Welcome to another post about the Metaverse! So far, we’ve covered advertising, influencers, and ways to interact with this alternate reality. We hope you’re loving what you’ve learned so far. Today’s article is going to focus more on the currency, and it will be a little longer than previous posts, so grab some coffee or tea, and let’s get going.
No one has come out and said the Metaverse will only trade in cryptocurrency. Ergo, we can assume there will also be ways to link a bank account and pay with cash. That will provide a lot of people who aren’t comfortable with crypto a little bit of security, and it seems those transactions will be handled by third-party money movers (like PayPal or Square). At least those transactions will have some security/guarantees attached to them. But if you want the ultimate in security, you should think about using crypto.
If you’re not familiar with cryptocurrency, this next part will bring to light a few of the ones on the market and briefly explain how they’re created. If you are, you can skip down to the sub heading below.
Bitcoin is the major player in this sphere, and I’m sure you’ve heard the term before now. Any other crypto is referred to as altcoin if it’s not Bitcoin directly. These altcoins are what will be listed below because Bitcoin is a common one. I bet you’ve heard about mining Bitcoin, too, so let’s skim over that process before we begin.
Crypto is “mined” by creating limited-weight blocks of data that, once full, are linked together to form a chain. This is where we get the term blockchain. It’s literally a linked chain of blocks of data. It’s also not regulated by any government entity, and because of the secure nature of the data, it’s one of the most secure ways to keep funds. If you’d like a more in-depth article, read this. There’s simply not enough room here, and it’s rather off topic.
As of the writing of this article, there are over 8k types of altcoin. I’m sure you can understand if we don’t list them all. Here’s a list of the top ones, not including Bitcoin, which is literally the gold of the cryptocurrency world:
Ethereum – If you’re into NFTs, this is the currency you deal in.
Litecoin – Considered the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.
Cardado – Slated to replace Ethereum.
Polkadot – Shared security blockchain.
Bitcoin Cash – A fork of Bitcoin with a data block limit of 8MB rather than 1.
Stellar – For instantaneous institutional transactions. You must have Lumens to transact.
Dogecoin – This is the original memecoin and is already accepted as payment in some places.
Binance Coin – For the paying of trading fees.
And that’s where we’ll end the listings. If you want a bigger list, with more description (I boiled it down as much as possible), check out this post.
Using Cryptocurrency in the Metaverse
If you read our post on advertising in the Metaverse, this next part won’t come as a surprise. Advertising and sales go hand in hand, after all, so some of what we discussed there comes into play here. There will be a few basic types of things purchased in the Metaverse: items, services, and experiences.
Items will be those things that enhance or mobilize your avatar. Think: cars, hairdos, clothing, roller skates, etc. These items might be purchased in a virtual store, and they might be things you can pick up as you navigate the virtual world. Kind of like rentable scooters on the street, you may be able to snag a bike or other set of wheels at a rental kiosk. You’ll be able to verify the purchase with your personal blockchain, grab a vehicle, and zoom away. If you’re purchasing a new look, there will probably be department stores where you can shop and salons where you can snag a new ‘do. You may also be able to see something on someone else and opt to purchase it off the cuff—unless it’s an exclusive NFT, that is.
Services will be paying others to do things for you. If you need something built but don’t have the time to devote to actually building it yourself, this is where the services aspect will come in. Say you’ve purchased a large chunk of real estate (check out that article in a few weeks!) in the Metaverse and want to build an interactive game for visitors that enter. You don’t have the time or knowledge to construct it yourself, so you hire someone to do it for you. That’s what we mean by services.
And last, but not least, are experiences. These are what the Metaverse will thrive on and the reason everyone will want to log in and join their friends. Experiences will be classified as game play, walkthroughs, classes, bars, concerts, etc. If you can think it up, chances are there will be an experience to go with it. If you can imagine a cool bar with an ancient Roman theme, where you have to have a toga for your avatar to wear to enter and everyone is sitting on virtual chairs while enjoying a virtual battle to the death in the arena… Yeah. As a bonus, it may even be an exact replica of the Colosseum in Rome. Perhaps even with a tour that explains the architecture and the persecution of Christians in that time period.
Looking at our list of altcoins above, there will probably only be a few that will be accepted as legit currency. Of course, Bitcoin will likely reign supreme, but Ethereum and Litecoin will probably be right on Bitcoin’s heels. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, there will likely also be ways to pay with actual cash via a digital transaction as well.
That’s about all we have to say on the subject of currency, but if you’re smart, before the Metaverse launches into full swing, you’ll have already thought about your chosen digital currency and bought some. There’s only one way it’ll go in the future, and that way isn’t down. Unless, of course, the governments of the world decide they need to restrict or control crypto in some way (which isn’t a far-fetched idea). Until that happens, crypto away!
We hope you’re enjoying these articles on the Metaverse, and if you haven’t already, go check out some of the ones we published before this one. Until next time!
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