Vitalik Buterin said he doubts the success of any “existing corporate attempt” to create a metaverse. He said that all existing companies trying to build a Metaverse today would fail.
Difficulties understanding the usefulness of the metaverse
Although Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, has big plans for the virtual world, things don’t work as expected for Meta. While many companies have succeeded in the metaverse (e.g. Decentraland (Mana), The Sandbox, even AxieInfinity and ApeCoin), Meta itself is unable to succeed at this time.
All the companies owned by Mr. Zuckerberg (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.) have been renamed to be closer to the metaverse, but things are not working as they should at the moment.
In 2021, as the number of cryptocurrencies grew, some big companies wanted to join the metaverse. Coca-Cola and Adidas are two companies that have purchased digital land, for example.
In a Twitter thread about Meta initiatives, Vitalik Buterin spoke about the use of the word metaverse. He thinks that while a metaverse can be of great interest and usefulness to consumers, he doesn’t think an existing company can create it.
“The ‘metaverse’ is going to happen, but I think attempts by companies to intentionally create a metaverse will go nowhere. according to Vitalik Buterin. Companies won’t be working on metaverse projects forever, he says, while the idea of the metaverse will continue to be on the minds of the community.
It is common to say that to exist, a company must solve a problem. But many people do not understand the issues or the usefulness of the metaverse. However, the metaverse sector is expected to experience rapid development in the near future.
Some predict it will hit $800 billion by 2024. Even more optimistic is McKinsey, the metaverse industry will be worth $5 trillion by 2030. If mass adoption is to happen, the general public should have a better understanding of the field.
Meta attempts are failing so far
The popularity of the metaverse skyrocketed after Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would support non-fungible tokens, the company has repeatedly indicated that it is focusing its efforts more in the metaverse space.
Reality Labs, the metaverse arm of Facebook, pumped $10 billion into the space, according to Zuckerberg, and reported an 11-figure loss in 2021.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, worked for many months on a fast and efficient payment method. Their Diem project was heavily criticized by central banks, as it had more than two billion users on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. Facebook’s parent company made announcements that worried regulators and politicians and tried to block the project from moving forward.
Facebook’s dreams had to be scaled back because they couldn’t handle the huge amount of data Diem was producing. The Diem project was sold to Silvergate Capital (which is the banking side of Silvergate Bank) for $182 million. They are now focusing on their hopes and dreams of creating a metaverse as well as developing a digital wallet.
On Wednesday, Meta announced its revenue fell for the first time this year, along with a $2.8 billion loss for Reality Labs in its second-quarter earnings report. Overall, the company still doesn’t show that it can prove Vitalik Buterin wrong, based on the numbers.