Virtual Worlds, Play To Earn Games, Digital Tokens, NFTs And More By Benzinga

Growth of the metaverse continues to pick up steam, with companies placing monetary bets and filing for trademarks related to the new growth sector.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: NYSE:) recently filed a report on the metaverse and a $1 trillion opportunity called “Opportunities in the metaverse: how businesses can explore the metaverse and navigate the hype vs. reality.”

The 18-page report coincides with JPMorgan opening a lounge in Decentraland, one of several virtual land companies that also has its own token called Decentraland (CRYPTO: MANA).

JPMorgan sees a transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 happening over the next several years and lays out the key differences between the two as reported below.

Virtual Worlds

Web 2.0: Second Life, Roblox Corp (NYSE: RBLX), Fortnite

Web 3.0: Decentraland, The Sandbox (CRYPTO: SAND), Crytpovoxes, Somnium Spaces

Organizational Structure

Web 2.0: Centrally owned, decision based on adding shareholder value

Web 3.0: Community governance such as DAOs and native tokens, decisions are based on community input

Data Storage

Web 2.0: Centralized

Web 3.0: Decentralized

Platform

Web 2.0: PC, consoles, virtual reality, augmented reality, mobile and apps

Web 3.0: PC, virtual reality, augmented reality, mobile and apps coming soon

Payments Infrastructure

Web 2.0: Traditional payments like credit cards and debit cards

Web 3.0: cryptocurrency wallets

Digital Asset Ownership

Web 2.0: Leased within platform where purchased

Web 3.0: Owned by users through non-fungible tokens

Digital Assets Portability

Web 2.0: Locked within platform

Web 3.0: Transferrable

Content Creators

Web 2.0: Game studios and developers

Web 3.0: Community, game studios and developers

Activities

Web 2.0: socialization, multi-player games, game streaming, competitive games (esports)

Web 3.0: play to earn games, experiences, socialization, multi-player games, game streaming competitive games (esports

Identity

Web 2.0: In platform avatar

Web 3.0: Interoperable identity, anonymous private key based identities

Payments

Web 2.0: In platform virtual currency like Robux for Roblox

Web 3.0: Cryptocurrencies and tokens

Content Revenues

Web 2.0: Platform or app store earns 30% of every game purchased, 70% of purchases goes to developers

Web 3.0: Peer to peer, developers earn direct revenue and royalties on secondary trades of NFTs, users can earn through play or participation in governance.

Related Link: What Is Web 3.0?

Why It’s Important: JPMorgan sees several virtual worlds being created and extending the amount of digital social interactions.

Role-playing worlds have been around for years, with JPMorgan citing “Second Life” and “The Sims.” Other examples of popular digital worlds where people spend hours each week interacting with other users include “Minecraft” from Microsoft Corp (: NASDAQ:) and “World of Warcraft” from Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:).

Virtual events by musicians and trademarks filed by companies related to the metaverse could have once been a headline only event. JPMorgan now sees these events as the vision of the metaverse.

“We are now at an inflection point,” JPMorgan said in the report.

A shift to play-to-earn games and NFTs could forever change the way video games are played and gives players a way to own the items they purchase and also share in the success of the game monetarily.

Tokens also give holders a vote and voice in decision-making.

The growth of Web 3.0 could expand the use cases for crypto wallets and cryptocurrencies.

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