Friday, October 29, 2021

Cryptocurrencies will be as useless in the metaverse as they are now

Both ideas are about making a few people rich, not about building a decentralised paradise where everyone prospers



Using cryptocurrency means being exposed to the volatility inherent in these speculative tokens. It also means having to pay an exchange fee — the standard rate charged for exchanging fiat currency to crypto, or vice versa, is around 2.5 per cent. There is no reason to use crypto in the metaverse — the vast majority of money nowadays only exists digitally anyway. Cryptocurrencies, in other words, will have as much use as money in the metaverse as they do in the real world. I have always suspected that one of the reasons people keep buying into crypto — which I consider akin to a Ponzi scheme — is that they don’t really understand it. In some ways, therefore, the elusive metaverse is a perfect partner. Talking up ideas that people find confusing is a great way of obfuscating things that people find objectionable, as Zuckerberg seems to have discovered. It’s also apparently a great way of making a quick buck — or much more for a privileged few.

FT


3 comments:

lastgreek said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lastgreek said...

"metaverse"

meta (facebook)

What's next, "metaphysics"! Oh wait...

Yeah, so the Greek word "meta" (preposition to be exact) is getting a lot of currency lately what with facebook rebranding itself "meta." I hate when Greek words are used disrespectfully. You know, the Greek state needs to wake up and start charging royalties/fees for the unauthorized use of Greek words. That should fix things. (Just thinking out loud here :) )

Peter Pan said...

meta, feta, what's the difference?