With Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing the official renaming of Facebook to Meta, the concept of a metaverse is suddenly a household discussion topic. Sci-fi authors were the first to usher in the concept of the metaverse. Like many technological innovations that derive their inspiration from science fiction, the metaverse will soon become a living reality. While many are of the opinion that the present model would not be much different from a virtual-reality-based internet, its potential is endless. To capitalize on this potential, blockchain metaverse startups will need to play an important role.
As long as the metaverse remains within the corporate frontiers of Facebook (now Meta), it would not be truly groundbreaking technology. The simple reason behind it is that its centralization would severely restrict people from accessing the metaverse. Unless startups actively hop into the project and create their own derivatives, the metaverse would remain more or less a textbook concept. Startups also have an incentive to push for the metaverse.
As with the initial days of the internet, early movers would have a significant advantage in cementing their position. It becomes all the more important when you take into account the fact that the metaverse has all the reasons to be more widespread than the internet. Not just that, early movers will lead the way to further innovation in the sector in ways Microsoft and Google have for the current tech industry. Keeping all these factors in mind, it would be interesting to see how startups capitalize on this new ecosystem.
