Hi friends — 👋

If you’re interested in learning more about the Metaverse, this edition is for you.

📘Book

Matthew Ball, CEO of Epyllion, a diversified holding company that makes angel investments, recently released a book called “The Metaverse and How It Will Revolutionize Everything.”

As Ball states:

“Think of the Metaverse as a parallel virtual plane of existence that spans all digital technologies and will even come to control much of the physical world. This construct helps explain another common description of the Metaverse as a 3D internet—and why establishing it is so hard, but also likely to be worthwhile.”

How is the Metaverse related to NFTs and blockchain technology?

According to Ball, there are five ways in which one can think about the blockchain significance in the context of building the Metaverse:

• 1st approach: Blockchain is a wasteful technology propped up by scams, fads, and short-term speculation.
• 2nd approach: Although inferior to most databases, contracts, and computing structures, blockchains lead to cultural change around user and developer rights, interoperability in virtual worlds, and compensation.
• 3rd approach: Blockchain will become key to developing many Metaverse-related experiences, applications, and business models.
• 4th approach: Blockchain is a critical technology that will disrupt today’s platform paradigms.
• 5th approach: Blockchain technology is essential for building and operating in the Metaverse.
  

As the author highlights:

“One of the central lessons of the computing era is that the platforms that best serve developers and users will win. Blockchains have a long way to go, but many see their immutability and transparency as the best way to ensure the interests of these two constituencies remain prioritized as the Metaverse economy grows.”

🗂 More about the Metaverse

If you don’t want to read an entire book yet wish to learn about the Metaverse, you can check out Matthew Ball’s article “The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find it, and Who Will Build It.”

Apart from great insights, this article uncovers and explains the main characteristics of the Metaverse, such as:

→ Persistent: The Metaverse never “rests,” “pauses,” or “ends.” It continues indefinitely.

→ Synchronous and live: The Metaverse will be a living experience that exists consistently for everyone in real time.

→ Sense of presence: Everyone can be part of the Metaverse, actively participating in events, places, and activities together.

→ Fully functioning economies: Both individuals and businesses will be able to generate and capture the value recognized by others.

→ And more

📝 Report

McKinsey & Company recently released a report called “Value creation in the metaverse: The real business of the virtual world.” As the report highlights:

>> Although the potential economic value of the Metaverse varies widely, both consumer and business use cases suggest that it may generate up to $5 trillion in impact by 2030. That’s the equivalent of the size of the world’s third-largest economy today, Japan.

>> By 2023, the Metaverse may have an estimated impact of:

• $2 trillion to $2.6 trillion on the eCommerce market
• $180 billion to $270 billion on the academic virtual learning market
• $144 billion to $206 billion on the advertising market
• $108 billion to $125 billion on the gaming market
  

>> In 2022, the investments into the Metaverse space doubled, reaching more than $120 billion.

For more information, check out the McKinsey & Company report.

✍️ More articles

• “The Metaverse will reshape our lives. let’s make sure it’s for the better” by Matthew Ball [Time article]
• “Unity is Manifesting the Metaverse” by Mario Gabriele [The Generalist article]
• “Decentraland: The Metaverse’s Early Mover” by Mario Gabriele [The Generalist article]
• “Metaverses” by Ben Thompson [Stratechery article]
• “Microsoft and the Metaverse” by Ben Thompson [Stratechery article]
  

That’s it from me today.

Talk to you next week and stay awesome,

Victoria