Citi has taken a deep dive into the virtual world in a March report titled “Metaverse and Money.” The banking giant has predicted an extremely bullish future for the Metaverse following a slew of high-profile firms signaling their intentions to enter online digital worlds in one way or another.
City predicted that the next evolution of the internet (Web3) and the Metaverse will develop beyond gaming and will encompass commerce, art, media, advertising, healthcare, and social collaboration. Such a large ecosystem could be a multi-trillion dollar market, it stated:
“The total addressable market for the Metaverse could be between $8 trillion and $13 trillion by 2030, with total Metaverse users numbering around five billion.”
To reach such a lofty market value, there will need to be a lot of infrastructure development, Citi added. The report stated that the content streaming environment of the Metaverse will likely require a thousandfold increase in computational efficiency.
To get there, major investments will be needed in computing, storage, network infrastructure, consumer hardware, and game development platforms, it stated.
Citi claimed that cryptocurrencies would play a huge role in the Metaverse, adding that they will need to coexist with existing forms of money.
“Different forms of cryptocurrency are expected to dominate, but given the multi-chain trend in the crypto ecosystem, cryptocurrency will likely coexist with fiat currencies, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and stablecoins.”
For this to happen, the digital asset industry and any major Metaverse ecosystems will need to be regulated, and digital property rights will need to be addressed.
The company also hinted that there are likely to be two forms of Metaverse – a closed version similar to Web2, which is what companies such as Meta (formerly Facebook) are aiming to create, and an open decentralized, community-governed Metaverse that will be the Web3 version.
In mid-March, HSBC partnered with The Sandbox to purchase virtual land for e-sports and gaming developments.
A growing number of big brand names have signaled their Metaverse intentions in recent weeks. Fast-food firms are scrambling to get a slice of the Metaverse pie, and Yum! Brands are the latest to do so.
The firm, which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), has submitted multiple trademark applications for non-fungible tokens (NFT) and Metaverse products and services this week.
It follows the likes of McDonalds, Dunkin’, and Hooters, all of which have recently filed for virtual food and restaurant-related trademarks.