The Metaverse Age is here. Now.
Since selling my 4th Technology company last April, I’ve had a lot of time to support my new startups and spend time focusing on the AI, Blockchain, Crypto, NFT, Meta world (in that order). I also have 2 high-end VR machines and use them (notice I didn’t say “play them”) almost nightly when I’m not traveling. My investments and companies over the last 20 years have all been focused on what I call “The Enterprise Front Office”. And all focused around “Digital Transformations”. All this, since I left my Mechanical Engineering job at Procter & Gamble in 1997 to literally “Chase the DotCom Dream”.
2022 is 2002 all over again. It’s the remake of a new Digital Age, not unlike the remake of the world with the WWW Internet as it came to Commercial in the late 1990s. With one big difference. This time it’s only going to take 2 years. Its happing 10x as fast. Just like the last 20-year Industrial Transformation which also happened 10x as fast (1822-2002 vs 2002-2022).
Everything is already in place. Sure, there are some things to still iron out, but trust me when I say this is MUCH MUCH farther along than you think (unless of course you are in this industry already). We all will be interacting with the Metaverse by 2024. Don’t believe me? That picture above is not an advertisement. It is the MarketCap of NFTs popular and purchased within the last 1 hour. Yes, the market cap of Mutant Ape Yacht Club is almost $1 Billion. And that much is being bought/sold on NFTs right now! Have you ever heard of OpenSea? You will. This month.
I was putting all the pieces together one night this week and thinking about how it is all coming together and so fast. And I woke up at 3am last night and had to take down my thoughts. Pasted below are those thoughts. I hope you enjoy (and see what I am seeing).
And, Yes, that is part of my current NFT collection. You can find it on OpenSea.io under username “rshearn”. My absolute favorite is SupDuck. I always call(ed) my kids and their friends “Shit Bird” when they did something stupid. One of them found this for me to purchase.
One last thing. I don’t mention much here about AI. However, I spent the last 7 years with AI/ML working with Watson (while running IBM’s $1B+ Commerce business recently), and with several of my Investment/Board Companies. I have lots to say here, but I’ll save that for another post.
The last 200 years.
- Populations grew when a currency was established so banks and post offices could get started (and eventually trains, trucks and airplanes).
- Sure there was robbery and scams but eventually it cleaned up. Through the help of the law.
- People starting owning or leasing land to build.
- Banks became trusted by the people and they grew. The better innovators consolidated the laggards. Monsters were eventually created. JPM, BofA, Citi.
- Other financial instruments were also created to support spending (a consumption economy). Mortgages, insurance, equities. All established to grow wealth.
- Businesses grew and needed both Marketing, Sales and Back Office infrastructure. They also needed outside governance to ensure investor safety.
- Entire support industries were created from Retail to Transportation to Communications to Construction to Sports. All meant to support wealth growth and promote lifestyle improvement and productivity.
- This brought us to the world we have today.
The next 2 years
- Digital (and decentral - DeFi) currencies are are being established (crypto), the banks have gone live (Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com), and most importantly the post office is built, open, and coming down in costs every month (blockchain minting and api calls).
- Digital currencies are consolidating with clear leaders, trusted top banks are also surfacing. Blockchain is growing with hashgraph and smart contract technology. The infrastructure is in place.
- Secondary financial instruments are being released quarterly/monthly. NFT (Bored Ape Yacht Club is stable and worth $1B already), Swaps, Lending, blockchain bridges like Polygon are all already built and running**.**
- Land is being bought (Decentraland, Metroverse, Sandbox)
- Digital Societies are built brought together via Gaming, VRChat, and Discord.
- MetaRetail is being built. And big names are doing it (Sony, Walmart).
- Supporting infrastructure is being built (Facebook/Meta, Twitter, PayPal, Discord) to bring this to the general Public
- Sports games are being live 360 degree filmed and simulcast in the Metaverse (NY Nets)
- On Ramps from Fiat Currency (EUR, $USD) to crypto is already established and gaining steam.
- Off-ramps eliminating banks are also gaining steam. You can transact directly in Crypto now with no need to convert to Fiat currency through banks.
- Governance is being established, but it’s happening decentrally. Governments are lagging in establishing controls.
What else could happen?
- Government taxes will likely go way down as more and more money trades digitally without boundaries. What does US vs Denmark vs Germany tax have to do with transactions in the ETHer?
- Governments will likely print more and more money to fund itself with declining tax revenues. This money will only make its way into the boundary-less ETHer as people move this printed money to Crypto/Digital Blockchains (along with their own).
- Capital will eventually flow boundary-less and limitless. Tax authorities will struggle to capture their share as money is being moved between Digital assets by the minute. Governments that restrict ability to move Digital currency will lose Capital to those who allow Digital Assets to flow seamlessly and without tax constraints.
- Profits will be made on the currency for sure, but the largest profits will be made by building the infrastructure and supporting entities (blockchain, metaverse, communication).
- The world will be unrecognizable in 5 years as everything goes Digital.