According to a report published by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the initial six months of 2022 saw the use of the term metaverse more than 1,100 times in regulatory filings, whereas the previous year only saw 260 mentions. With tech giants like Meta (previously known as Facebook), Nvidia, Tencent, Apple, Google, and Amazon moving towards complete metaverse digitization, businesses and corporate entities need to rethink their marketing goals and how they approach consumers on a daily basis.
Former architect turned financial trader David Capablanca hosted CoinGeek Bitcoin historian Kurt Wuckert Jr. on his podcast Friendly Bear Research to discuss the scalability of the metaverse universe and how it will play an integral part in redefining marketing for businesses. As a UCLA graduate and former architect, David expressed his enthusiasm about the metaverse and how the concept of virtual real estate caught his eye. In his podcast, David broached the topic with an open mind to assess the impact of the metaverse on the lives of everyday consumers and determine its position in the future as one of the world’s leading marketing platforms for business entities.
Since most consumers are unfamiliar with the functionalities of the metaverse, David requested Kurt to elaborate on the concept. “Metaverse has existed as a concept for twenty-five or thirty years, like these are things that people have theorized. It’s even a lot, you know, like what the movie ‘The Matrix’ and stuff they were talking about existing in a metaverse.” Kurt further explained, “In the modern world, a metaverse is basically a digital world where you get to interact with stuff, and you may or may not know you’re participating in a digital world.”
Kurt explained how Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are pouring billions of dollars worth of resources into developing the trend known as the metaverse. David also shared his insight regarding Zuckerberg’s unprecedented fascination in the metaverse, “He’s on top of these things [web3 technologies], at least he tries to be on top of these things before they become mainstream.”
David also brought Kurt to shed light on the most popular metaverse space FAQ: quantifying real estate land. “How do you quantify the amount of land? It’s decentralized, but it’s just like infinite amounts can just be created or is it like Bitcoin, there’s only a certain amount?” David asked.
To which the CoinGeek historian replied, “With blockchain technology, if you use a ledger that is publicly auditable and land is issued as a token on the blockchain, then you can verify the size of your metaverse. You can verify who owns what, how much of it, when did they buy it, what was its value at the time of purchase and all those things.” He further expounded, “That’s why it’s important to have this kind of thing be public.”
While discussing the nitty gritty details, David and Kurt expressed their hopes of how crypto, blockchain and NFTs will tie together to function as an autonomous machine. On the topic of NFTs, Kurt further explained, “People are using it [NFTs] for primarily trading JPEGs like this is my unique ape JPEG, but this could also be your unique piece of land, like each plot can be an NFT, and you can just trade them like that.” He further reiterated the importance of a decentralized system that can guarantee public auditing to ensure the safety of all assets involved in the process.
As the conversation took a lighthearted turn, David talked about Hollywood’s interpretation of the metaverse in movies such as Total Recall, The Matrix, and Blade Runner, all of which portrayed a dystopian future controlled by power-hungry corporations and governments. He expressed his concerns over such scenarios becoming a reality.
“In the metaverse, someone can be detached from their actual reality and what happens when they like that reality more than the real reality?” David inquired.
Wuckert also shared his thoughts on the topic by saying, “Some of these movies are terrifying like they’re warnings about the stuff being managed by bad corporations, and corruption at every level, and it’s a real danger.”
David also expressed his optimism about the opportunities that the metaverse could provide, “There are opportunities as well. If you live in a third-world country, you put on this oculus, or you go in this pod, and now you can escape reality.” Kurt further elaborated on how the metaverse could connect the entire continent of Africa to the global economy, setting up countless opportunities for its inhabitants in the process.
While rounding up the podcast, Kurt shared his recommendations of movies and books, which pertained some semblance of reality when it came to imitating the metaverse and its effect on people’s lives. His recommendations included stories by Philip K. Dick, Total Recall, The Matrix, Blade Runner, The Outer Limits, and Black Mirror.
