Ethereum Co-Founder Joe Lubin and current CEO of Consensys – a company that specializes in blockchain technology solutions – is an enthusiast of the capabilities of the Metaverse in the future.
In an interview with Decrypt, Lubin talked about how confident he is that Web3 technology will become so advanced that the Metaverse will be capable of realizing nearly every human need in a digital world.
Lubin compared today’s metaverse to how the internet was in 1994 – insinuating that the metaverse has unimaginable room for growth.
“I think [using the metaverse today] is a little bit like logging on to the internet in 1994,” Lubin told Decrypt. “Where you would dial the internet, and I used to go get a coffee and breakfast and then I’d come back, and my email would be downloaded.”
While Lubin admits that the present metaverse user experience is inconvenient, he believes that the metaverse – a future, immersive version of the internet – will become as commonplace as email.
“The experience of being in Web3 isn’t as compelling as it will be pretty soon,” the Ethereum co-founder claimed. “That’s when the masses will be there.”
Virtual Reality Arms-Race
Today, nearly all of the big tech has its eyes on the potential for the future of a complete Web3 virtual reality.
The idea of owning a platform where users could spend the vast majority of their time must sound fascinating.
The future of digital reality encompasses a virtual world where users can interact socially, play games, go out, make their groceries, watch ads, exercise, and even go to work.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is likely the company that is investing the most in the future of the metaverse.
Meta spent $10 billion dollars developing its own metaverse in 2021 alone. That is a massive sum of money to put into the metaverse’s future. Profits are expected at the end of the tunnel in the shape of MEta’s ownership of a platform where users may purchase and sell digital creations.
Metaverse Might Still be Too “Futuristic” For Current Times
Currently, the idea of a fully interactive virtual reality seems far-fetched. The general feeling is that humanity is still not “up there” when it comes to the technology necessary for making the metaverse a truly realistic experience.
Tests made on Meta employees working in the Metaverse resulted in many of them complaining about headaches and even nausea from having to wear VR goggles for prolonged periods of time.
On top of that, the general public is still not completely sold on the adoption of the metaverse.
The high hardware costs and the little payoff is currently a barrier between virtual realities and mass public adoption.
Even well-known VR gaming brands like Decentraland and Sandbox are currently suffering from a lower-than-expected user base.
Despite having multi-billion dollar market valuations, the metaverse Decentraland and The Sandbox platforms are failing to retain members, according to data from DappRadar, a program that gives insights into decentralized apps.
The data indicates 379 Metaverse Decentraland daily active users and 616 Metaverse Sandbox daily active users as of this writing. Both GameFi ventures have a market capitalization of more than $1.2 billion.
