The future, no matter what happens, will be infused with technology. With the rate that progress is currently happening, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a fully formed metaverse in the next 10 years. Even without the billions of dollars that tech giants are pumping into this space, the need to evolve is pushing more and more businesses toward this space.
When we cast a look back at the last decade, the world of tech has come an incredibly long way. The newest and most promising application of modern technology is the metaverse, with Facebook even rebranding itself to demonstrate its interest in this space. Despite losing billions of dollars due to this switch, Meta has positioned itself as a true believer in the metaverse.
As with all things, enough time, money, and hard work can make magic happen. Many users are only just learning about the metaverse, but are excited about what it could bring. In this article, we’ll explore the world of the metaverse, touching on how it employs DeFi technology to further its offering, while also creating a virtual space in which users can truly thrive.
Let’s get right into it.
How Does the Metaverse Work with Decentralized Finance?
If you were to ask a member of the general public what their associations were with the metaverse, they’d probably answer VR technology and cryptocurrency. For the most part, they’d be correct, with these two pillars underpinning much of the current building that’s occurring in this space.
Yet, the metaverse goes beyond just being another crypto project. In fact, it offers the possibility to unite this virtual world with the comprehensive decentralized financial system which crypto is built upon. In the metaverse, surrounded by modern technology and driven by blockchain, centralized finance could never work.
Decentralized finance is a new form of financial technology that uses secure ledgers. Relying on blockchain technology, DeFi is transparent, reliable, and allows individuals to exchange 1-1 without the need for centralized services like governments or banks. The ability to eliminate these third parties has been one of the most successful points of interest for those that move to DeFi.
The future of the metaverse envisions a space where DeFi is the main financial system that we use. Instead of dollars, euros, and pounds, we can turn to cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana. While these latter cryptocurrencies are already popular, representing over 900 billion USD in value, they are not homogenized into society to the extent that they could be.
Currently, only around 4.2% of the global population owns cryptocurrency, amounting to just a little over 300 million people. While this is still a large number, it’s nowhere near a scale that could be defined as impactful when compared to centralized finance. The metaverse could be the technology that shifts this.
Using marketing terms that compare the metaverse to a virtual meeting point, even someone completely unfamiliar with blockchain technologies can understand its appeal. Removing geographical limitations and allowing individuals to form connections and spend time with the people they love, despite their physical location, is a huge benefit in our globalized world.
As more people begin to turn to the metaverse, as Meta predicts, the passive usage of cryptocurrency will increase. Learning one technology will act as an onboarding onto decentralized finance, helping to boost uptake and increase its usage across society.
In the next 10 years, due to the metaverse, we could see DeFi become even more popular than it already is. The unification of these technologies helps to sustain both, with each building upon the other. The metaverse invites new users in due to its general appeal, while the DeFi systems in place are those that allow the metaverse to exist. Blockchain technologies underpin both of these, helping to drive progress.
With the rapid development of the metaverse, it wouldn’t be surprising to see DeFi reach an all-time high.
What Will Daily Life Look Like in the Metaverse?
According to Gartner, by 2026, users will spend at least one hour of every day in the metaverse. Whether that be for shopping, entertainment, education, or work, the total time spent within this technology is expanding. For those already existing in these spaces and reading about their development, this doesn’t seem too difficult to comprehend. Yet, for many, spending time in this virtual space is a completely foreign vision.
For some, spending our days in the metaverse conjures a vision of working tirelessly within a VR job. But, that’s not really the case. Beyond labor, the metaverse is created as a space where users can enjoy their time and pass each day with minimum stress. Teams that are actively building the metaverse are attempting to create the best possible virtual space, filled with entertaining activities, beautiful scenes, and peaceful atmospheres.
A movement to this new system isn’t one that should be feared. The opposite is true, with the metaverse allowing people to escape into a relaxing world. As a central base for all entertainment, users can do their favorite activities in whatever atmosphere they’d like. Watching TV? Use a whole theatre. Want to explore nature? Do so in any world location that you’d like.
The power of the metaverse is its flexibility, with the consumer being the one that chooses what they want to experience. Simply put, a day in the metaverse can be whatever you want it to be.
But How Does Physical Health Work in the Metaverse?
A common question that arises when people discuss moving parts of their lives to the metaverse is health. If a user spends hours a day on their sofa in a VR world, their physical body isn’t getting any movement, which could lead to health complications down the line. This is certainly true, which is a problem that innovative DeFi companies have been focusing on solving.
Although living in the metaverse does seem like a viable option, we can’t forget about our real-life bodies. Taking care of personal and physical health still needs to be a priority. Luckily, we’ve seen a connection between real-world health and DeFi, with applications binding together these concepts. That’s where Sweat Economy comes in, providing a way for users to invest in their physical health while still receiving benefits within the metaverse.
Sweat Economy has been a popular mobile app for years, having reached #1 in the mobile app store. Their business model is one that rewards users that move, with each step taken in real life giving the individual an in-app currency. Paying people to move, this system inspires users to stay healthy by walking while also then rewarding them as they do so. Creating a positive system of reinforcement, it’s no wonder the app was such a success.
In recent news, Sweat Economy broke into the world of DeFi, releasing their own cryptocurrency known as $Sweat. For every 1,000 steps taken, the application would mint and reward users with one token. The integration into the world of DeFi was the perfect platform, allowing Sweat Economy to scale their operations and bring healthy living to even more people around the world.
The so-called Walk-To-Earn economy that they’ve created has been an overnight success, with users around the world earning $Sweat as they go about their daily activities. Bringing the gap between a centralized system and one that has worked in the world of DeFi makes this app incredibly useful. Much like the metaverse, the app has helped bring millions of users on chain, with their offering of cryptocurrency inciting a curiosity in users.
Sweat Economy could be a leading solution for the stagnation problem that users attribute to the metaverse. As the metaverse is driven by DeFi, integrating $Sweat as a primary currency would incentivize users to move in real life. While they can enjoy their time in the metaverse, there would also always be the need to get up and move to generate cryptocurrency to use within their VR worlds.
What’s more, by placing physical health as a way of generating currency, you’re giving people the ability to invest in their own health in order to afford the house of their dreams, or an item they’ve been wanting. All of a sudden, health becomes the priority.
This system integrates directly into the current working system that DeFi and the metaverse is sustaining, making it a ready and applicable solution. As the metaverse continues to grow, solutions like these remedy any problems that crop up, contributing to a more sustainable future system.
Final Thoughts
With the flexibility in direction, seemingly endless funding, and a system of inspired and creative developers working on the metaverse, this system is one that’s bound to succeed. The integration of DeFi into the metaverse and vice versa creates the perfect foundation for building. Constructing a world of entertainment where users can create, explore, and experience whatever they’d like will help the world to relax, as well as enjoy their free time more.
Finally, turning to the problem of becoming sedentary, the introduction of solutions like Sweat Economy will help to get people moving. While the metaverse can be home to entertainment, it, being virtual, cannot be linked to physical fitness. Incentivizing physical fitness through DeFi integration, this solution is impressive and benefits everyone.
As the metaverse continues to develop, innovations and community contributions will make this space exactly what it needs to be. We can’t wait to see what the future holds.
