Metaverse has become THE investment term of late 2021, owing partly to Facebook’s newly revealed plans and accompanying rebranding. Grayscale predicts that the metaverse represents a $1 trillion business potential, and companies such as Microsoft, Sony, and Samsung have all joined on board.
In the midst of all the enthusiasm about a potentially massive new growth industry, there are many reasons to be skeptical about the current course of action. Along with worries about whether a corporate-controlled metaverse violates human rights and the creation of new avenues for criminality, there is another, more basic question to be posed.
Isn’t internet interaction risky enough without handing over even more power to centralized corporations with a track record of favoring profits?
The simple reality is that social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, have created an environment where trolls and bullies may thrive. There’s no easy method for anybody to tell whether or not an account is genuine, and it’s up to the firms to regulate their platforms — a task that’s nearly too enormous to handle successfully.
And the consequences are far-reaching. On an individual level, they create an unwelcoming atmosphere for users, with celebrities such as Lesley Jones and Daisy Ridley being chased off platforms due to cyberbullying.
However, we now know that social media can be used to manipulate voters and has even been linked to situations such as the January 6 rioting at the US Capitol.
Regulators are demanding that social media accounts be subject to the same sort of KYC checks as banks and their customers. However, there are compelling counterarguments to be made – most notably, against turning over even more personal data to internet behemoths. It’s also a solution that corporations are unlikely to accept because it adds a high barrier to entry and significant overheads.
Decentralized identification has long been promoted as a solution to the problem of online anonymity and identity. Still, the blockchain identity project Selfkey has developed an innovative approach that takes advantage of NFT features.
A decentralized, blockchain-based digital identity already has a number of appealing characteristics. It can provide a user with self-sovereignty, allowing them to choose which aspects of their personal data and identity to reveal through the prudent use of their private key.
The individual who has to verify the identification on the opposite side of the transaction has the security of a trustless, blockchain-based verification method. In the case of Selfkey, someone can demonstrate their credentials using staked KEY tokens.
Selfkey has recently created a concept known as the “Living Avatar NFT,” which combines the concepts underpinning decentralized identification with an NFT that represents the individual’s online persona. Instead of a jpeg or other picture file, the user’s profile might display their Living Avatar, along with a QR code that can be used to validate their credentials and is linked to the blockchain.
For example, you could see a profile photo next to information such as someone’s country of residence and nationality. You’d know from this information that their passport has been validated and that they’re a real person.
This, however, is pretty fundamental knowledge. Using the Living Avatar, any credentials might be attached to a person’s profile. For example, to show their support for a specific sports club, that they own cryptocurrency, or that they’ve been vaccinated.
The interesting part is that we’re not talking about technology and use cases that will be available in years. This sort of capability might be available in a matter of months or even weeks. Twitter has already released teaser films demonstrating how users would soon showcase their NFTs as part of their user profile, similar to how they may already submit photographs and videos.
Once people can show their NFTs, there’s nothing stopping users from developing their NFT-based identification systems, such as Selfkey’s, from distinguishing who they communicate with online.
It’s also worth mentioning that Facebook has announced that their metaverse will allow NFTs as well. However, when it comes to blockchain and cryptocurrency, Facebook and Twitter take completely different methods.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been a strong advocate of Bitcoin and has voiced a desire for Twitter to become a decentralized platform in the future. According to what we know so far about Twitter’s NFT functionality, it will not be tied to any proprietary blockchain managed by the business.
In contrast, Facebook is reportedly running its blockchain and cryptocurrency, once called Libra and currently known as Diem. On balance, Facebook will probably aim to build its ecosystem of NFTs and crypto, maybe with some interaction with the decentralized realm. However, if it stays blockchain-friendly, Twitter will probably try to link its NFT function with established blockchain systems.
Finally, turning over even more data and power to centralized tech businesses does not appear to be a viable path to the metaverse, especially when a rational middle ground allows traditional social platforms to mix with the trustless, decentralized environment. As the metaverse becomes a reality, we must make the most of the chance to address the worst aspects of anonymous social media while recovering our online identities from digital behemoths.
