The Metaverse is a persistent, user-owned, internet economy spanning the digital and physical worlds. People anywhere can socialize in real time inside this meld, which is embellished by experiential, 3D virtuality.

A report issued by Grayscale Research, a unit of Grayscale Investments, the largest digital asset manager in the world, describes the Metaverse as a potential market opportunity worth over $1 trillion in annual revenue. (Bitcoin.com)

A leading blockchain-based virtual world is Decentraland, an example of how the Metaverse traverses the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds. Says the report:

“Projects like Decentraland are creating an open-world metaverse where users can log in to play games, earn MANA (the native token of Decentraland, with which users can purchase NFTs, including LAND or collectibles, and vote on economy governance), or create NFTs, giving them real world interoperability for the value of their time spent in-game.”

Noting the evolution of how the internet connected people, the report describes how we will transit to the Metaverse:

• Web 1.0 – Netscape connected us online
• Web 2.0 – Facebook connected us into online communities
• Web 3.0 – Decentraland connected us into a community-owned virtual world

Web 3.0 and metaverses – a new paradigm

According to the report, Web 3.0 will likely have the same profound effect on our business models, culture, and politics as did Web 2.0.

We are already spending large chunks of out time and lives on social media, TV and internet games. What is coming is a convergence between social and gaming that would create new consumer economies in the virtual worlds. An example is in-game shopping of items to enhance game play or to achieve higher social status.

This phenomenon will be enhanced by the Web 3.0 open crypto metaverse networks in a new paradigm that “allows users to own their digital assets as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), trade them with others in the game, and carry them to other digital experiences, creating an entirely new free-market internet-native economy that can be monetized in the physical world.”

It’s not just gaming, however

The Grayscale report states that the Metaverse opportunity extends far beyond gaming. 

“The Metaverse is estimated to be a trillion-dollar revenue opportunity across advertising, social commerce, digital events, hardware, and developer/creator monetization,” says the report.

And growth is already ticking up as evidenced by the nearly 10X growth seen in the number of users of Web 3.0 Metaverse virtual worlds since the beginning of 2020.

Even so, this growth is just “early innings” and at its present trajectory, the segment has mainstream potential.

The report points out that Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) is planning to spend $10 billion on the metaverse, and a host of other corporates and VC could follow suit.

Related Story: Facebook Announces Two-Year, $50M Investment To Responsibly Develop The Metaverse

Image Credit: Grayscale Report (The Metaverse)