A subject that often elicits strong feelings, even from individuals outside of the crypto community, was discussed on this week's Chain Reaction podcast: the metaverse. An investor at Lightspeed Venture Partners who specialises on crypto investments for consumers Mercedes Bent came on to discuss why she thinks this word has the potential to be a game changer.
According to Bent, it's become a punching bag. One reason a nerd like me gets excited about metaverse technology is the possibility to accomplish things that aren't possible in the actual world.
Bent is excited by the thought of attending an event with tens of thousands of other people across the globe in the metaverse, for example. Bent, on the other hand, is most excited by the metaverse's ability to make a difference in the lives of people via its educational aspects. A metaverse like the movie Ready Player One, but without the dystopian features, was an example she gave of how public school kids would be able to study from the greatest professors in the world. Non-crypto consumer investments like small-group live education site Outschool are a good fit for Bent's mission.
Is the metaverse going to be a whole new concept? The metaverse, according to Bent, a former employee of Upload, a virtual reality technology startup, was originally related to head-mounted display screens.
Since then, she's come to see that the actual value of the metaverse lies not in how people physically access it, but rather in the feeling of community it may build.
The this age has revealed, she said, "is that it is not about the headset or what physical gear you use. It is about the experience of [a] collective being together, and presence," she added in the metaverse lingo of 2021 and 2022.
Virtual reality has been around for a long time. However, Bent believes that the metaverse gained popularity in 2017 because it allowed users to convert virtual cash into real-world currency, something that was previously not possible in VR games like Second Life. She feels that the changeover was made feasible by the use of cryptocurrency.
There were virtual products and in-game cash available previously, but Bent said that the option to use fiat currency to pay for a rent payment in the real world is "simply something altogether new that we didn't have in such a huge number before.".
She went on to say that the metaverse got a fresh lease of life as a result of the epidemic and the accompanying increase in online time.
Skeptics believe that the metaverse is overhyped and does not have the necessary technical or user support to stand on its own. Skepticism is to be anticipated in the early stages of consumer goods, according to Bent.
It's hard to tell where these 'hyped' spots are." They're only a notion, after all, and as such they have no traction. You have to take a leap of faith since the founders aren't usually the most reputable, Bent added. According to her website, Bent's purpose as an investor is to support "early stage consumer enterprises that are enabling wealth creation for underprivileged persons and areas," which may explain where she draws part of her faith.
When it comes to investing in early-stage consumer-facing crypto startups, Bent rejects the notion that it's too early to do so.
"There are not very many companies [in web3] that I would say have scaled to what I would call a mass audience yet. We have Metamask, which is pretty far along, but I think all of these companies are up for grabs in terms of [whether] somebody else could come along to replace them," Bent said. "I think we're going to see the next WhatsApp, AOL, and Google founded in short order."
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