4 Bold Predictions About the Metaverse & Business
The metaverse isn’t quite “real” yet, but with massive R&D spending by tech giants like Meta and Microsoft, and increasing participation from major global brands, including Disney, Acura, and Molson Coors, it will be soon. Although the exact form the metaverse will take is as yet unknown, it’s generally defined as an emerging network of extended-reality digital spaces where people can interact with each other, game, work, learn, and—of course—spend money.
Experts anticipate rapid metaverse growth in the near future: Goldman Sachs projects that between 15% and 33% of the global spend on digital transactions will eventually switch to the metaverse. Citigroup predicts that the market value of the metaverse will reach $8 trillion to $13 trillion by 2030.
Original article written by : Laurence Brothers at Toptal.com
Metaverse Prediction No. 1: It Won’t Go Mainstream for 3-5 Years
Some major global corporations, like Honda, have already dipped their toes in the metaversal pool, establishing branded presences on independent platforms such as Decentraland and The Sandbox. But existing metaverse platforms are still small in scale, and the quality of graphics and user experience is fairly poor, due in part to the limitations of graphics in today’s VR headsets and phones.
Metaverse Prediction No. 2: Serious Privacy, Security, and Legal Concerns Will Arise
As increasing volumes of transactions are conducted on metaverse platforms, security will become a serious issue, experts tell Toptal.
Phishing
People have learned, more or less, how to notice and avoid routine scams and malicious threats conveyed via email or texts, though ransomware attacks against organizations and government agencies are an escalating problem. Not only are spear-phishing and similar attacks equally possible in the metaverse, but the elements that make extended-reality worlds appealing—social avatars in lifelike 3D spaces—could make social engineering harder to combat there.
Unregulated Cryptocurrency
Existing metaverse platforms are based on cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and NFTs—technologies that come with specific security risks and liabilities such as repository and wallet theft, and illegitimate NFT minting. Before there is broad adoption of the metaverse, there will need to be regulation of underlying technologies to assure participants that their data and funds are safe and secure, Daniel Novy, PhD, tells Toptal. Novy, a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, says, “You’re going to end up with specialized lawyers, just as there are IP lawyers and web lawyers. They pop into existence once a certain level of technology is achieved.”
Data Privacy
Privacy is also a big concern. “The amount of data being collected is enormous, and there’s going to be so much more information about us out there [once the metaverse goes mainstream],” says Cook. “We need to start thinking about how that data will be used.”
Metaverse Prediction No. 3: Design and Tech Services Will Be in Extremely High Demand
Establishing a branded presence in the metaverse right now can be complicated. It’s one thing to bid on a plot of virtual “land” for your firm from one of the existing metaverse providers, but it’s quite another to build that location out in an engaging, safe, and visually appealing way.
Metaverse Prediction No. 4: Standardization Is Coming
There is an emerging conflict between two visions of the metaverse. Decentraland and The Sandbox are promoting a decentralized, interoperable metaverse future consistent with decentralized finance and decentralized autonomous organizations. But large tech firms like Meta and Apple are primed to erect walled gardens in an attempt to dominate a sector or even an entire technology.
“Realistically,” says Gebbie, “Meta wants to own the entire platform.” Novy agrees: “There’s a very strong tension between [the] attitude [that] believes in decentralized authority and distribution of responsibility and individual power, and Big Tech attitudes, which naturally want to dominate and absolutely control everything.”
