On October 28, Facebook announced that it was changing the name of its main company to Meta. This means that Mark's companyZuckerberg is no longer just developingsocial networks, and is developing a full-fledged metaverse - a virtual world in which users can communicate with each other, own and trade digital property, relax and even work.
According to Zuckerberg, the development of the metaversewill take from 5 to 10 years. At the same time, Meta will support NFTs, but there is unlikely to be a place for decentralized cryptocurrencies in it. We figured out what the metaverse from Facebook will be like and how the development of this sector will affect the crypto market.
Why is Meta developing the metaverse?
Facebook's rebranding to Meta is the culmination of sevenyears of corporate acquisitions, investment, and research that began in 2014 with the $ 2 billion purchase of Oculus. Under the control of Facebook, Oculus, which makes virtual reality headsets, has become the market leader with over 60% of the market.
In addition to Oculus, Mark Zuckerberg's company has investedsignificant investments in other technologies of virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Reality Labs employs almost 10,000 people - that is, one fifth of all employees.
В октябре Facebook объявила о планах в ближайшие Hire 10,000 more developers for five years to develop products for the metaverse and connect all the digital spaces of the Facebook ecosystem. Meta will invest $ 50 million over the next two years. In total, $ 10 billion has been allocated for rebranding.
Most of Reality Labs' developments so farclassified, but several projects were presented to the public. The first one - Project Aria - is created in the form of interactive 3D maps of public spaces, and the second is Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses with 5 megapixel cameras and voice control.
Another of Meta's key VR projects isHorizon Workrooms is a VR application that allows remote workers to communicate in the same virtual room. The company's portfolio also includes Infinite Office - a virtual office for remote work using the Oculus Quest 2 headset.
An example of immersing in the Horizon virtual space:
In his Meta presentation, Mark Zuckerberg states thatthe rebranding has nothing to do with the scandals that Facebook has been embroiled in in recent years. Among them: accusations of leakage of personal data of users of the social network, harmful influence on teenagers and litigation with former employees.
Entrepreneur on the change in the vector of developmentthought after buying Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. At the same time, it was to work on the metaverse that Oculus was bought. Zuckerberg doesn't like the fact that people primarily associate Facebook with social networks and messengers, because in fact it is a company that develops technologies for communication and communication.
The metaverse could become new for the tech gianta major source of income. Advertising profits have been declining in recent years, and the company's stock price has been rising slower than its competitors. Zuckerberg has long been looking for a new direction of development that can bring big money.
Meta: what will Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse look like?
Zuckerberg believes his metaverse will changethe way we work, learn and communicate. This means that VR and AR will move beyond their current niche applications and become the technologies that we will use on a daily basis and without which we cannot imagine our life.
Let's consider the main directions of Meta's development in the coming years:
Communication and work.In the Horizon virtual space, consisting of separate services, for example, Horizon Worlds, Horizon Workrooms and Horizon Home, Meta users will be able not only to communicate, but also to work. To do this, they will have a virtual home, as well aswork and public spaces. Users will be able to hold work meetings in Horizon, chat with friends, host parties or watch movies, attend concerts, sports games and other events. Users will be able to create digital avatars for themselves and develop them. Virtual reality will include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as other services such as Slack or Dropbox. They will be available as apps that can be used through Oculus devices.
What working in the metaverse might look like:
Games.Meta intends to actively develop games withelements of virtual reality, for example, the now popular Beat Saber. Also announced is the release of games from the Rockstar Games studio, adapted for the Oculus Quest 2 helmet, including the legendary Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA).
Workout.Meta plans to launch apps and spaces for fitness, such as boxing with a virtual opponent or dance training.
An example of training in virtual reality:
Education.VR and AR devices will help the development of the sphereonline education, and will also allow users to train some professional skills. So, for example, future doctors will be able to perform operations in a virtual space, practicing surgery.
Unified system of accounts.In the metaverse, users will not be boundto specific social networks (for example, now applications and games for Oculus Quest require linking to a Facebook account) - one ID will be enough to log into them and other applications.
Development of VR and AR devices.To access the metaverse, special virtual and augmented reality devices will be needed. That is, the user will need VR/AR helmet or glasses.Therefore, Meta will also be releasing new equipment in the coming years. For example, the Project Cambria AR headset will be released soon, and in the longer term, Project Nazare AR glasses. Mark Zuckerberg hopes that in the future these devices will become more popular than the company's social networks. So, at the moment, Facebook, according to some estimates, has sold more than 8 million Oculus Quest 2 helmets.
In perspective, the idea of a metaverse looks likeimpressive - people have been dreaming about futuristic virtual reality for decades. But so far its capabilities are not too impressive - even on promotional videos about Horizon we see primitive graphics in the style of games from the 90s.
Horizon Home Promo:
Zuckerberg and his team understand that developmentMeta and her metaverse won't be fast. The head of the company hopes to present the main products within 5-10 years, and some of them will be developed only in 10-15 years. Nevertheless, according to the forecasts of Mark Zuckerberg, over the next five years, the metaverse will be used by a billion people, and the turnover in it will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.
NFTs and cryptocurrencies in the Metaverse economy
There will be support for NFTs in the Meta metaverse -non-fungible tokens could even become the basis of its economy. NFTs will allow users to own and trade digital characters and items (such as avatars, their clothing or accessories), as well as virtual real estate.
So NFTs can become one of the main driversdevelopment of the metaverse. After all, such tokens allow you to confirm ownership of a digital asset, and are also a convenient monetization tool for developers, content authors and all those who will create digital objects in this virtual world. For example, in the NFT format it will be possible to sell tickets to a movie show, concert or any other event.
The Metaverse Will Inevitably Require Integrationfinancial instruments that will allow people from different countries to conduct transactions with each other. But exactly what solutions Meta plans to implement is not yet clear. Previously, the company, under pressure from regulators, was forced to abandon the launch of its own stablecoin, Diem (formerly Libra). However, the firm is in talks with other stablecoin issuers about integrating them into social media, and in October Facebook began pilot testing its Novi crypto wallet.
However, some experts believe that Meta does notOnly there will be no integration of cryptocurrencies, but there will also be restrictions on decentralized digital assets. This was stated by Oculus consulting technical director John Carmack. He said:
“Meta will use crypto transactions, but the platform will not be completely open to decentralized digital assets.”
Free use of crypto assets inthe metaverse, according to Carmack, could lead to an increase in fraud and destabilization of the virtual economy. The company also fears the inherent volatility and regulatory risks of cryptocurrencies.
After all, Meta has no particular reasonuse digital assets in its metaverse: after all, the company is not creating a decentralized community. To conduct transactions in the Meta virtual world, regular fiat money and bank transfers may be sufficient.
What is Meta criticized for?
The concept of the metaverse promises to provide us with many promising tools, but it has also been criticized.
VR and AR devices collect huge amounts of data about the user and his environment. Everything the user does in virtual reality can be known to Meta, and in the event of a data leak, to hackers.
Zuckerberg wants to build a unified metaversefor all. So that the user does not choose between different ecosystems, as is the case now, but freely move around a single virtual space. But if that's the case, Meta could gain too much power over this space - much more than Facebook currently has. The social network has long been known for its censorship and insufficient attention to personal data of users. It is strange to expect that everything will be different in the metaverse - on the contrary, with great opportunities there will come a great responsibility before the legislation, and therefore censorship will increase.
Zuckerberg promises us a virtual world in whichwe will be able to do almost everything we do in real life. But this world will live according to the laws of Meta. Now the social network Facebook is blocking a post or account that the moderators did not like. In the future, Meta will be able to block your virtual meeting because something inappropriate is being discussed.
The timing of the launch of the metaverse also raises skepticism -they seem too optimistic. The launch of full-fledged virtual reality is still very far away, and using VR and AR devices is not very convenient in practice - while you are dancing at a virtual party, you can crash into a very real wall. For the full functioning of metaverses, a significant breakthrough will be required in VR and AR technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, the development of new types of controllers that will allow the user to transfer their actions from the real world to the virtual one, new communication standards, etc.
For 15 years of development of social networks in the industry, it has nota unified standard has emerged - Facebook users cannot directly write even to Instagram and WhatsApp users. Against this background, Zuckerberg's promises that all the developers of the metaverse will unite and come to a common work format seem unrealistic. It is more likely that it will not be possible to build a unified virtual space - we will still get separate metauniverses that will work in about the same way as social networks or ecosystems of large companies now function. But the Meta metaverse may stand out for its censorship and user data collection.
Meta wants to control the emerging marketmetaverse, as it now dominates the market for social networks and instant messengers. We won't be surprised if the company soon announces the purchase of a project developing its own metaverse.
How will the Meta metaverse affect the crypto market?
The development and launch of the Meta metaverse mustgive a serious impetus to the growth of projects focused on building their own metaverses (Decentraland, The Sandbox, Alien Worlds), decentralized governance, NFTs, DeFi and smart contracts (Ethereum, Solana, Cardano).
Therefore, the news about Facebook rebrandinghad a positive impact on the token quotes of NFT games that develop their own metaverses. Among them: Decentraland's MANA, which is up 250%, Axie Infinity's AXS, which is up 25%, and The Sandbox's SAND, which is up 250%. Prices for these assets have already begun to correct and decline, but investor interest is obvious.
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Finally
The concept of the metaverse looks like the future of the Internet and network space. But its full implementation is still far away—at least 5–10 years.
Meta is not the only company thatbelieves in a metaverse perspective. The gaming giant Epic Games (creator of Fortnite), Google, Samsung, Sony are working on similar projects. On November 2, Microsoft announced 3D avatars and virtual meeting spaces.
The company is also developing corporatemetaverse through Azure cloud services, and also adds VR and AR elements to its gaming services. There are also elements of the metaverse in the games Roblox, Minecraft and Animal Crossing. And, as we wrote above, Decentraland, The Sandbox and Alien Worlds are working on their own decentralized metaverses.
Corporations are starting to fight right now forcontrol over the future world, which can potentially change our lives, but the structure of which is still very few people understand. This is good news for a crypto investor - the market has received another driver for the development of NFT and smart contract platforms. Perhaps digital assets will become an important part of the economy of new virtual worlds.
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