According to Gartner, the blockchain will create $176 Billion dollars in business value by 2025.

The blockchain is still in its early stages and businesses have been slow to adopt it. However, this is changing quickly. Over the next few years more and more businesses will be turning to the blockchain. This means that if your business is not researching how to use the blockchain now, your business will be losing out. How?

First, your competition is looking into how to incorporate this technology into their business. They will create more value and have a huge competitive advantage. If your business waits 2 years, then it will miss the investment and growth cycle.

Second, your business will be less valuable going forward. The blockchain can make your business more efficient, open up new global markets, and create new business and revenue models. Since companies compete at a global level, this is one way to set your business apart.

By 2030, according to Gartner, the blockchain will have created $3.1 Trillion dollars of value for businesses that are utilizing this technology.

Companies not using the blockchain in any capacity will not be able to maximize their value or valuations going forward.

In spite of a global shutdown, the Blockchain Finance, Infrastructure and Public Sector use cases have started to get more business and consumer adoption.

DeFi (Decentralized Finance) leads the way with the digital dollar not far behind. Globally, both efforts have kept the Blockchain in the forefront of the news. In the US, 40 Blockchain bills are pending in congress so regulatory clarity may be on the horizon.

The appetite for emerging technology has slowed for larger companies. Global 2000 companies moved to slash funding for emerging technologies, such as automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain and 5G, according to new KPMG research. (info.kpmg.us).

This is a great opportunity for startups and entrepreneurs to start creating new infrastructure, products and services around emerging technology and blockchain. When the Global 2000 retool, they may be looking for companies to acquire as the new digital innovation age has begun.

A recent report by Grayscale, the world's largest digital currency asset manager, revealed the firm now holds roughly 1.7% of all of Bitcoin's supply in its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Having seen the biggest quarter yet, Grayscale's share of Bitcoin increased by 0.1% in 2020 despite current market uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. (cointelegraph.com)

Leading financial institutions, governments, and conglomerates are already seeing the benefits of blockchain-based solutions for use cases as wide-ranging as digital asset creation and post-trade settlement. The Ethereum blockchain's battle-tested architecture and unrivaled programmability enables enterprises to build secure and customizable business networks and applications at scale. (consensys.net)

Automatic execution. Streamline business processes through programmable transactions and real-time clearing and settlement. (consensys.net)

Advanced security. Mitigate risk with tamper-proof data coordination and granular security controls. (consensys.net)

Trusted business networks. Quickly deploy permissioned networks with shared business logic and customizable governance. (consensys.net)

An estimated 20-25% of funds globally are lost to corruption at the government level, intermediaries take up to 7% of global remittances, and modern fintech solutions fail to include the 1.7 billion global unbanked adults. (consensys.net)

The blockchain builds trust between their end user and the customer. Since many people do not trust institutions, the blockchain can provide a way to begin to restore trust in those institutions. Banking, DeFi and Central Bank Digital currencies are in the spotlight for helping people to gain access to basic financial services and access to capital.

Worldwide blockchain wallets have doubled since 2019 from 40,000,000 to 80,000,000. This is an indication of the mass adoption that is happening in the blockchain space.

According to recent data, blockchain projects have raised over $9 billion in funding from traditional venture capital firms. This represents a significant increase from previous years, and suggests that VC firms are increasingly interested in investing in blockchain technology.

Not surprisingly, blockchain-focused VC firms are at the forefront of this trend. But even traditional VC firms are starting to get involved, with cryptocurrency and blockchain investments making up a larger portion of their portfolios. This shows that the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology is slowly but surely gaining momentum.

With blockchain-based projects receiving more and more funding, it is only a matter of time before we see even more innovative and disruptive applications of this technology. So far, blockchain has mostly been used for financial applications such as payments and fundraising. But in the future, we will likely see blockchain being used in a wide variety of industries, from healthcare to supply chain management. The possibilities are virtually limitless, and it will be interesting to see what new applications of blockchain technology emerge in the years to come.

Household names like 500 Startups and Andressen Horowitz have made the top 10 after showing continued interest in funding blockchain projects. The study – put together by Crypto Finance Conference and exclusively shared with Hard Fork – highlighted how traditional venture capitals are spreading their risk by investing in specialist blockchain funds as well as startups. (Story by Matthew Beedham SHIFT)

Receiving venture funding is an obvious stamp of approval for any company. With 17 out of the 20 largest VCs in the world investing in blockchain, the technology has created a reputation that is hard to mess with.

“In every startup story, the VCs supercharge everything. They're the fairy godmothers of success.” - Jeremy Neuner , Co-founder & CEO NextSpace There's nothing as “competitor crushing” as receiving a big funding round. Even poorly organised companies get a chance to win the market when backed by a strong VC.

Since its emergence, the crypto landscape has been likened to the early days of the internet market in the 1990s and early 2000s. Where the internet boom led to the initiation and subsequent rise of sectors like e-commerce and social media, the blockchain space has been touted to drive innovations such as decentralized finance and the decentralized web.

Legacy brands that were dismissive of the promise of the then young internet space saw the rise of e-commerce and online merchants challenge the primacy of these brick-and-mortar firms in the retail arena. Social media also grew to arguably eclipse the reach of print and broadcast media as web-based services disrupted several industries.

As Kicks and Galaxy's Englebardt pointed out, the bellwether for built-from-the-ground-up crypto gaming came earlier this year in the form of the Sky Mavis game, Axie Infinity. Axie Infinity is a “play-to-earn” (P2E) mobile game likened to the Pokemon franchise. In it players can battle, breed and trade digital monsters also called Axie. Thanks to the success of Axie Infinity, Sky Mavis raised an additional $152 million in a series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the same week Kicks' BitKraft launched its fund.

Visitors are seen at the Digital Art Fair Asia in Hong Kong, China, on October 08, 2021. The fair showcases NFT Crypto Art, non-fungible tokens, as part of the new trend in modern art. (Photo by Miguel Candela/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Axie's user growth over the last year is staggering. Since its inception, the game has generated more than $2.4 billion in total transaction volume, making it the most valuable NFT collection to date. For one week in July, the game raked in more revenue at the protocol level than bitcoin, ethereum and most of the top-ranking DeFi projects . In August, it boasted an average 1.8 million active daily users, at one point reaching $33 million in daily transactions.

"It'd be impossible – unless you're living under a rock – to not look at [Axie Infinity], take it very seriously and try to figure out what's going on," said Englebardt explaining how Axie has become one barometer crypto gaming investors use to gauge the space.

It's worth pointing out that the core of gameplay in Axie Infinity depends on players owning and trading in-game assets. It's a near-revolutionary break from how traditional mobile games work. Everything in Axie Infinity, from money and land to items and creatures, carries real-world value that can be exchanged into cryptocurrencies like Ethereum ( ETH-USD ) and local currencies like the Philippine peso. Players can earn yield on these assets. While their value fluctuates sometimes as dramatically as bitcoin ( BTC-USD a July study by Coingecko showed that Axie players can at times earn more than the hourly U.S. federal minimum wage from gameplay.

"If nothing else, what blockchain enables is the greatest, most viral, cost efficient form of user acquisition, and we see it again and again," Englebardt explained, citing bitcoin as the most successful example. (finance.yahoo.com)

As marketplaces have sprung up around NFTs, creators have taken advantage of their possibilities in different ways.

The best-known examples are the digital art market, described above, and digital collectables platforms, such as Dapper Labs's NBA Top Shot , which enables users to collect and exchange NFTs of exciting plays from basketball games videos called “moments,” which are effectively digital trading cards . Top Shot has been building in gamified challenges and other reasons to own the cards beyond just their pure collectible value, even teasing that moment holders may eventually receive real-world benefits from the NBA.

But what's emerged more recently is a model of active ecosystem-building around NFT-native properties leading to novel organizations developed entirely within the NFT space. These products start with an NFT series, but project forward a roadmap under which holders of the NFT gain access to an expanding array of products, activities, and experiences. Revenue from initial and subsequent NFT sales is fed back into the brand, supporting increasingly ambitious projects which in turn drive up the value of the NFTs themselves.

Bored Ape Yacht Club , for example, comprises a series of NFT ape images conferring membership in an online community. The project started with a series of private chat rooms and a graffiti board, and has grown to include high-end merchandise, social events, and even an actual yacht party SupDucks Gutter Cat Gang similarly began building communities around NFT image series and associated online spaces; the former has bridged into a boardwalk-themed metaverse game , and the latter has focused on real-world benefits like extravagant in-person events

It's not an accident that so many of the early NFT projects are built around digital rights management, since that's one of the most direct applications of the technology. Club membership benefits for NFT holders fit in naturally as well, since a given NFT holder can certify their right to have access simply by pointing to the token in their crypto wallet.

But NFTs make less sense when there isn't a purpose to digital ownership, such as for managing physical collectibles, where people presumably want to receive the objects themselves. (Unless, of course, they're too heavy to move, as in the case of a recent NFT for a 2,000-pound tungsten cube.

Like with any new product, early adopters serve as product evangelists and a source of early feedback. But with NFTs, these users also serve an even more essential role: Their decision to embrace the NFTs quite literally imbues those NFTs with their meaning and establishes their initial value.

Without a robust community of users, NFT projects can fail to get off the ground, or can quickly collapse as all the token-holders lose interest. And this means that if an NFT project doesn't make its value proposition clear enough at the outset, it can fail to recruit a big enough community or the right community. Lack of engagement can then become a self-fulfilling prophecy, devaluing the NFTs themselves.

To maintain ongoing community engagement, NFT project teams must generate confidence that they can continue executing.

2/ It’s healthy to be skeptical, but collecting NFTs comes with benefits far beyond monetary value. I’ll explain why with clarity. But first: Don’t buy NFTs just for the money. We’ll touch on that, but it’s not the primary reason to own them. Consider the following:

3/ Guaranteed knowledge

NFTs are one of the most promising technologies of our time. By owning one, monitoring its value, and unlocking associated communities, you will automatically be in the top 1% of people educated on the subject. Participate to learn, not to earn.

4/ Supporting creators

Buying NFTs supports artists and culture. Before, creators and patrons were limited to restrictive, less liquid markets—and sharing profits with wholesalers. NFT markets are global and 24/7. What’s more, artists can program a permanent take of royalties.

5/ IP rights

Some NFTs grant you commercial usage rights. This means you could attract sponsors, develop product lines, license your NFT to content studios, do merch drops, and more. We’ve got NFT holders out here signing deals with CAA. It’s more than just a JPEG.

6/ Social capital

NFTs verify that individuals were early to supporting artists, trends, and communities. It’s not unlike an investor gaining credibility for placing a smart bet on an emerging startup. The social value of NFT ownership is on par with its financial value.

7/ Pseudonymous identity

NFTs enable members to associate their personas with community. This fundamentally alters identity towards decentralization, providing a layer of privacy and kinship. It’s not for everyone, but for many this optionality represents tremendous freedom.

8/ Gaming

There are 230M gamers in America. In-game items are a $50B market. It’s simple. Before NFTs, you couldn’t take those items with you. You couldn’t sell them. With NFT technology, it’s possible. Not to mention the potential to produce yield by staking your assets.

9/ Ownership & sovereignty

NFTs make you the owner of your digital belongings by eliminating middlemen and associated fees. You’re not paying a bank to a hold them. You’re not renting a locker. They are yours and you can do anything you want with them. That’s power.

10/ Diversification

Due to its implied impact on our financial system, many advisors suggest exposure to crypto—often in the 2-5% range for beginners. But dumping that all into ETH means your gains are dependent on a singular point of failure. NFTs can help to spread your bets.

11/ Liquidity

Unlike owning shares in a private company, NFTs can be relatively liquid. You may sell at a gain or loss, but peer to peer marketplaces are growing fast, and this optionality is good for stakeholders. Good luck sourcing that liquidity in traditional markets.

12/ Community access

Perhaps the greatest benefit of NFTs is access to community networks. I can tell you, I’ve bought NFTs for .1 ETH that unlocked 50x their value in terms of connections made and personal growth. When you find the right community, the cost of entry pales.

13/ Utility

Community isn't all that NFTs grant access to. They can offer perks like access to special products, limited drops, content unlocks, events, coursework, loyalty programs, cohort membership, and so much more. When it comes to utility, we're just getting started.

14/ Money Let’s not entertain any bullsh*t here. Beginners should spend only a SMALL amount at first—nothing you can’t afford to lose. Potential downside: you “waste” a small amount of money. Potential upside: you make a life-changing amount of money (rare, but it happens)

15/ People can dunk on NFTs all they want. They are not perfect. It’s early days, and there will be growing pains. But with a level-headed approach, you are literally guaranteed access, insight, and utility, all while supporting creators.

Chris Cantino @chriscantino

A decentralized autonomous organization is exactly what the name says; a group of people who come together without a central leader or company dictating any of the decisions. They are built on a blockchain using smart contracts (digital one-of-one agreements). Members of DAOs often buy their way in, most of the time purchasing a governance token specifically for the DAO that gives them the ability to vote on decisions that are made around how the pool of money is spent and managed. These groups can be made up of people from around the world, who often communicate on Discord channels.

Each DAO has a different mission, whether it is single-purpose or part of a larger project, and can be associated with any number of industries.

Some of them are based on personal interests, such as the ConstitutionDAO, which banded together in the hope of buying one of the original copies of the U.S. Constitution from Sotheby’s last year. The group ultimately found out it was not the highest bidder and ended up losing the auction, but members were able to receive a refund of their initial investment.

It’s important to understand that DAO is a broad term than encompasses a huge number of different types of groups and business. Two collectives can be vastly different, but still both be DAOs.

Here are a few examples of well-known DAOs:

ThePleasrDAOcollects various NFTs and invests in other assets.

TheHerStoryDAO collects and funds projects by Black women and non-binary artists.

TheKomorebi CollectiveDAO funds women and non-binary crypto founders.

TheFriends with BenefitsDAO is an exclusive social club which you pay to enter.

Starting an organization with someone that involves funding and money requires a lot of trust in the people you're working with. But it’s hard to trust someone you’ve only ever interacted with on the internet. With DAOs you don’t need to trust anyone else in the group, just the DAO’s code, which is 100% transparent and verifiable by anyone.

To understand DAOs, you first need to understand the technology behind them. Most DAOs rely on blockchain technology and smart contracts, which are collections of code than run on the blockchain.

A blockchain is a decentralized, digital ledger. While they are commonly known to publicly document transactions of different cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, and other digital assets, like NFTs, blockchains can also be used in a number of other ways. For DAOs, the blockchain can act as a backbone, keeping the structure and rules of each on-chain.

In traditional organizations, there’s typically a hierarchy. A formal board of directors, executives or upper management determine the structure and have the power to make changes.

DAOs, on the other hand, are decentralized, which means they aren’t governed by one person or entity. The rules and governance of each DAO is coded in smart contracts on the blockchain and cannot be changed unless voted upon by the DAO’s members.

Instead of a select few having the majority of say, members of each DAO can vote on decisions together, typically on equal footing.

For example, PleasrDAO members collectively decided to buy the Wu-Tang Clan album. After doing so, they created an NFT to represent a deed of ownership to the album. The members of PleasrDAO co-own the NFT deed, and in turn, share ownership of the album.

Sometimes, in larger DAOs, teams may form to tackle different aspects of the organization with leaders that have been voted in. That way, not every single member is needed to vote on every nuance.

Each DAO is structured differently, but usually, when joining a DAO, you agree to the code in place. It isn’t easy to change that code, and any changes typically require a vote between members.

DAOs are “very participatory,” says Aaron Wright, co-founder and CEO of OpenLaw, a blockchain-based protocol for the creation and execution of legal agreements. Wright has helped launch several DAOs, including FlamingoDAO, which collects NFTs.

“You don’t have to wait for a quorum or a sufficient number of people to vote in order to make a decision. It kind of runs and operates like the internet, through rough consensus,” Wright explains. “If there’s more people that support a project, a decision is made.”

To obtain voting power or membership in a DAO, you typically buy governance tokens, which are cryptocurrencies that are tied to a certain project. In some DAOs, governance tokens can only be obtained in structured funding rounds, and occasionally, demand exceeds the amount of tokens available. By holding these tokens, members are typically able to own equity in the DAO and help shape the DAO’s future.

While it varies from DAO to DAO, the weight of a member’s vote usually depends on the amount they contributed to the project.

If a DAO doesn’t use governance tokens, it may accept investment of other forms, like in ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, Wright explains, since the Ethereum blockchain powers most DAOs. But, again, each DAO has its own system.

Beyond voting power, members can also work for their DAO. There are typically a number of internal jobs, including positions in token distribution and treasury management.

The main advantage of DAOs is that they offer a solution to the principal-agent dilemma.

Problems can occur in some situations, with a common one being in the relationship between stakeholders and a CEO. The agent (the CEO) may work in a way that’s not in line with the priorities and goals determined by the principal (the stakeholders) and instead act in their own self-interest.

Another typical example of the principal-agent dilemma occurs when the agent takes excessive risk because the principal bears the burden. For example, a trader can use extreme leverage to chase a performance bonus, knowing the organization will cover any downside.

DAOs solve the principal-agent dilemma through community governance. Stakeholders aren’t forced to join a DAO and only do so after understanding the rules that govern it. They don’t need to trust any agent acting on their behalf and instead work as part of a group whose incentives are aligned.

DAOs need the following elements for being fully functional: A set of rules to which will operate, a funding like tokens that the organization can spend to reward certain activities to their members, and also to provide voting rights for establishing the operation rules. Also, and most important, is a well and secure structure that allows every investor to configure the organization.

Members of a DAO typically receive a “non-fungible token” or NFT in return for their investment. Put simply, non-fungible means that it can’t be exchanged for anything else, unlike cryptocurrencies, which like traditional currencies are designed to be exchanged for something.

Holding an NFT means you are recognized as a member of a DAO and therefore eligible to vote on how it should be managed. But, as writer Geoffrey Mak found when he investigated several DAOs for The Guardian, not all tokens are equal when it comes to voting rights.

One DAO he investigated allowed one vote per token. But, as tokens were also allocated based on the number of likes given to a member’s posts in its chatroom, it was possible for one individual to accumulate a larger number of tokens than other members.

The metaverse is a shared, virtual space where people can meet, interact and do business. It's a bit like the internet, but with more user interaction and richer content.

There are many different types of metaverses, but they all have three things in common:

1. A shared, virtual space: Metaverses are created by computer code and designed to be inhabited by humans (or avatars, which are digital representations of humans).

2. User interaction: In a metaverse, users can interact with each other and with the environment around them.

3. Rich content: Metaverses are designed to be immersive and engaging, with rich 3D graphics and audio.

While the term has been floating around for the last few years, the word “metaverse” was actually coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash. In his book, Stephenson referred to the metaverse as an all-encompassing digital world that exists parallel to the real world. But in 2022, experts still aren’t sure whether the metaverse IRL could evolve into something similar.

“The metaverse is a 3D version of the Internet and computing at large,” Mathew Ball, a venture capitalist and angel investor who’s written a series of essays about the potential and structures of the metaverse, told VICE.

According to Ball, there are two ways to place this in the current context.

“When these two technologies (internet and computing) first emerged, all interactions were primarily text-based (emails, messages, usernames, email addresses). Then they slowly became more media-based (photos, videos, livestreams). The next elevation of user interface and user experience is into 3D. Secondly, if we think of [a] mobile [phone] as placing a computer in our pocket and the internet being available at all times, think of the metaverse as always being within a computer and inside the internet.”

Many experts look at the metaverse as a 3D model of the internet. Basically, a place parallel to the physical world, where you spend your digital life. A place where you and other people have an avatar, and you interact with them through their avatars. Some also argue that the metaverse in the truest sense of the term doesn’t actually exist yet.

“It’s not real at this stage, and won’t become real until people have a single location they can go to to get into in a virtual world they could live in,” Ibrahim Baggili, a cybersecurity expert and the founding director of the Connecticut Institute of Technology at the University of New Haven, told VICE.

Essentially, the metaverse is supposed to be a 3D version of the internet that is seen as the logical next stage of development, and would ideally be accessed through a single gateway.

“The internet was described as an ’information superhighway’ in the 90s, but it was more of just a term to refer to a potential future with networked computers rather than an actual highway,” said Timoni West, a vice president who oversees the AR and VR departments at Unity Software, a company that builds graphics engines for game development. “As it develops, the metaverse will also have equivalence to the real world and be much more distributed, democratic, fluid and varied,” she told VICE.

The metaverse is often seen as the next step after web3.0, or the third generation of the internet. While web3.0 is focused on decentralization and data ownership, the metaverse is a more immersive and interactive digital world that would exist parallel to our physical world. In order to access the metaverse, users would likely need to create their own avatar, which would be stored on a blockchain. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) could also play a role in the metaverse, as they could be used to represent digital assets and experiences.

Alongside a three-dimensional VR metaverse, there's another similar concept that's gaining traction: Web 3.0. Leslie Shannon, Nokia's Head of Trend Scouting, mentioned this in a VRARA Global Summit talk, speaking about the importance of the metaverse or a spatial internet.

Meanwhile, Deloitte already has a framework in place for the spatial web and Web 3.0, concepts closely linked to the metaverse.

Further, Mark Zuckerberg referred to the metaverse as an “embodied internet” in his Founder's Letter announcing Facebook's rebrand.

All of this points in one direction: the metaverse could be the next major online destination where global users congregate, engage, buy, sell, play, and work. It will start out as an alternative to social media and eventually come to encompass the world wide web as we know it.

Already in 2020, VR adoption for work, collaboration, and learning/education has increased.

Spatial that provide a VR alternative to Zoom saw a 1000 percent uptick in usage in this period, and Facebook came out with its own offering called Oculus for Business.

As companies recalibrate around employee expectations and requirements during the new normal, VR will be an important enabler. It will help workers transition to hybrid work and ensure that remote employees enjoy the same degree of engagement and access as their in-office counterparts.

In a recent survey , nearly 2 in 5 respondents said that they are very excited for AR/VR-enabled learning in the workplace. And, as Zoom fatigue sets in, the metaverse could be a compelling alternative for many.

The metaverse will inspire a bustling new economy at every level. For content creators and VR developers, it means another source of monetisation.

A crypto-based economy would also allow fairer incentivisation of content and regular royalties. Apart from this, venture capitalists are also eager to get in on the early action in the metaverse market and invest in promising startups. Any one of these startups could be your new Facebook, and early investors could shape progress for several years to come.

Once the metaverse is executed, there will be new opportunities through advertising, digital events, e-commerce, etc. – a $1 trillion opportunity by expert estimates Finally, let's not forget the job creation potential of the metaverse. Facebook announced that it would create 10,000 new job openings in Europe alone to build its vision for the metaverse.

Nike has started hiring for virtual material designers for its own “ Nikeland ” and there were active vacancies mentioning the metaverse in October 2021. Professionals, in future, will find it difficult to ignore this trend.

Just like tech giants now dominate the global conversation around user privacy, data rights, cybercrime, and regulations, the metaverse could be the next minefield.

Right now, early WIPs of the metaverse suggest several risks while also being extremely exciting. NFT fraud is a very real possibility, land rights in the metaverse could be in question, and avatars – an extension of your real identity – open up challenging questions.

Today, even if you aren't a Facebook or Twitter user, it is difficult to avoid concerns around data privacy and misinformation. The same will be true for the metaverse a few years down the line.

That's why organisations, regulatory bodies, advocacy groups, and individual users need to consider this as a “big deal” to pre-empt similar or even more complex repercussions later down the line.

The metaverse will need rules of engagement for users, rules for how the metaverse itself can change over time and enforcement mechanisms, including for tax collection, data governance and regulatory compliance. Early movers may be able to help set these rules. Security will be paramount, as a new, decentralized digital world may offer malicious actors a new world of entry points for attack. Authenticity and trust more broadly should also be front and center, to reduce the disinformation that has often plagued the internet.

A true metaverse should reflect in real time the changes made in it by different participants, entering and leaving it in different ways, in different places, at different times. When you take your metaverse headset off, the metaverse and other participants will continue their activities uninterrupted, with (for example) smart contracts enforcing agreements and trading assets. This persistence will likely require a new approach to digital assets and activities, including services and applications that are portable, dynamically configurable and extensible.

Since no true metaverse exists yet, but many of its concepts are already business-relevant, many companies would benefit from taking six measured actions. The first three focus on opportunities and use cases available today. The next three will help build the capabilities that will help support metaverse success tomorrow.

Get up to speed. Most companies even many technology companies lack institutional familiarity with the metaverse's concepts, which are evolving quickly. Many may also lack the skills and processes to truly understand and trust their digital transactions and investments. Assign at least one resource or source of knowledge (such as a group) to understand key concepts such as cryptocurrencies and decentralized autonomous organizations and their relevance to your company, and to follow the metaverse as it evolves.

Develop a strategy. Identify gaps to close and long-term opportunities to build from the metaverse and its key concepts, then work on foundational measures. Many companies, for example, will likely benefit from recruiting digital native employees already at home with the metaverse's key concepts, as well as technical measures such making services extensible, developing plans for security and identity, and publishing application programming interfaces (APIs) to core systems so others can connect.

Metaverse platforms will have a democratized architecture, meaning that no single individual, group, or organization has ownership over its operations. Anyone with a stake in the platform's cryptocurrency will have a say in daily decision-making.

The decentralized nature of the Metaverse will entirely transform how the digital world operates. For instance, it may no longer be possible to roll out a sweeping algorithm change without user consent.

Although startups and companies are mostly building the Metaverse, a lot of its source code is available as open-source through Metaverse projects on GitHub and even VR world creation platforms like Vircadia.

Even global tech giants such as Meta have also embraced open source in a big way with its technologies for image synthesis, hierarchical visibility, AI, and others, available to developers.

Today, we interact with online information in a two-dimensional format. There are texts and visuals, a 2D screen, and a passive user who enjoys limited interactivity through input peripherals that have been in use for decades.

The metaverse is the first major revolution in input-output exchanges since the invention of the mouse. A combination of hand controllers, eye tracking, and voice commands will allow users to interact with visualized data as if it were the real world.

The Metaverse could make the internet more accessible to all and has particularly important implications for those living with a disability. For example, users with mobility impairment in the lower limbs can move around freely inside the Metaverse through different forms of gestures.

AI-based captioning and auto-translation could also help overcome hearing impairment and language barriers. However, more research is required for these solutions, and VR hardware has to factor in accessibility needs.

The Metaverse could leapfrog scientific research by several years, especially in healthcare, aerospace, manufacturing, and a host of other fields.

For instance, professionals in the pharmaceutical field can simulate the molecular structure of a vaccine in 3D, and then meet with project stakeholders in a VR environment. The Metaverse can fast-track approvals, boost error detection, and increase success rates.

The Metaverse could eventually become a digital destination where all of us “hang out,” just like with social media today. It will determine friendships, relationships, and interpersonal dynamics, and could enable people from across the world to meet face-to-face without having to travel.

Companies will need to transition their marketing strategies from online ad buys to existing in a shared, virtual economy. Companies will need to do market research on their new customers in the metaverse. How people act and what their preferences are in the metaverse could be totally different than how they behave and what they shop for in real life. Add to that the layer of business to robot to consumer, where virtual assistants and robots own the relationship with the consumer and it all starts to make sense.

The metaverse is also expected to have a strong connection with the real-world economy – and eventually become an extension of it. In other words, the metaverse must have the ability for companies and individuals to participate in economic activity in the same way they do today. Simply put, this means being able to build, trade and invest in products, goods and services.

To a certain extent, this may rely on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as the foundation for value creation. A NFT is a claim of ownership for a unique, non-interchangeable digital asset that is stored on a blockchain. If NFTs become a commonly adopted tool for trading such goods, they could help accelerate the use of XR ecosystems as places people go to combine elements of the digital economy with their offline lives.

One way to think of this process is how the App Store encouraged businesses to digitize their operations, so that consumers could experience (and pay for) their products and services from any location. This legitimized the idea that retail and digital need not be separate, paving the way for a whole host of use cases that might not initially have made sense.

For example, it is plausible that Peloton, a company producing exercise equipment and video-streamed fitness classes, would not exist without the App Store. Without a widely adopted medium for digital consumer experiences, a service literally grounded in physical activity would have a weak business case for going online.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) figure to play a big role in the usefulness and popularity of the metaverse. NFTs are a secure type of digital asset based on the same blockchain technology used by cryptocurrency. Instead of currency, an NFT can represent a piece of art, a song or digital real estate. An NFT gives the owner a kind of digital deed or proof of ownership that can be bought or sold in the metaverse.

Metaverse Properties bills itself as the world's first virtual real estate company. The company acts as an agent to facilitate the purchase or rental of property or land in several metaverse virtual worlds -- including Decentraland, Sandbox, Somnium and Upland. Offerings include conference and commercial spaces, art galleries, family homes and "hangout spots."

While the metaverse has created opportunities for new companies such as Metaverse Properties to offer digital goods, established brick and mortar companies are also jumping in. For example, Nike acquired RTFKT -- a startup that makes one-of-a-kind virtual sneakers and digital artifacts using NFTs, blockchain authentication and augmented reality. On its website, RTFKT said it was "born on the metaverse, and this has defined its feel to this day."

Prior to the acquisition, Nike filed seven trademark applications to help create and sell virtual sneakers and apparel. Nike and Roblox also partnered on "Nikeland," a digital world where Nike fans can play games, connect and dress their avatars in virtual apparel.

Epic Games, makers of the popular online shooter game series Fortnite -- with some 350 million users -- and the Unreal Engine software for game developers, planned to stake a claim in the metaverse following a $1 billion round of funding in 2021. This included $200 million from Sony Group Corp.

Epic Games' vision of the metaverse differs from Facebook's in that it wants to provide a communal space for users to interact with each other and brands -- without a news feed riddled with ads.

"I strongly believe that this aligns with our purpose to fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology," said Kenichiro Yoshida, chairman, president and CEO at Sony Group Corp. in a statement.

The metaverse is coming to Microsoft Teams -- the software giant's online meetings competitor to Zoom. Microsoft said it will release Mesh for Microsoft Teams in 2022. The new service lets Teams users in different physical locations join collaborative and shared holographic experiences during virtual meetings.

Microsoft said Mesh will let users establish a virtual presence on any device using a customized avatar of themselves. This builds on the earlier announcement of Mesh for Microsoft, a platform for developers that includes a suite of AI-powered tools for avatars, session management, spatial rendering, synchronization across multiple users and "holoportation." Holoportation is a 3D capture technology that lets users reconstruct and transmit high-quality 3D models of people in real time.

Microsoft has already been working with professional services firm Accenture to create Mesh-enabled immersive spaces. Accenture hires more than 100,000 people every year and uses Mesh to help onboard new employees.

The virtual world in the New York Times bestselling book Ready Player One is probably the best example of what the metaverse might look like.

In this science fiction novel set in 2045, people find an escape from a real world destroyed by climate change, war, and poverty by taking refuge in OASIS, a massive multiple online role-playing game (MMORPG) and virtual society with its own currency

Curious about what Ready Player One’s metaverse might look like? Get an inside peek at director Steven Spielberg’s vision of the OASIS from the movie trailer:

In the last few years, Fortnite’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, has made overt references to establishing Fortnite as more than just a game. In 2020, 12.3 million people attended a virtual concert by rapper Travis Scott within Fortnite, making it the game’s biggest event ever.

Facebook is also positioning itself towards the metaverse with its expanded VR world, Horizon (currently in beta). Facebook describes Horizon as “a social experience where you can explore, play, and create with others in VR.” Get a preview here:

Somnium Space is a VR world-builder platform that supports virtual real estate trading and ownership. It is built on blockchain architecture and has its own in-app currency called Somnium Cubes that can be used to purchase properties. The sale of VR property acts as the primary funding for the platform, and in-platform real estate can be used for things like social networking, e-commerce, gaming, and events.

IMVU is a large avatar-based 3D social network where users can interact with friends, shop, hang out at gatherings, and earn real money by creating virtual products. The platform’s 7+ million users spend an average of 55 minutes a day on the site.

The metaverse will require countless new protocols, technologies, and innovations if it’s going to work. There won’t be a significant “flipping of the switch” moment where the metaverse explodes into existence. Instead, the metaverse will likely emerge over time as different products and services. But the potential for individuals and businesses is enormous.

Concurrent with the unveiling of Garden Archetypes, an immersive multimedia experience, Gucci teamed up with Roblox to release Gucci Garden, a unique and interactive virtual exhibit. As visitors entered the Gucci Garden, avatars became neutral mannequins. Wandering through the different rooms, each visitor’s mannequin absorbs elements of the exhibition. With every person experiencing the rooms in a different order and retaining other fragments of the spaces, they emerge at the end of their journey as one-of-a-kind creations.

Coca-Cola partnered with Tafi to design virtual wearables for Coca-Cola’s first-ever non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles in the metaverse to celebrate International Friendship Day. Coca-Cola auctioned an NFT loot box on OpenSea, containing digital apparel that can be worn in the virtual world of Decentraland. The Coca-Cola Friendship Box, a reimagined version of Coca-Cola’s highly collectible vending machine, itself an NFT, once opened contains a futuristic Coca-Cola Bubble Jacket Wearable, a Sound Visualizer to capture the experience of sharing a Coca-Cola, and a Friendship Card inspired by Coca-Cola’s trading cards from the 1940s.

In December Nike announced the acquisition of RTFKT, a non-fungible token studio that produces digital collectibles (including digital sneakers) to merge culture and gaming. Previously RTFKT collaborated with teenage artist FEWOCiOUS to sell real sneakers paired with virtual ones, selling 600 pairs and NFTs in six minutes and netting over $3.1 million.

It is a virtual reality platform supported by Ethereum. In this virtual world users can buy plots of land then they can walk around, build on them and monetize them. There is no limit to what users can do. It is the first digital platform that is completely owned by its users.

It is a virtual open world, based on the Ethereum blockchain, that allows its users to build, play, own and monetize their virtual gaming experiences and ideas.

It was created in 2018 by the US video game development company, Pixowl, building on the idea of two video games with the same name that they designed years earlier: The Sandbox (2011) and The Sandbox Evolution.

Interestingly, both games were successful and, together, generated 40 million downloads on iOS and Android gaming platforms. As a result, its creators decided to take the The Sandbox’ metaverse to a whole another level: blockchain technology.

Product placement in the media has been going on at least since the 1920s . This strategy embeds products seamlessly in ongoing stories, such as a character that happens to drink Coca Cola while she's already at a restaurant. According to a 2019 study , “prominent product placement activities – especially verbal placements – are associated with increases in both online conversations and web traffic for the brand.” In 2021, Burberry took this strategy to the virtual world. It designed two outfits for the protagonist of the Honor of Kings game. The outfits included Burberry's logo, so gamers were able to identify the brand. They could then search for these outfits online or in Burberry's brick and mortar stores… and buy them for themselves.

Louis Vuitton also ventured into gaming, but it actually created its own game. To celebrate its 200th anniversary, it introduced Vivienne, the game's protagonist, who travels across the virtual globe in an attempt to find 200 birthday NFT candles. Players who join her can collect NFT candles and unique accessories themselves, and even win some awards.

But what's that got to do with the brand?

Each NFT candle Vivienne finds during the game unveils milestones of the Louis Vuitton story. Kinda like a gamified brand history course.

While the metaverse is still in its infancy, dismissing it would be economic suicide for any business. Beyond tech giants like Microsoft and Facebook, other large brands have been making forays into the metaverse. For instance, fashion heavyweight Gucci launched a virtual gallery recently, while JP Morgan recently opened a building in Decentraland.

As an immersive virtual-reality world, the metaverse has a lot of business potential.

The virtual economy is booming. Sales of digital assets on virtual platforms like Decentraland, Fortnite, Roblox, and the Sandbox run into millions of dollars—representing a viable business opportunity. Brands can create virtual lookalikes of real-life products to metaverse residents and unlock new streams of revenue.

The list of companies already selling things in the metaverse is long. Earlier this year, Ralph Lauren launched a collection of wearables and has sold over 100,000 pieces already. Other luxury fashion houses, such as Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, have also started creating virtual clothing lines.

Even sports apparel makers are getting in on the game. American sportswear giant Nike acquired RTKFT, a company noted for creating virtual products and has filed patents that’ll allow it to exclusively sell Nike-themed wearables, like Air Jordan sneakers, in the metaverse.

Smaller businesses can benefit from this trend, too. For example, a glasses manufacturer might offer buyers a pair as an NFT, while encouraging them to buy the real thing. As long as a product can be represented in virtual reality, there’s going to be a market for it.

Gucci “Virtual 25” shoes are created exclusively for AR worlds.

The introduction of eCommerce changed the way people shopped for products. However, customers are quickly outgrowing staid online shopping sites. They want an experiential buying experience where they can feel, see, and touch products before buying.

Companies can provide new ways for consumers to interact with products and services using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. Instead of staring at static images, buyers can use products and see if they like the experience. If an individual feels good trying on virtual glasses, they’re more likely to buy the real product.

Some brands are already launching virtual malls, where anyone can come in and interact with branded items. Such innovations will greatly accelerate the buyer’s journey, reduce acquisition costs, and increase overall revenues.

Virtual malls may become the new shopping centers.

Just as the Internet broke down geographical boundaries, the metaverse will do the same—but better. An ideal metaverse is a place where anyone can enter and interact with a brand, regardless of their location. For brands, the metaverse facilitates the creation of universally accessible experiences for customers across the world.

Web3 is a term used in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. It refers to the third version of the internet, which is still in development. The first two versions were the World Wide Web (WWW) and the semantic web.

Web3 has the potential to revolutionize how we interact with the internet. It will enable us to transfer value and data without the need for intermediaries. This will make it easier for people to transact directly with each other.

Web3 is still in development, but there are a number of projects that are working on it. These include the Ethereum Foundation, the Web3 Foundation, and Polkadot.

Web3 is a term used to describe the third generation of the World Wide Web, which is based on blockchain technology. It's still in development, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with the internet. Web3 promises to be more secure, transparent, and efficient than previous versions of the web. It could also enable new types of online transactions and applications that were not possible before. Many people believe that web3 has the potential to change the world as we know it.

Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize many industries, including finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. Web3 is the platform that will enable this revolution. It's still in development, but when it's finished it will be the most secure and efficient version of the web yet. This could have a major impact on our economy and society as a whole. The potential of web3 is still being explored, but it's clear that it has the potential to revolutionize the way we use the internet.

Web1.0: The World Wide Web (1989)

Web2.0: The semantic web (2001)

Web3.0: ? (still in development)

The first two versions of the internet were the World Wide Web (WWW) and the semantic web. The WWW was created in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, and it allowed people to share information online. The semantic web was created in 2001 by Tim Berners-Lee and his team at the MIT Media Lab. It was a more advanced version of the WWW, which allowed people to share data online.

Web3 is the next step in the evolution of the internet. It's based on blockchain technology, which is a more secure and efficient way of sharing information online. Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize many industries, including finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. Web3 is the platform that will enable this revolution. It's still in development, but when it's finished it will be the most secure and efficient version of the web yet. This could have a major impact on our economy and society as a whole. The potential of web3 is still being explored, but it's clear that it has the potential to revolutionize the way we use the internet.

- Decentralized social networks: platforms like Steemit and Akasha are powered by blockchain technology and allow users to share content and transactions without relying on a central authority.

- Decentralized exchanges: exchanges like EtherDelta and BitShares allow users to trade cryptocurrencies without depositing their funds in a centralized server. This makes them more secure and efficient than traditional exchanges.

- Decentralized marketplaces: platforms like OpenBazaar allow users to buy and sell goods and services without relying on a central authority. This eliminates the need for middlemen and reduces the risk of fraud.

- Decentralized file storage: platforms like Filecoin and Storj allow users to store files securely and cheaply on a decentralized network of computers. This is an alternative to traditional cloud storage providers like Dropbox and iCloud.

- Decentralized voting: platforms like Akasha and Follow My Vote allow users to securely and anonymously vote on issues and candidates. This is an alternative to traditional voting systems like paper ballots and electronic voting machines.

- Decentralized ID: platforms like uPort allow users to securely and anonymously store their identity on a decentralized network. This could be used for things like voting, signing contracts, and verifying the authenticity of documents.

- Decentralized cloud computing: platforms like Golem allow users to rent out computing power from a decentralized network of computers. This is an alternative to traditional cloud computing providers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

- Decentralized advertising: platforms like Mad Network and BAT allow users to buy and sell advertising space without relying on a central authority. This eliminates the need for middlemen and reduces the risk of fraud.

- Decentralized gambling: platforms like FunFair allow users to gamble on games of chance without relying on a central authority. This eliminates the need for middlemen and reduces the risk of fraud.

It was marked by static content (rather than dynamic HTML), with data and content served from a static file (rather than a database).

Web 2.0, by contrast, is the web as most of us know it today.

First and foremost: It’s a nightmare for privacy. The other major downside of web 2.0 is that it relies on centralized authority.

The challenge with web 2.0 is users often have no control over whether their data gets collected, how it’s stored, or what tech companies do with it.

Web3 is a still-developing idea for a third generation of the web.

A blockchain is like a database, or what’s sometimes referred to as a distributed ledger, because each new entry is added atop the row below it, in a possibly endless chain.

For this reason, it’s much more resilient against hacking.

Innovation is happening daily, and the more developers switch to working in web3, the more these early-days problems will be solved.

In addition to the potential environmental impact and other issues we've already discussed, there is also a very vocal group of people that see Web3 as nothing more than the internet trading one set of overlords for another.

The primary benefit of this idea is that it would give control of a user's data back to that user.

It will do this by assigning you, and all of those assets, unique digital tokens that can be tracked across the entire internet by Web3's fundamental infrastructure.

Although Web 2.0 undoubtedly gave the average person more ability to produce, and even profit from, their own content on the web, any such plans still required the involvement of a Big Tech company such as YouTube (owned by Google), Web3's proponents claim their vision for the internet can cut the Big Tech middlemen out of the picture by completely decentralizing the web in much the same way cryptocurrency is attempting to wrest control of world finance from large financial institutions and governments.

It can be extremely difficult to understand, especially for newcomers, as the old analogies (your data is like files, a database like a file cabinet) no longer apply.

It can be resource intensive and use massive amounts of energy.

While the level of tokenization that would power Web3 remains largely a pipe dream today, NFTs represent a very similar, very extant form of token that is already in wide scale use.

To these people, NFTs are the digital equivalent of a banana duct-taped to a wall: something literally anyone can own at little or no cost, while you pay for the idea of its ownership.

Web3 is the third generation of the World Wide Web, based on blockchain technology. It is more secure than previous versions of the web, and enables new types of online transactions and applications. While still in development, the potential of web3 is clear and it is likely to revolutionize the way we use the internet.

It’s pretty clear from this image that blockchain companies located in the U.S. have raised far more in 2021 than any other company.

In total, blockchain companies located in the U.S. raised a total of $11.1B in venture funding during 2021. Following second is the U.K. with (just) $1.9B and third Hong Kong with $1.7B.

In 2022, capital is being deployed into crypto at a less noteworthy pace month over month, but in the grand scheme of things, levels are significantly higher than last year, showing that the space has matured significantly and the bar is now much higher.

Total venture capital funding in the crypto space fell 38% from $6.829 billion in April to $4.219 billion in May, according to Dove Metrics data. Even though the amount of capital deployed into crypto is down in the short term, it’s significantly higher than levels from a year ago: The amount of capital invested in the space last month increased 89% from $2.233 billion in May 2021.

Funding may have dropped on the month due to the growing chasm between private and public market valuations for equities and decentralized networks, Will Nuelle, an investor at Galaxy Digital Principal Investments, said to TechCrunch. “[It] has caused venture investors to be tighter on valuations and has caused increasingly wide spreads between founders’ asks and investors’ bids.”

There’s definitely a valuation reset going on right now, according to Stan Miroshnik, partner and co-founder of 10T Holdings.

“For investors like us, it’s time to buy,” Miroshnik told TechCrunch. “Valuations have come in and great companies are now available at a more reasonable price.”

“Generally, there is a big difference between people who are at the surface of understanding this space — those funds might take a backseat — but true crypto-native funds with conviction will continue to invest heavily,” Saurabh Sharma, head of investments at Jump Crypto, said to TechCrunch. “This time is where we find the best long-term-thinking entrepreneurs.”

A record amount of equity investments were made to blockchain firms during the first quarter of 22. The total number of 461 increased by 15% quarter-over-quarter and 84% year over year, which is equivalent to almost seven deals being completed every working day.

Eighty percent of worldwide blockchain deals were for early-stage businesses, the same proportion as in 2021. This indicates that the industry is not yet mature, and larger deals are yet to come.

For the second quarter in a row, blockchain firms in the United States attracted more than $5 billion in fundraising, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of all funding globally.

The government of the United States has started analyzing the potential advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies, which is a step in the right direction toward more precise regulation in the United States. A more widespread acceptance of institutions may depend on proper regulation.

Finally, the first quarter of 22 was the most successful quarter yet for blockchain mega-rounds. Only 6 percent of all transactions included $100 million or more, yet they accounted for 63 percent of all financing.

Blockchain's record funding in 2021 and the beginning of 2022 is being driven primarily by the rising consumer and institutiona­l demand for cryptocurrencies. Both groups are slowly moving the needle to help cryptocurrency and, therefore, blockchain gain wider adoption.

Consumer demand for crypto

Online exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Robinhood are breaking down barriers to entry, enabling consumers to start trading cryptocurrencies. Robinhood's IPO filing stated that 17% of its Q1'21 total revenue came from crypto transactions, a figure over 4x that of the previous quarter.

Crypto trade volumes reached record highs at different points this year, and this was fueled by the continued boom in online brokerage activity.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin have all risen in value over the past 18 months, although prices have been extremely volatile more recently .

Institutional demand for crypto Earnings call mentions of either “crypto” or “bitcoin” skyrocketed in Q2' 21, surpassing 1,000 mentions in a quarter for the first time.

Major US custodian banks including BNY Mellon, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan recently announced plans to institute crypto custody services.

Mastercard, Visa, and Paypal announced future plans to accept crypto payments.

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