The Metaverse is Already Here
Happy Monday!
I probably sound like a broken record by now talking about NFTs. I first wrote about NFTs in a comprehensive blog back in early March. Since then I have documented their relentless advance into the mainstream, and the Christies record books, in several articles:
The truth is, every time I try to leave the world of NFTs to research other areas of crypto, such as decentralized finance, or alternative networks, I inevitably find myself getting pulled back into the growing world of NFTs – what is colloquially referred to as “the Metaverse”.
Maybe you’ve heard this term thrown around before, but what does it mean? The prefix “meta” means “beyond”, while “verse” comes from universe (i.e., reality). So the metaverse is a world beyond reality… very much like The OASIS in Ready Player One, or to some extent the holodeck from Star Trek. But the truth is I think the metaverse will be much, much more than any filmmaker or novelist’s wildest imagination.
The Metaverse in essence is a future iteration of the internet. It will be made up of persistent, shared, censorship-resistant virtual spaces. It will simultaneously comprise augmented reality, virtual reality, and the internet. The metaverse will be a place where people across the world can come together and create, engage, and form communities. What many don’t realize though is… it’s already happening. The metaverse is here today.
Although far from its final form, the component parts of the metaverse are being built and used all around us. They exist in virtual reality worlds being built in Decentraland, and Cryptovoxels (don’t believe me? Click here). They exist in gaming worlds such as Axie Infinity and the Sandbox. They exist in marketplaces and exchanges such as OpenSea. And they exist on community platforms such as Discord. In the next few years we’ll see all of these pieces continue to grow together, until the overlap is such that they can only be referred to collectively as – the Metaverse.
Discord in particular has been a key piece I have overlooked until recently. I saw all the activity in trading NFTs and playing games like Axie for tokens. I saw the artistry and passion behind virtual reality spaces being built on Decentraland, and digital artworks being created everyday and sold peer-to-peer on OpenSea. I saw the infrastructure continuing to progress… but where was the community? Where was the movement and the energy itself? You’ll find it on Discord.
For those who may not be familiar, Discord is a group messaging app, very similar to Slack but less buttoned-up, more fun. Almost every serious NFT collection (and crypto project in general) have started groups there. It’s extremely easy to use, lightweight, and highly customizable. I recently migrated my own investor’s support group onto Discord (which you can join here).
The energy, creativity, and goodwill in these Discord communities is staggering. Members of can show off their allegiance to certain artists, groups, or collections by choosing their favorite NFT for their profile picture. Crypto tokens can also be used within these discord groups to tip other community members, even to pay for goods and services - as I did when I got my NFT duck fitted for a suit.
SupDuck #9365, right after visiting the digital tailor shop.
You can see the original duck (pre-suit) here
In the past weeks I’ve noticed two things about these Discord groups:
Nobody knows or cares how old you are, where you came from, or what the color of your skin is. In Discord we’re all just wacky NFTs.
These NFT discord communities in particular are extremely active. People are spending a lot of time there – they are going for companionship and community, they are finding it, and they are sticking around and bringing their friends.
In my opinion, this is the most important part to the metaverse, it’s the key ingredient. Community is what will ultimately bring people into the “world beyond”. I think in today’s social-media infused world, there is a real demand/need for more authentic communal experiences that generate real value (rather than, say, the brittle fake popularity of Instagram likes). The metaverse is being built to deliver just that sort of experience, at a scale we have only begun to imagine. Not only will it enable global communities on a scale we’ve never seen, it will allow for and facilitate value creation in those communities in new and unexpected ways. I am incredibly excited for what’s to come.
Crypto News:
Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky said the crypto lender was ready to work with regulators (LEARN MORE)
Ark Investment Management Opens Door for Fund to Invest in Canadian Crypto ETFs (LEARN MORE)
Consulting Firm EY to Work With Polygon on Ethereum Scaling (LEARN MORE)
US Treasury Officials, Financial Industry Executives Met to Discuss Stablecoins (LEARN MORE)
Road to Babylon Services:
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Have a great week!
Shahar
