Metaverse

The Metaverse is already upon us: 2.5 billion people who are interacting and trading money online in the market areas of digital worlds. Multiple visions of its future have been built upon the convergence of virtual reality (VR) and of ambient computing.

We will explore both the value of these visions, as well as the human and technological challenges they bring. More than just a playground and marketplace for NFTs, the Metaverse brings to light not only a panoply of commercial and financial opportunities, but a sharp reminder of the current real-world challenges we are looking to escape.

Several takeaways can be noted in reading through the various contributions below. As the Metaverse becomes a concrete reality it opens up short-term technological opportunities for blockchain, community ownership, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Web3, and AI.

At the same time, the future scope and the value of the Metaverse will be closely tied to the financial opportunities it premises : the ownership of virtual properties, and the monetization of entertainment, the creation of new financial instruments, the management of branded online communities.

Finally, and importantly, these waves of potential innovation will be conditioned by the challenges of personal privacy, human agency, regulation and governance, as well as the interdependence of physical and digital events.