How can consumer and industrial blockchains power the metaverse?

Blockchain continues to be relevant amid the ongoing cryptocurrency “winter” hitting the markets. The rise of the industrial metaverse has also explored new use cases for cryptographic technologies.

Metaverse is a shared immersive platform that combines spatial communication and the Internet. It also relies on blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange and engage others in decision-making.

How is the blockchain evolving the metaverse?

Blockchain is the underlying technology that maintains a distributed ledger of all transactions in the Metaverse. This shared, immutable record provides the framework for creating “trustless” digital relationships and transactions.

Every transaction in Metaverse is recorded via the blockchain, providing a complete history of all activity to ensure transparency and security.

This also enables the development of unique identity verification systems and voice authentication mechanisms to facilitate decentralized autonomous organization governance (DAO).

The Industrial Metaverse as the Next Blockchain Frontier

In addition, many multinational companies such as Siemens have begun to explore blockchain use cases related to the industrial metaverse.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the industrial blockchain has promising use cases. These include supply chain monitoring, counterfeit detection, identity management, asset tracking and quality assurance.

These technologies have become instrumental in increasing compliance, offering a transparent, automated alternative to lengthy audit processes.

The World Economic Forum also explained last July how the blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs can increase applications for the Metaverse. At the time, forum members said Metaverse was “already here” and could potentially revolutionize the workforce. Doing so can help increase connections between businesses and communities.

At an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) event last October, a GE Digital executive further outlined the benefits of the industrial blockchain.

Dr Colin Parris, Chief Technology Officer for GE Digital, at the time explained how the blockchain, digital twins and IoT could help facilitate the industrial metaverse. These will integrate across virtual, augmented and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) devices to visualize data for business users.

Top Blockchain Platforms Leading Metaverse Development

Currently, several blockchains have helped build popularity among many Metaverse platforms:

Ethereum

Ethereum is the most popular blockchain, and its decentralized platform uses smart contracts or applications that run to minimize fraud or third-party interference.

It is also home to several non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or digital assets linked to the blockchain that verify ownership. They have also been used to create digital art, gaming experiences and even entire virtual worlds. Some examples of metaverse platforms based on Ethereum are Decentraland, Cryptovoxels and The Sandbox.

Ethereum received a massive $33 billion upgrade to its Shanghai blockchain algorithm ecosystem in April. The recent upgrades aimed to reduce energy-intensive mining by adopting a proof-of-stake system for traders.

Cardano

The Cardano blockchain is an innovative contract platform under development that addresses some of the issues Ethereum faces related to scalability and sustainability.

Cardano operates the Pavia metaverse platform, which uses blockchain technology to create decentralized environments for its users with a minimal carbon footprint and lower gas taxes.

Solana

Solana was developed to power the next generation of metaverse platforms and powers the Star Atlas metaverse and others as a scalable, secure and energy efficient tool.

It also provides an immersive and interactive experience where users can interact with each other and their environment, focusing on virtual land exploration.

Metaverse avatar giants Ready Player Me integrated the Solana blockchain to create interoperable assets for Mini Royale: Nations. The addition took place in March and included avatars, data and other digital content.

Polygon

Polygon is an Ethereum scaling solution designed to make it more scalable and efficient. It uses technology called Plasma to achieve its high scalability.

The blockchain borrows from Ethereum and works as a Layer-2 protocol. This adds enhancements and custom tools to the Ethereum blockchain, without eliminating its core features.

Binance chain

Binance Chain is developed by the team behind the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, to create metaverse platforms like Ultiverse.

Players can import and customize their own NFTs and virtual environments, and an artificial intelligence (AI) engine also adjusts non-playable characters (NPCs) based on player activities for a more immersive experience.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cracked down on Binance and other crypto exchange platforms in May, citing alleged securities violations.

Platforms such as Binance, Kraken, Coinbase and others have strongly denied the allegations.

XRP Ledger

Developed to power the next generation of metaverse platforms, this blockchain has been designed as a scalable, secure and energy-efficient technology for multiple metaverse platforms, including XFLOKIVERSE, a brand new NFT gaming and collection initiative.

The project is a combination of XFLOKI currencies to build a comprehensive multi-character metaverse with the aim of becoming the most popular platform and meme coin on the XRP ledger.

Benefits of using blockchain technology for Metaverse

The blockchain is essential to Metaverse for the following reasons:

• Safety – Secure metadata storage and transmission have become more complex because they store data in exabytes (1 billion gigabytes). Blockchain technologies are essential for decentralized environments, allowing users to manage their data independently.
• Trust – Tokens are secure storage devices that communicate information, personal data and authorization keys in encrypted form. It also increases user trust in the ecosystem by limiting other parties’ access to critical information.
• Integrate with the global economy – Cryptocurrencies and digital assets are integral parts of the blockchain, but they are also a technical analogue to traditional money and perform metaverse transactions.

Evolution of “green” Metaverse blockchains

One of the most exciting trends in blockchain is the proliferation of “green” NFTs. As the world aims to reduce its carbon footprint, it will likely see a move towards more energy efficient blockchain technology.

This is important for metaverse platforms as they often require large amounts of energy to run. Some of the most promising energy-efficient blockchains include Solana and Cardano.

Conclusion

Many blockchain projects are still under development, but a few examples are leading the way in this emerging industry. In the future, they can operate platforms for next-generation online experiences.