With over a decade of experience in the blockchain industry, Ashish has co-founded Lepasa Metaverse to leverage the immense potential of decentralized technology and smart contracts for the greater good of the community. Lepasa will bring equal earning opportunities for each and everyone who is part of this ethical, futuristic, and long-term sustainable ecosystem.
Meta Description: As the metaverse grows and acquires more prominence among stakeholders, some key trends are expected to shape the future growth of the category in 2022 and beyond.
1. Metaverse — The Next Generation of the Internet (Web3.0)
Touted as the next growth engine for the internet, the popularity of the metaverse platforms (web 3.0) is consistently rising for the last couple of years. The industry is yet to achieve a consensus on the definition of the metaverse although it can be considered as a network of digitally connected universes that bridge the gap between the physical and the digital identities of users. In other words. metaverse brings the digitally-enhanced real-world world closer to users than ever before.
2. Virtual real estate and NFTs
Virtual real estate platforms such as Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and Decentraland are expected to push the boundaries for metaverse this year and beyond. There are a number of use cases of real estate NFTs and users can develop real estate NFTs into homes and invite their family, friends, and relatives for a virtual get together.
Of course, buying the virtual land in this day and age is akin to purchasing the property in the 1700s but experts agree that there is a very high potential for growth in virtual real estate. Not surprisingly, the revolution in virtual land sales is spearheaded by investors who are more comfortable with the idea of living life online.
The monetary compulsions are also pushing the younger population to own the virtual land as physical assets might be out of their reach financially. The metaverse ecosystem in virtual reality has today become so strong that you can even get the mortgage for the virtual property backed by the decentralised finance (DeFi) system – Isn’t it amazing?
3. Virtual-real experience to enhance customers’ interaction
Metaverse lies at the intersection of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). Its appeal lies in enriching users’ lives digitally in real-world scenarios. This mix of the virtual and real experience promises tremendous advantages for the retail segment, eCommerce industry, education sector, and gaming and entertainment among others.
All these sectors stand to gain from the immersive experience of metaverse – retail consumers can try many things online before actually buying them, eCommerce can offer virtual product placements to prospective buyers, students can experience immersive learning, and gaming and entertainment can offer one-of-its-king experience to players.
In addition, other important sectors of the economy such as pharmaceutical and healthcare, supply chain and logistics, and service industry have also started realising the merits of metaverse adoption and now embracing the phenomenon in a big way.
4. Tech giants entering metaverse
The large scale investments that tech giants are making in metaverse testifies the critical importance of the segment for the future growth in digital space. While Facebook decided to change its name and became Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are constituting separate teams to explore the category in great detail. Adobe, too, had updated its much loved photoshop app to include the support for NFTs, the digital asset category of the metaverse.
Indian software major Infosys has recently announced the launch of Infosys Foundry, an exclusive service aimed to accelerate enterprise-wide adoption of the metaverse. The specific initiative offers the domain experience of the company coupled with its design and tech expertise to help institutional clients tap on metaverse opportunities.
Another Indian IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is not far behind. The leading software exporter has launched a number of verticals in the metaverse domain including for workplace experiences and online commerce to harness the potential of this fledgling technology.
5. Rise of DAO and DeFi
The natural extension of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have resulted in the creation of a number of popular segments. Some of the significant names among these emerging categories include decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) and decentralised finance (DeFi). DAO works on the principles of smart contracts while DeFi is based on the blockchain, enabling digital transactions between participating stakeholders. DeFi involves a number of processes including sending, receiving, and investing cryptocurrencies in addition to mortgaging and speculating digital assets. The growing popularity of DAO and DeFi is expected to further fuel the growth of metaverse platforms in the near future and beyond.
Conclusion
The year 2022 promises enormous growth opportunities for the whole ecosystem of Metaverse. Especially with institutional adoption on the rise, industry experts are expecting stupendous growth numbers for the digitally connected universes.
While the above-mentioned five trends underline the growth areas for metaverse, there are many other avenues where metaverse can really become instrumental in heralding the change. Just imagine the huge untapped potential of exploration in tourism or immersive learning opportunities that students can have with digitally connected universes. Even in the aviation, supply chain, and logistics, simulation-based models on metaverse platforms can do wonders for enhancing both efficiency and effectiveness of global business practices. In sum, we are at the cusp of metaverse revolution and it’s high time for companies to double their efforts to plan, analyse, and implement their metaverse-specific strategies to stay relevant in the future.