NFTs and Crypto Key to an Open Metaverse: Former Amazon Exec Matthew Ball

by Arthur · July 21, 2022

NFTs are the best technical solution for a more open metaverse, according to author and venture capitalist Matthew Ball.

In an interview with Decrypt after the launch of his book, “The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything“, Ball shared his thoughts on the definition of metaversewho will govern it, whether cryptocurrencies will play a role, and how NFTs– unique blockchain tokens that signify ownership of assets – can solve the biggest problem.

Ball is a former head of Amazon Studios Mark Zuckerberg, Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong have come to be seen as a central thought leader for all things metaverse. He told Decrypt that the metaverse is at its core a “parallel virtual plane of existence”.

He believes that we are still in the early stages of creating and defining the metaverse, and its most important players will likely be names we have never heard of. So it won’t be Meta, or Twitter, or even crypto-focused brands like The Sandbox or Decentraland ruling the virtual realm.

Instead, companies that are “overlooked right now” or don’t even exist yet will become the metaverse’s heaviest hitters.

“I hope we don’t know these companies,” he said, citing how each technological shift or major wave of innovation has brought with it new and previously unheard of brands.

A decentralized metaverse

When it comes to cryptocurrencies and crypto’s role in metaverse environments, Ball sees a place for it, but believes the public has not been properly educated. This lack of education has led to stigma, confusion and has ultimately stifled adoption.

“I don’t think the ecosystem on either side has done a good job of explaining why the average person should have it,” Ball said of crypto.

He argued for it blockchain technology can be essential to technically run a metaverse that is better for individuals as opposed to corporations. Because blockchain computing power is decentralized and spread across many computers around the world, a blockchain-based metaverse would put more power in the hands of users and less power in the hands of a few large tech companies, allowing individuals to collectively “fight against trillion-dollar balance sheets.”

An interoperable metaverse

In its current iterations, the metaverse overlaps with the world of video games, where users engage in virtual environments and acquire virtual items. But what do gamers really want, and why do so many seem to hate it? NFTs so much?

“Players have long wanted some form of interoperability, of real ownership of their virtual goods. The challenge has been that no one can figure out which systems they want to use, Ball said Decrypt.

This desire for interoperability conflicts with technocratic business models, Ball said, creating a “reverse chicken and the egg” situation, because no company wants to create the infrastructure for an interoperable metaverse knowing that competitors are unlikely to use it economic reasons. .

Adding platform transfer fees would be a way for companies to profit from interoperability, Ball suggested.

That said, interoperability remains important, and he argued that it already exists in the global economy at large. While there may be some reluctance to interoperability right now, “the user wants race solutions in the free market.”

A metaverse of NFTs

What kind of solutions? Well, interoperability and ownership of digital assets can be achieved through NFTs.

“There’s clearly value there,” Ball said of NFTs, adding that as a technology, NFTs can scale with a growing metaverse and are the most “viable solution for virtual goods [as] we have seen.”

He emphasized that virtual and digital collectibles have been popular for decades, even before blockchains and NFTs, so the real question is whether collectibles will benefit from decentralization.

In Ball’s view, NFTs have value, but their applications have not been fully realized yet, and – as with crypto in general – the benefits have not been explained well enough to the general public.

“Players have been overlooked for decades,” Ball said, acknowledging many players’ resentment of NFTs. “They feel marginalized, they feel disrespected, and they’re used to microtransactions proliferating and ruining their games.”

NFTs are therefore a threat to players if they are presented as items that can “ruin” games. But if publishers took a different approach, sentiment could change, Ball said.

“Until game publishers start product and experience first — instead of press release and new technology that will be better for monetization — we’re never going to resolve that hostility,” he said. “And that creates a vicious cycle where no one wants to invest heavily in solving the problem because all their peers have hurt it.”