Last Saturday, in The Metaverse Big Bang (Part 1): Could It Be the Biggest Opportunity in the Crypto Market?, we analyzed why "the metaverse could be the biggest opportunity in the crypto market," giving readers a basic understanding of the concept of the metaverse, its popularity, and its immense potential. Today, let’s delve into the specific opportunities the metaverse will bring to investors.
If you believe that technologies like 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, blockchain, and cloud computing represent the direction of economic and technological development—and that they will inevitably arrive—then you must also believe that the metaverse is the historical tide of socio-economic evolution, and it too will inevitably arrive. Those who strive by riding this historical tide will often become as unstoppable as the tide itself. As the saying goes, "The force of rushing water can move boulders—such is momentum."
The potential value brought by technologies like 5G, IoT, AI, and blockchain is immense, and the value of the metaverse will be just as great, if not greater. It can be said that the metaverse, as a historic-level opportunity, is not only a long-term strategy for enterprises but also a path to financial freedom for individuals.
So, what are the opportunities in the metaverse?
We know that the essence of the metaverse is: using new technologies like blockchain, cloud computing, AI, and IoT to create a new world where the virtual and real are seamlessly integrated. This world will be a complete human society and will give rise to a closed-loop economic system.
From the above description, we can clearly see that the opportunities brought by the metaverse mainly fall into three categories: infrastructure for technical support, various application developments for content creation, and the economic system. These three aspects essentially cover all the opportunities in the metaverse. As investors in the crypto market, if you are bullish on the development of the metaverse, you must also pay attention to blockchain projects involved in these three areas.
Infrastructure for technical support includes networks and hardware. Specifically, this includes: virtual scene simulation, real-time network transmission, edge computing, storage/rendering, AI, video game technology, display technology, VR/AR devices, etc. These areas require significant human and financial resources, and not everyone or every team can participate in their development.
Various application developments for content creation. This is currently the most concentrated area for metaverse projects and blockchain projects with a metaverse theme. At present, the focus is primarily on entertainment-oriented forms combining gaming, social interaction, and content. For example, the recent resurgence of P2E (play-to-earn) games will undoubtedly expand the imagination around metaverse content and increase user engagement. However, due to technical limitations, the immersive and realistic experience is not significantly better than that of traditional games.
In building the metaverse’s economic system, blockchain projects have an inherent advantage. Blockchain can provide the metaverse with a decentralized system for asset recording and circulation, ensuring security and immutability. In the future, most activities in the metaverse will occur on-chain. The value created by people in the metaverse, as well as the ownership and circulation of that value, will all be facilitated by the economic system built on blockchain. This is why it’s said that "any metaverse company must also be a blockchain technology company."
Due to the inherent compatibility between the metaverse concept and blockchain, numerous corresponding blockchain projects emerged alongside the initial explosion of the metaverse concept. In the three opportunity areas mentioned above, corresponding blockchain projects can be found, giving rise to sub-sectors such as underlying infrastructure, middleware, gaming, virtual worlds, sports, storage/rendering, etc. Most of the leading projects in these sub-sectors have received market enthusiasm and recognition, such as LINK for middleware, FIL for storage, AXS for gaming, and MANA for virtual worlds.
However, to be realistic, blockchain projects with a metaverse theme are still in a very early stage of development, with many still working on technical development and ecosystem building. As related technologies mature and the boundaries of the metaverse expand, more blockchain projects with a metaverse theme will emerge. The expansion of the metaverse’s boundaries will also draw in more blockchain-related projects, such as the currently popular NFT and DeFi. These projects and concepts will undergo market selection, with the fittest surviving, leading to the emergence of projects that truly align with the metaverse’s vision and generate immense value. The explosion of this value could very well be the path to financial freedom for investors.
Hidden Worries Behind the Frenzy: What Challenges Does the Metaverse Face?
The popularity and broad prospects of the metaverse concept have led many individuals and companies to rush in for a share of the pie, especially with the endorsement of traditional internet giants like Facebook, Microsoft, Tencent, and ByteDance, which has pushed the metaverse into the mainstream. With so many global giants investing significant human, material, and financial resources into researching future directions, the consensus they form will undoubtedly shape future trends.
However, as rational investors, we should never let excitement cloud our judgment, focusing only on the positives while ignoring the negatives. At this stage, the metaverse is still in its exploratory phase and thus faces many challenges. If these challenges remain unresolved, they could prove fatal.
The most critical challenge is technological. The metaverse requires robust technological support, but most of the relevant technologies are either in rapid development or their infancy, far from practical application. For example, the technologies supporting the metaverse—IoT, blockchain, AI, network and computing technologies, interactive technologies, and video game technologies—cannot yet be considered fully mature or implemented.
Similarly, the technologies serving as the metaverse’s infrastructure—5G, Wi-Fi 6, semiconductors, batteries, computing power, edge computing, GPUs, etc.—each have their own shortcomings. For instance, current 5G cannot provide stable data transmission rates, making VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) experiences less smooth or even incomplete. The current level of edge computing also fails to meet the metaverse’s demands for low latency, high efficiency, and enhanced security in scenarios requiring massive data computation and real-time feedback.
Another challenge the metaverse must address is intellectual property disputes. The metaverse is a space that allows and encourages everyone to freely create, which is the fundamental reason for its boundless prosperity. However, this raises questions: How should ownership, usage rights, and transaction profits from these creations be defined and distributed? To what extent can metaverse users utilize content or assets created by others? The rules for shared copyright and ownership in the real world are already complex, and in the intricate virtual world, these relationships will become even more tangled.
A core issue is: Who will the metaverse choose as its medium of exchange? Since the metaverse is a complete world, transactions are inevitable. Which payment system or medium of exchange should the metaverse adopt? First, the US dollar—but non-Americans and blockchain purists would likely oppose this. Next, Bitcoin—but Bitcoin’s characteristics are unsuitable for high-frequency, small-amount transactions, and it carries legal risks and limitations. Then there are the native tokens provided by various project developers—but this raises another problem: With countless projects and countless native tokens, how can interoperability be achieved? The metaverse cannot be a series of isolated islands, as this would only lead to slow demise. A secure, highly reliable payment system and a widely accepted medium of exchange are another major challenge the metaverse must overcome to achieve mass adoption.
Beyond these three major challenges, the metaverse also faces various other challenges, big and small, such as data and privacy protection, existing legal hurdles, and public acceptance. If these challenges remain unresolved, the metaverse could remain a pipe dream, never materializing, and its immense value would remain unrealized.
There is no doubt that the metaverse is the future—"the digital existence of humanity’s future"—and it will have a profound impact on society and the economy. With the application of related industries in metaverse scenarios, it could bring widespread upgrade opportunities similar to the "Internet+" wave across various sectors. The construction and development of the metaverse will significantly promote or accelerate the research and development of related technologies.
However, it’s undeniable that the metaverse is still in its early stages. To use a human lifespan as a metaphor, the metaverse is currently a fertilized egg, not yet even developed into a "human form." Yet, this "phoenix egg" of the metaverse has already demonstrated its immense potential. It will be a new industrial revolution, and as related technologies advance, more investment opportunities in the metaverse will await discovery.
