It seems there is no bigger buzzword than the ‘Metaverse’. We have all heard of the ‘Metaverse’— but let’s be honest: Do you really know what that means? If you’re unsure, you’re not alone: The Metaverse is hard to grasp.
Many think of the Metaverse as an evolution from Web 1.0 as the internet that connected us to information, to Web 2.0 as the social-media iteration that connects people, and Web 3.0 (which we’re now entering) that is going to connect people, places, and things.
So in essence, the Metaverse is a further convergence of our physical and digital lives. It’s about shared virtual experiences.
One look at the news would certainly suggest that billionaires and corporations alike are all feasting on the Metaverse. No surprises there —Mark Zuck-(ini) just renamed his company to Meta, the Winklevoss twins are betting on the Metaverse, and so is Adidas and Nike (just to name a few).
Today, I want to banter about Jamie Burk’s paper on The Open Metaverse OS. For those of you who don’t know — Jamie Burk is the founder and CEO of Outlier Ventures, Europe’s 1st venture fund and platform dedicated to blockchain and Web 3. Jamie has some fascinating insights on the open Metaverse.
Also be sure to check out Jamie’s interview with Raoul Pal of Real Vision. What a delight — watch Raoul and Jamie swapping ideas and brainstorming about possible futures, economic systems, digital experiences, sovereignty, decentralization, economic actors, and the future of it all together, which are all happening at exponential speed. If you are a crypto enthusiast this podcast is a MUST WATCH — Bon Appétit!
And last but not least, tune in to the The Metaverse Podcast that is hosted by the man himself — Jamie Burk. This one will surely get you sucked into the Metaverse rabbit hole. Lumerin Protocol, SyndicateDAO, Audius, etc… I don’t know where to start.
Let’s begin with Outlier Ventures paper The Open Metaverse OS Paper. If you are interested in the Metaverse then you should and must read this paper.
What a feast — I have yet to find a better Metaverse framework for conceptualizing the Open Metaverse. It’s the gold standard as far as I am concerned.
Why is the The Open Metaverse OS Paper a game changer?
I would argue that Outlier Ventures have essentially given us the blueprint of the open Metaverse.
In particular, with the inception of Bitcoin, and the maturation of blockchains like Ethereum, we have seen an open and permissionless Web 3 stack emerge where ‘the user is the platform’.
The Web3 Toolbox for The Open Metaverse consists of several principles, protocols and standards which could be said to form a stack that will inform and is being leveraged by the entrepreneurs and architects in the Metaverse.
The Web 3 Toolbox brings a number of core innovations and building blocks, located in the middle of the diagram that are particularly interesting for the nifty forward thinking retail investor.
Let’s consider the Decentralised Finance (DeFi) block. Let’s start by pondering which cryptocurrency will end up becoming the proverbial ‘Internet Money’. Bitcoin is a little volatile to say the least so it is probably going to be a stablecoin of some sort. My view is that Terraform Labs that powers numerous stablecoins and decentralized applications (dApps) is a clear leader in this space.
To be sure Terra ($LUNA) has surged 50% in the last week to hit a new all-time high even with Bitcoin down 5%.
Its algorithmically-backed stablecoin $UST has become the largest of its kind and keeps picking up Web3 adoption as THE DeFi dollar to be reckoned with.
In short, a “DeFi dollar’ has been the elusive holy grail of crypto. The largest stablecoins (Tether and USDC) are backed by cash. But what if regulators seize those accounts? What if a company lies about its holdings? My ‘Deep Dive into Terra (LUNA)’ has the answers.
Likewise we can go through building blocks of The Web 3 Toolbox and identify potential Open Metaverse winners that might win the race. Ethereum ($ETH), Solana ($SOL), Arweave ($AR), Filecoin ($FIL), just to name a few come to mind.
I don’t really want to banter about these cryptocurrencies today though. Unfortunately, I am late to the crypto party and the aforementioned coins have all had their initial, exorbitant pumps. Accordingly, I dip and dabble with The Web 3 Toolbox instead of owning one of these prized Ether rocks.
Today let’s banter about one of those lesser well known Web 3.0 gems on The Open Metaverse OS that have captured my attention.
The Boson Protocol
The Boson Protocol finds its home on the NFTs — Sovereign Virtual Goods block of the The Web 3 Toolbox and relates to the digital to physical redemption of NFTs.
In short, the Boson Protocol is the decentralized network on which future commerce will run. The protocol enables brands, artists and creators to sell to, or reward, individuals through in-game purchases of NFTs that are then redeemable for real-world products, services and experiences.
For example, Boson Protocol enables anyone to sell physical products in the Metaverse as NFTs within their Decentraland space — Boson Portal.
What problem does the Boson Protocol solve?
Essentially, the Boson Protocol aims to eat Amazon’s lunch. These powerful e-commerce platforms claim to value customer-centricity when what they are really doing is hoarding data and separating people from the value they create. Worse than that, they distort markets and supply chains and interfere with our economic systems, imperilling consumers, firms and even governments.
The Boson Protocol aims to execute commerce transactions without centralized intermediaries and with minimal arbitration, cost and friction. Boson Protocol automates digital to physical redemptions using NFTs encoded with game theory. Their core technology disrupts e-commerce platforms by tokenizing real-world products and services and commerce data within a liquid digital market, built on DeFi.
In short, Boson’s vision is to become the TCP/IP for exchanging anything.
Overall, Boson’s potential seems unlimited. One look at the news reveals a plethora of corporations FOMOing into the Metaverse like there is no tomorrow. For example, according to Gucci it’s “only a matter of time” before major fashion houses get into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other aspects of digital fashion. Speaking of which, Boson Protocol just claimed a piece of fashion & NFT history with record breaking 1M USD Dolce & Gabbana suit purchase, D&G’s most expensive suit ever.
So ask yourself this? Why would Justin Banon, CEO & Co-founder of the Boson Protocol make this purchase?
Is he a devoted follower of fashion? Maybe so.
It all makes sense — in fact Raoul Pal’s amazing discussion with Ian Rogers relates well. The former chief digital officer of LVMH, Ian Rogers, now advisor at the luxury conglomerate and CXO at blockchain startup Ledger, discusses luxury’s changing relationship with technology and why digital goods are one to watch.
Coincidentally, Raoul and Ian also mentioned the Dolce and Gabbana NFT:
RAOUL PAL: Yeah. The other one I was lucky to go to is the pre-showing of the Dolce and Gabbana NFT.
IAN ROGERS: How was that? I didn’t get to see it. Tell me about it.
RAOUL PAL: Fucking amazing. Because it started with the traditional what you imagined which was here’s a dress, here’s the NFT rendered in 4k that you can use in an avatar in due course. They even accepted, look, we don’t know where you can use this yet, but don’t worry about it, it’s yours. Great. But then they went to the same and they did that with a men’s jacket and then some jewelry.
And when you live a digital life, which we do and certainly younger generations do, these digital collectibles will have more value than the physical ones. This is just clear to me. Ian Rogers
This is all going into one direction. In fact, Boson has already announced upcoming physical drops from incredible digital fashion brands and creators like Metafactory, Auroboros and DRESSX.
What’s more is that Boson Protocol’s Twitter is a beehive of activity making announcements left and right. I don’t know about you but a protocol that enables the seamless exchange of digital assets for physical products, services and experiences which is in short dCommerce (decentralized Commerce) makes sense to me.
Now I am not much of a chartist so price action aside I see huge potential for the Boson Protocol so DYOR for more info.
Keen to learn more?
Enjoy the one Pager for more info or else deep dive into dCommerce Stack.
In summary, I have used The Open Metaverse OS Paper to identify two nifty projects that are well positioned to be a huge success in the open Metaverse. In particular, Terra ($LUNA) keeps picking up Web3 adoption as THE DeFi dollar to be reckoned with. In addition, the Boson Protocol seems well positioned to become the decentralized network on which future commerce will run.
Happy Open Metaverse OS’ing ya’ll.
Frei Bier / Twitter: @FreiBIER13
Medium: https://freibier.medium.com
DISCLAIMER: My writings are merely a reflection of my learning journey and my attempt to compartmentalize the cryptoverse. I am learning out loud so feel free to correct me or disagree with me. This is not investment advice but my hope is that you find value in some of my links and ideas.