Metaverse
Metaverse still not ready for virtual weddings and legal proceedings
As the global Web3 ecosystem continued to evolve at a staggering pace, so have the various use cases associated with this niche. In a striking new development, a high-ranking Singaporean government minister recently noted that legal marriage proceedings, court case disputes, and government services could one day be conducted using Metaverse platforms. While delivering a keynote address at Singapore’s TechLaw Fest 2022 late last month, the country’s second minister for law, Edwin Tong, was quoted as saying that he would not be surprised if, in the future, intimate events such as the solemnization of marriages as well as legal disputes “could take place within the Metaverse,” adding: “It would not be unthinkable that, besides registration of marriages, other government services can soon be a...
Blockchain and NFTs are changing the publishing industry
Web3 has become the most sought-after investment sector of 2022, as use cases for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), the Metaverse and other blockchain applications come to fruition. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that different segments of the publishing industry have begun to use Web3 technologies to transform traditional models. For example, the textbook publishing giant Pearson recently announced plans to use NFTs to track digital textbook sales to capture revenue lost on the secondary market. Time magazine, which was founded 99 years ago, has also been using NFTs to create new revenue streams, along with a sense of community within the publishing industry. Keith Grossman, the president of Time, told Cointelegraph that the magazine is demonstrating the new possibilities of en...
Korea Blockchain Week, Aug. 9: Second-day takeaways from the Cointelegraph team
Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) 2022 wrapped up its two-day mainstage events this evening, which again saw a number of influential speakers take to the podium including Janine Yorio of Everyrealm, Yat Siu of Animoca Brands and Sky Mavis’ Jeffrey Zirlin. Held at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas, the second-day conference saw thousands of attendees engaged across three conference tracks — Stage Seoul, Stage Busan and Stage Jeju. The majority of the discussions on the second day focused on the future of the Metaverse, and the strategies that Web3 companies are taking to grow the industry. Given that the event was based in Korea, many were interested in the many exciting Web3 projects coming out of the Korean blockchain scene. The two-day event turned in a very large attendan...
Trend Micro calls out vulnerabilities in metaverse security development
In a new report published by American-Japanese cybersecurity company Trend Micro, the firm said that the Metaverse possesses increasing vulnerabilities that could materialize within the next three to five years. As told by Trend Micro, the top threats to the sector, mainly from a regulatory standpoint, include NFT security concerns, the development of a “darkverse” similar to the dark web, financial fraud, privacy concerns, physical threats, augmented reality (AR) threats, social engineering and traditional information technology attacks. With regard to NFTs, Trend Micro specifically wrote: “NFT ownership is verified using blockchains so they are susceptible to blockchain hijacking attacks. NFTs that rely on smaller blockchains could be vulnerable to a Sybil attack. This is where the attac...
What will cryptocurrency look like in 2027? Here are 5 predictions
The year is 2027. It’s a time of great innovation and technological advancement, but also a time of chaos. What will the crypto market look like in 2027? (For those unfamiliar, that’s a line from the 2011 video game, Deus Ex.) Long-term predictions are notoriously difficult to make, but they are good thought experiments. One year is too short a period for fundamental changes, but five years is just enough for everything to change. Here are the most unexpected and outrageous events that could happen over the next five years. 1. The metaverse will not rise The metaverse is a hot topic, but most people do not have even the slightest idea of what it actually comprises. The metaverse is a holistic virtual world that exists on an ongoing basis (without pauses or resets)...
Swiping left: Tinder pulls back on Metaverse dating plans
Match Group, the parent company of popular dating app Tinder, says it is cutting funding for Web3-related research and development amid disappointing Q2 earnings and the departure of Tinder’s current CEO. In a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, Match Group CEO Bernard Kim revealed that it will be scaling back its metaverse investments as well as scrapping plans to release an in-app digital currency called Tinder Coins. The move also comes alongside the resignation of Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg, the company’s first female CEO, that had initially set out plans to introduce the “Tinderverse” after acquiring a video-AI and augmented reality company called Hyperconnect in 2021. Nyborg had planned for Hyperconnect to further develop its avatar-based “Single Town” experience as a way for Tind...
Facebook’s metaverse will ‘misfire,’ says Vitalik Buterin
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin doesn’t believe that any of the existing attempts by corporations to create a Metaverse are “going anywhere,” pointing to Meta as being one he believes will “misfire.” Responding to a tweet from Dialectic co-founder Dean Eigenmann, who believes venture capitalists may be wrong about what constitutes an ideal metaverse, Buterin said that while he believes “The metaverse is going to happen,” he doesn’t think any of the current attempts from corporates such as Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta are “going anywhere.” The “metaverse” is going to happen but I don’t think any of the existing corporate attempts to intentionally create the metaverse are going anywhere. https://t.co/tVUfq4CWmP — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 30, 2022 The Metaverse...
Blockchain technology can help create safe and inclusive adult platforms
The cryptocurrency market is no stranger to speculation. Consider that despite this industry’s growth, many continue to view these assets and associated technologies as a bubble that is about to burst. As history has proven, overcoming the technology adoption curve comes down to a major use case, or the so-called “killer app.” Although there is no clear frontrunner, the adult entertainment industry has proven to significantly advance new technology iterations in the past and presents an interesting proposition for the future of cryptocurrencies. The adult entertainment industry is believed to be worth billions of dollars, giving it significant influence over the world’s leading technologies. Although it doesn’t create these new technologies, it is ...
Hong Kong university to inaugurate mixed reality classroom in Metaverse
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced to host the launch party of a virtual reality classroom over the Metaverse on September 1. The launch marks the commencement of HKUST’s plan to promote immersive learning by building a virtual campus in the Metaverse, to be called MetaHKUST. An academic from the HKUST institution told South China Morning Post that the launch of the mixed reality classroom represents the opening of a new campus in the city of Guangzhou, Hong Kong. Pan Hui, chair professor of computational media and arts at the Guangzhou campus, added that: “A lot of guests might be overseas and can’t attend [the opening], so we will host it in the metaverse.” By building MetaHKUST, the institution plans to create a learning environment that virtually conne...
The University of Tokyo to offer courses in the Metaverse
The University of Tokyo, also known as Todai is set to offer a range of study programs later this year that will take place in the Metaverse. According to a Saturday report from the local news outlet The Asahi Shimbun, the courses will be offered to students ranging from high school to adult learners in the workforce. The publication stated that the Metaverse study programs will not be delivered via its own dedicated faculty that offers degrees but will instead operate under Todai’s faculty of engineering and engineering-related graduate schools. Students who complete the courses will receive certificates. Todai’s project has been launched to address the lack of skilled personnel working on “digital transformation” and “advanced technologies.” University officials also emphasized that...
The opportunities and risks of Metaverse for small businesses
The Metaverse has been become one of the biggest buzzwords in the blockchain and crypto, as it promises to provide a more immersive, interactive and collaborative experience than what the internet has accomplished to date. This promise of a new world has huge enterprises like Meta (formally known as Facebook) investing huge sums in the budding space. When most hear the name Metaverse, their mind wanders to a few things: an avenue for global conglomerates to showcase their technology-forward bent, an esoteric product for a selected few to display nonfungible tokens (NFTs) or a new front in gaming development. However, a deep dive into Metaverse reveals a whole new world, a world full of new opportunities and risks for both consumers and businesses. Although the current Metaverse ecosy...
Dubai to ramp up metaverse efforts with 40,000 new jobs
One of the leading crypto hubs in the Middle East, the emirate of Dubai, launches the Dubai Metaverse Strategy that aims to turn it into one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies. The strategy promotes Dubai’s ambitions to support more than 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030. On July 18, the Emirates News Agency reported about the launch of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy by Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Al Maktoum hopes to transform the emirate into a global tech capital, focusing primarily on artificial intelligence (AI) and Web3. Dubai Metaverse Strategy goes in line with the objectives of the United Arab Emirates AI Strategy to enhance the nation’s status as one of the world’s leading countries in futuristic se...
