Metaverse: How It Will Shape The Future Of Payments?

24 / 04 / 2023

Metaverse: Redefining digital payments: Delve into the convergence of physical and digital worlds with AR, VR, AI, and blockchain. Unleash the power of the Metaverse for secure, seamless, and immersive digital payments. Explore Worldline's innovative payment solutions for the Metaverse.

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The Metaverse is an amalgamation of physical and digital realms, with multiple technologies forming a single connected playground. This virtual space offers users the possibility of engaging in activities similar to those in the real world. Augmented reality, Virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Ledger Technology, Mixed Reality along with traditional audio and video are all technologies that make up the Metaverse. It is the result of a combination of three main advancements: innovations allowing for 3D immersive experiences, the introduction of software powered by cryptocurrencies, and the emergence of decentralization in web 3.0. Businesses now have the opportunity to take advantage of the Metaverse for different purposes, such as gaming, commerce, education, and digital payments.

Metaverse and opportunities for digital payments

According to McKinsey, the Metaverse provides exciting prospects for digital payments, and it could be worth $5 trillion by the year 2030 when calculating its potential financial value. The diverse use cases demonstrate that the Metaverse represents a significant growth opportunity for several businesses and brands in this decade.

It will be interesting to note that business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) services allow you to transform your digital products into the Metaverse. Businesses and retailers may interact with their consumers in more fascinating and individualized ways thanks to the immersive experiences and economic opportunities offered by Metaverse. But when it comes to payment, the question is - how do payments work in this new world?

Effective payment methods are required for these digital services to provide a seamless user experience. In the present scenario and ecosystem, the more commonly used payment method is blockchain-based digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, the Think in-game credits, tokens, and real-world currency also gets converted into a particular metaverse’s personalized currencies.

In the long run, Metaverse will see an upsurge in new currencies and payment methods with the advent of Web 3.0. However, the development of new payment methods in this ecosystem will depend on the rate of adoption by its users. In coming years, we will see new channels and ways of interacting, for instance, ordering goods via Alexa or video live shopping solutions. Metaverse will offer many opportunities for digital payments, virtual world creation, and the development of digital assets. It has the potential to provide an immersive experience for users and the potential to create new business opportunities. It is an exciting concept, for sure. It will revolutionize the way we interact with digital content and create new opportunities for digital payments and the buying and selling of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Metaverse Use Cases

The metaverse offers users a unique experience that is not possible in real life. Here, users can make digital payments, buy and sell digital assets, and even create their virtual worlds. The metaverse also provides users with the opportunity to meet new people from different countries, gain access to global markets, and participate in activities that cannot be done in the physical world.

The metaverse is also decentralized, meaning that it does not rely on any central authority or government. As such, it is open for anyone to participate and offers users the freedom to explore, create, and engage in digital activities. Customers can utilize digital currencies created by cryptocurrency and blockchain technology for inexpensive financial and other asset transactions.

Governments are adopting the metaverse, which is guided by new avenues to improve department-wise efficiency. Metaverse enables an enhanced people-government officials interaction at a large scale. It also creates a landscape that needs separate regulation and governance guidelines. Payment transactions in the metaverse will help eradicate corruption from public offices. A good example can be how Dubai government offices have been set up in the metaverse. The Dubai government has announced a five-year Metaverse strategy that will create $4 billion worth of opportunities in the virtual space. This metaverse city will employ as many as 40,000 people. Moreover, the virtual assets’ utilities will generate profit from optimized services in a faster, safer, and more transparent manner. The overall induction of the metaverse will have a lot to offer, including public awareness campaigns, real-time monitoring, and accurate data collection.

Also, gaming on the virtual battlefield of the metaverse has already been getting massive traction and funding, despite bear markets. Web2 gaming companies are getting into the metaverse without a second thought, and use cases of this newest technology are now expanding like wildfire.

The primary use case of the metaverse is gaming, and there is no doubt about it. Here are a few features that will enable the next million metaverse users:

  • Easy onboarding of web 2.0 gamers by offering free education
  • Removing barriers to interact with the blockchain-powered gaming
  • Offering immutable reward distribution
  • Direct and indirect earnings by in-game digital payments

Conclusion

The metaverse is already gaining traction, as it offers a wide range of opportunities for users. These include digital payments, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), virtual gaming, and more. It is also becoming increasingly popular with businesses as they can use the metaverse to create virtual stores, host virtual events, and promote their products and services. Users will experience new horizons of digital payments in metaverses.

Discover our cutting-edge payment solutions for your business today. Check out Worldline payment solutions to learn more>

Sheik Mohideen

Senior Vice President – SMB & Partnerships, Worldline

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