Written By: Magnus Almqvist
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The Metaverse and Web3 are all the rage. Some understand it and many don’t, but it doesn’t stop it being a buzzword and something everyone needs to get involved with!
Metaverse is not owned by Meta. Metaverse is a concept, and part of web3. In colloquial use, a metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection – Avatars socializing in the virtual world Second Life. Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics.
The term “Web3” was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capital firms.
How we consume it can also be different from what we know! You see examples and ads, where you put on VR goggles and walk into a shop or a bank, and explore services and shopping, and the people behind the brand proudly proclaim “we are in the metaverse”! But why would I ever want to do that, I ask myself? I either use a website or walk into an actual branch, there is no gain or improvement here, so what’s the big deal?
Lets Conceptualise it
Let’s start with a few concepts: In the virtual world, you don’t own anything, and you don’t have an identity. That is, you are running around with a very large gun in a game, where you have paid real money for the gun, but you don’t actually own it. The owner of the game does. Your fellow gamers have no idea who you actually are. You can then buy a skin from someone you don’t know how it is, and they don’t actually own the skin. Once paid, you can put the skin you don’t own on the gun you don’t own, and walk around and feel really cool.
But the owner of the game controls and owns everything. The skin and gun you use, could suddenly become worthless or useless by some change the game owner implements.
In the Metaverse, the set-up and arrangement of the virtual world is fundamentally different. You have an identity and you actually own property (which may be virtual or backed by real world assets).
The companies and innovators with visions see very exciting possibilities here, where you of course will never step into a virtual bank branch, but the services provided by banks are embedded into your surroundings and happen seamlessly behind the scene. So in a way you can say you exist in a world with more than 3 dimensions, which brings out very powerful possibilities.
Examples Paint a Better Picture
Let’s look at an example: You are looking at paying for a trip or holiday, in the Metaverse you can explore countries and locations, hotels and resorts with visuals and sounds, and you are presented with the data and facts that interest you; you book your trip and behind the scenes the necessary identification checks and banking transactions happen seamlessly.
Let’s say you need to take out a loan to pay for the trip, and within pre-set parameters, the trip is financed seamlessly behind the scene. In addition, a package of insurances are bundled in granting you lounge access if the flight is more than 2 hours delayed, and your pet is booked with a caretaker for the duration of the trip.
In a similar example you are trading options on a commodity futures contract. The volatility surface is made visible and strikes and strategies are visualized across the surface. When a trade is executed, your risk surface is updated, and you see the impact your trade has on your portfolio as underlying prices and markets move.
We are not there yet, but we see the possibilities. It’s all underpinned by blockchain technology, allowing for the seamless identification steps, bundled services personalized to your specifications, and in the options case, cross market and cross asset class risks are in a similar way integrated to your company or client specifications.
How Exberry Sees the Landscape
For a company like Exberry, both of these cases are strong examples of how markets are evolving. In the first, you need a real time matching of a wide range of services connecting a buyer and sellers of anything from travel insurance, hotel stays, to pet nurseries. In the second, we’re of course in the traditional capital markets place, trading options, futures and spot markets, but in a much more interconnected, intuitieve and seamless way than today.
You need tech that moves with these trends, is easily integrated into new and evolving ecosystems, and accepts new asset classes you don’t see as relevant or can even imagine today. Join us and see how we can get you in the right track for your needs!
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