Enterprise blockchain has come a long way since its inception in 2017. Enterprise blockchain initially started as a technology built on permissioned private networks, primarily used for supply chain management. As the blockchain matured, companies began to take advantage of public permissionless networks, such as Ethereum, to conduct their business.
Moving forward to 2021, companies are applying decentralized concepts to create more efficient workflows in the metaverse. William Herkelrath, head of business development at Chainlink Labs – a network of decentralized oracles – told Cointelegraph that while the Metaverse is difficult to define, he believes it to be a collection of ecosystems that are growing naturally from decentralized finance, or DeFi:
“Companies need to interact with the outside world and therefore they will be forced to have ecosystems in the Metaverse. For example, consumers want to use loyalty programs outside of individual platforms, so they will be more likely to choose brands that ensure that rewards can be used within other ecosystems. The Metaverse allows data, physical assets, and business and financial assets to be layered outside of a centralized environment. “
The metaverse for business
Although the concept may sound futuristic, several companies leveraging the blockchain are beginning to embrace the Metaverse. This topic was discussed in depth last Wednesday at the virtual conference of the European Blockchain Convention, during a panel entitled “Building the Enterprise Multiverse”.
David Palmer, blockchain leader at Vodafone Business, mentioned during the debate that he sees the Metaverse as much more than a virtual world in which digital experiences can take place through games or social networks. According to Palmer, the metaverse is now being applied to financial concepts powered by blockchain technology, such as central bank digital currencies, non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, and DeFi.
However, Palmer pointed out that the missing layer in the Metaverse is a way to transfer virtual transactions to the real world. Palmer pointed out that a mobile phone can bridge these two worlds, acting like middleware. Furthermore, he told Cointelegraph that Vodafone Business is leveraging blockchain to create digital identities that can be applied both in the Metaverse and in real life:
“The digital identity will transcend the digital and the physical world. For example, a digital wallet will contain a bank account, mortgage information, tokens, NFTs and more. But a decentralized identity will also have access to those credentials, allowing individuals to participate in the Metaverse and in the physical world “.
Palmer shared that Vodafone Business is working on building wallets within mobile devices to host virtual identities. The notion of self-sovereign identity in a multiverse was also mentioned in the recent Greyscale Research report, entitled “The Metaverse, Web 3.0 Virtual Cloud Economies.” The document describes self-sovereign identity as a “native internet social reputation currency (creators’ coins),” noting that data from other platforms can be transferred to the Metaverse and used for identity or credit scoring.
Ángel García, director of strategy and transformation of the global supply chain of Telefónica, also explained during the panel that a digital supply chain for the Metaverso could help to achieve the efficiency of telecos. According to García, Telefónica has taken the approach of creating a blockchain network to be used within a Metaverse ecosystem. He added that the company is currently in the process of gathering information to improve end-to-end processes. “The next step is to automate these business processes and centralize them for everyone,” he remarked.
Rowan Fenn, co-founder of Rise X – an enterprise solution for companies looking to build autonomous digital organizations – also mentioned that companies can have a digital twin of their autonomous organization to govern, operate and control analog processes: “These organizations will be able to interact and transacting with each other in real time in a multiverse. This will also allow autonomous digital organizations to work together in an analog world. “
Fenn explained that companies with a digital twin in a multiverse ecosystem will be able to produce more goods and services, using fewer environmental resources. Therefore, he believes that this business model will allow the world to go from a finite economy to an infinite one.
Companies already use blockchain to operate in the metaverse
Although companies are still exploring early use cases to apply business models within the Metaverse, some industries are already taking advantage of these environments. For example, Herkelrath mentioned that blockchain networks leveraged in the insurance industry demonstrate a Metaverse business model.
Specifically, Herkelrath explained that hundreds of thousands of insurance contracts are being offered to farmers around the world through virtual ecosystems. He added that smart contracts built on blockchain networks, along with decentralized oracles like Chainlink, have made it possible to solve transparency problems in the insurance sector. Furthermore, this has streamlined the entire insurance process to make it globally accessible to disenfranchised clients.
Although it may appear that only blockchain has allowed this, Herkelrath noted that smart contracts generated by insurance agencies require data that could not have been gathered without the existence of a Metaverse:
“This is possible because you have a metaverse of companies with data coming in and being verified by a wider network. The fact that this can happen in the metaverse shows that business-to-consumer transactions can be cheap and accessible to anyone. of the world”.
How likely are companies to adopt the metaverse?
Although some companies are beginning to develop and leverage business models in the Metaverse, understanding the technology could make it difficult to adopt quickly. Rodolfo Quijano, director of blockchain at Henkel – a German chemical and consumer goods company – mentioned during the roundtable that the biggest challenge driving adoption now is understanding the value that the Metaverse can provide companies:
“Technology is not an issue, but it will take more time for people to understand what blockchain does and how it can compare to traditional enterprise resource planning systems. Finding evangelists can be a huge challenge for adoption in terms of application. of blockchain in the Metaverse “.
Palmer added that scalability within a Metaverse business environment is also an issue, along with getting companies to understand how to transition and commit to this new technology: “For a telecom, the biggest point to consider is how to connect people. in the Metaverse. People will have two identities, one virtual and one physical, so the question is whether we will have the bandwidth in terms of connectivity. “
Additionally, Palmer believes companies will question the role blockchain plays when it comes to Metaverse business models. However, he believes that technology is crucial for these use cases. “Blockchain is the layer of trust and exchange in a multiverse environment. It is a huge opportunity, but it will be challenging for companies to make the transition.”