musk favored Dogecoin the answer, or all those centralized networks with a fail-switch like Solana, IOTA, and Avalance?
Some networks are still working towards achieving mass adoption as decentralized P2P electronic cash. Bitcoin Cash is one of them and has all the features required. Dash, Ripple, ZCash, and Monero also have a similar purpose.
Any cryptocurrency that doesn’t scale will be left behind in this new race in financial technology.
Bitcoin (BTC) is already far behind any recent developments. The Lightning Network fiasco in El Salvador won’t save BTC and currently, there is only a thin speculative horizon left for BTC maximalists, Blockstream, and the deteriorating qualities of a previous revolutionary network.
Smart contracts will also dominate the digital economy and most services will be available through the Metaverse. The “services” part of an economy can easily migrate to the digital space, reducing cost and increasing productivity.
The Metaverse (as the internet was) will be the next small step to the evolution of our species. Ignoring it is similar to those shunning the potential of the internet back in its beginnings.
What If the Early Internet Visionaries Just Listened to "This Guy":
By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's.
Paul Krugman - Nobelist
The above assumption by the world-renowned economist (Paul Krugman) should be an example to avoid.
Of course, what we have today is just some artists creating their work and monetizing it easily within various NFT marketplaces that exist.
The actual use case of NFTs will be obvious when every digital item will require a digital signature as proof of ownership.
The NFT smart contract protocols will not replicate the Mona Lisa and provide ownership right to anyone else, besides the Museum of Louvre, where it currently belongs. Some misjudge the use of NFTs and think it can counterfeit ownership, but this example is quite absurd and misrepresentation of ownership rights NFTs illustrates.
Sadly, many don’t quite understand the concept of property and just try to create a negative impression on what is decentralized proof of private ownership rights.
It is not property enforced by any law, but math and code instead.
In Conclusion
We are at the beginning of something truly amazing. A new technological race is about to begin and, as always, we will have to select one side. This time, either it will be the established financial system or decentralized cryptocurrencies.
With the current state of BTC and ETH, cryptocurrencies stand no chance. Some more recent alternatives as Solana, Avalance, Cardano, Polkadot, (becoming popular in 2021), contain dubious decentralization procedures (PoS, mixed PoS, PoW) and they are still under an extended development with no clear sign of their future potential.
It is all speculation today in the crypto field. Yet some blockchain networks offer what the future demands and, on top of this list, is Bitcoin Cash and the smart contracts smartBCH sidechain.
Bitcoin Cash is empowering the individual and fits perfectly as a financial network the decentralized Metaverse requests. The Bitcoin crypto-revolution is today achieved within Bitcoin Cash.
The Metaverse is expected to be fully operational and adopted in about 20 years from now.
Some of us will be old by then. Twenty years later, though, it will be billions of humans using and working (virtually living) in the Metaverse. Working from home, providing services, performing surgeries, doing virtual groceries, visiting virtual gyms, all while wearing their VR set and communicating with people that are hundreds of miles away, but also living an experience similar to the real world at the same time.
Some of us will be in our late 30s or early 40s, and some will be even older in their 60s or even 70s. The decision must be made today, though. As the Metaverse is only now beginning and will find various stages in its development before it fully incorporates all the required technologies.
It is us, today, that will approve the terms of the Metaverse, and we have to either accept the plans set in motion by Zuckerberg asking for more control or give control to the individual instead.
Images:
Lead Image: Pixabay
Rest Image: Image i, Image ii, iii)Image iii, iv)Image iv
My previous work on the Metaverse:
A Trustless and Decentralized Metaverse is the Main Objective
Adoption of Bitcoin Cash Will Elevate the Modern Digital Economy
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Before we experience fully functional 3d universe we need to upgrade All current network, so that theres no barriers with the flow of the system,here in the Philippines all current network is so sluggish and it is very irritating. I think this will happen soon if those network while pay more attention with the speed and accuracy of there services because we will what ever bill it is