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Defining the Metaverse with Coinbase! What are the key components? What processes are required before verifying identity?

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Defining the Metaverse with Coinbase! What are the key components? What processes are required before verifying identity?

Over the past few months, the term "metaverse" has been ubiquitous in our lives, with everyone having different imaginations and interpretations of the metaverse, and there is no very standard and clear definition. Today, let's hear from the well-known cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase about its views on the metaverse.

Coinbase Defines Metaverse

"The future of the internet: a large-scale, long-term, interactive, and interoperable real-time platform consisting of interconnected virtual worlds where people can socialize, work, transact, entertain, and create." This is how Coinbase defines the metaverse.

In the Web1 internet world, people could read web information in a static manner. Web2 enabled interactive social experiences within enclosed ecosystems. Web3, on the other hand, is an open and decentralized world that allows people to own digital assets.

For Coinbase, the metaverse is an evolution from Web3, and it will be a decentralized yet interconnected virtual world with a fully functional economy, enabling people to do anything that can be achieved in the physical world.

Currently, there is no metaverse platform that fully meets Coinbase's standards. The metaverse is not just made up of games and virtual reality but more like a synthesis of platforms like Roblox, which combines social, gaming, creative, and trading functions along with the Web3 concept.

Elements of the Metaverse

Although the complete construction of the metaverse may still be far off, it will be built upon existing foundations.

Similar to the current internet world, the metaverse will rely on hardware, infrastructure, tools, standards, regulatory frameworks, and more. However, unlike the internet world, there won't be just one metaverse; there will be many interconnected metaverses without the need for any intermediaries.

To achieve this goal, the metaverse will rely on blockchain technology to transfer identities and ownership between virtual worlds, verify them, and allow people to buy, sell, and earn income in a decentralized economy.

Because the world of the metaverse is so vast, different companies and organizations are trying to create different elements that compose it. Most fall into the following three categories:

1. Virtual Worlds and Ownership:

  • Virtual ownership of land and items
  • Limited interactivity, usually non-gaming
  • Mostly in pre-launch or alpha testing stages
  • Representative organizations include The Sandbox, Decentraland, etc.

2. Gaming

  • Most include items and NFT ownership
  • Synchronous and persistent, but not complete worlds
  • Mostly in pre-launch or alpha testing stages, lower quality compared to AAA games
  • Representative organizations include Axie Infinity, Star Atlas, Aurory, etc.

3. Infrastructure

  • Trading platforms: virtual item markets like OpenSea, Magic Eden, centralized or decentralized exchanges
  • Social media and communities: YGG game guilds, Merit Circle P2E game DAO, Discord, Twitter, etc.
  • Protocols: Enjin Coin integrates NFTs with apps, Render Token for decentralized GPU rendering, protocols for Eth, Aave, Arbitrum, etc.
  • Core functions: identity with ENS, proofs with EAS, payments like MoonPay

Metaverse Identity

"Identity determines who you are, what you can access and do, and how you're represented in the interconnected metaverse," says Coinbase.

In the metaverse, our identity consists of a series of components, including a simple login, a unique ID, a virtual avatar representing oneself, meta-data, and proofs to verify one's identity.

Below are platforms or methods for the components:

  • Simple login: blockchain wallet linkages, registration with Eth using Spruce
  • Unique ID: ENS, Goldfinch UIDs
  • Virtual avatar: NFT linked to ENS, closed platforms
  • Meta-data: on-chain data, off-chain APIs
  • Proofs: Schemas, Goldfinch UIDs

These are the key components and concepts that Coinbase believes are essential in building the metaverse. The foundations are still in very early stages of development, and the integration between platforms remains largely unexplored. There will undoubtedly be a long period of construction and development in the future, but the outlines are already quite clear.

"Our goal is to make it easy for anyone to establish their identity and explore these worlds in a simple, trustworthy, and decentralized way," says Coinbase.