Business models into metaverse

Simple business model 

To talk about immersive experiences, we focus on a case that might appear futuristic, but which is based on technologies that already exist and are already used by at least a million people.

In fact, I am providing a glimpse of the future by talking about something that is already widespread: I am referring to Wallet Metamask, an open source wallet extension of Google Chrome. This technology allows us to identify ourselves within the platform by creating our own avatar; however, it is not just an avatar, but a wallet, a space, or rather, an hard disk in which we can put money, pictures and NFT tokens.

The latter are the non-fungible tokens, a fundamental part of metaverse that is the new culture that is moving from the physical to the virtual.

A token is, in fact, by definition something that is in the virtual, but has deep roots in the physical: there are, for example, tokens of sneakers, paintings or digital objects that have the characteristic of being non-duplicable.

Well, let us imagine, that we identified ourselves through our avatar. Now, the relationships we will have with other people within the Metaverse will happen through our wallet. It seems cynical to say that we are our wallet, better to say that our wallet is us and one of the coins within it is our reputation; with this we enter into Metaverse.

We enter this world with our avatar, supported by a totally decentralised digital identifier. With this identifier we decide to buy an object, which given the current technology will be a digital object, but we could also buy the representation of a simple tennis shoe.

The moment we decide to pay, the experience becomes completely different from what we are familiar with: the shoe site, it has its own wallet, it has its own little piece of hard disk, it has its own way of receiving the virtual currency that is in our wallet. It can be sand, it can be Bitcoin, it can be something else..

Consequently, the crypto economy is divided into two worlds. 

1. This example of purchasing is part of a simple business model, very much related to compliance and technology, which remains connected to a traditional business model and refers back to actions in the physical world.

It is considered as a simple business because we are in an old world but with new technology. Another example could be opening a bank branch on the decentralised web, (JP Morgan), or visiting a digital work art by paying for a digital museum ticket.

2. You can buy a shoe, or a land in which you want to build a virtual shop, i.e. a virtual place where you will have real business. This is a new business model characterised by e-commerce transported from the physical world.

This is obviously a special kind of e-commerce; in fact, there is no mention of any kind of bank or payment gateway; this is because there are no intermediaries. We download software and charge them with assets that may have been earned either by working in virtual mode, or by playing with business models called Play-to-Earn.

Complex business model

The complex business model is characterised by new facts in a new context and business models without intermediaries, such as pools of people who organise themselves to get new opportunities. For instance, buying the first copy of the Constitution.

Why they do this?

For several reasons: cultural, rational causes for some, and irrational for others.

A complex business, in other words, develops in a shared digital/physical space, equipped by crypto tokens, and powered by distributed coordination mechanisms in the form of DAOs.

With a complex business model, interest and curiosity are generated. As is the case with Crypto Valley, the land around it is now worth millions of dollars, which used to be worth €200/300; so it all depends on the type of activity taking place within the Metaverse.

So some multinationals decide they want the Land next to it; consequently everything near the Land of the company becomes in turn a value for it and for all its neighbours (i.e. other entities that have acquired a digital identity via wallet).

These places have sprung up out of nowhere and are attracting the investors attention, ready to grab a piece of paradise that they can then resell at higher price. Or, why not, to rent. 

Finally, it becomes important to pay attention to this world, both for the qualitative and quantitative possibilities.

Promising use cases for the Metaverse

• Entertainment
• Virtual advertising
• E-commerce
• Education
• Health and medicine
• Public Services
• Tourism and virtual cities
• Recruitment
• Smart Manufacturing
• Virtual Real Estate
• NFT Investment

What are the future perspectives?

Citibank has studied this world, and thanks to the input of many experts, has produced a reasonable path for a bank of global dimensions wishing to approach the world of cryptocurrencies and the metaverse.

Studies have shown that this world could be worth 8 to 13 trillion in 2030, which is 10 times the value of the entire current crypto economy.

This is a value to pay close attention to, because even though the crypto economy is still considered the belief of few, its value corresponds to the GDP of Germany or India.

These are therefore new opportunities, which lead to both new risks and new desires for detailed studies.