Get Ready for the Metaverse

After the recent “Gold Rush” for cryptocurrency and NFTs around the world, the talk about the Metaverse has been getting hotter than ever. On top of this, Facebook even boldly decided to change its name to “Meta”, as they prepare to tackle this new business opportunity. With so many recent changes, we can gradually see that the Metaverse is approaching.?

From a macro-level perspective, the concept of the Metaverse is not new at all but rather can be seen as an extension of the virtual world. Just by merely looking at science fiction stories, movies, or games, it’s clear that people have been dreaming about virtual worlds for a very long time. In addition, with every innovation in technology, we’re witnessing virtual reality gradually resembling our own reality because of innovations in 3D, VR, AR, etc. And because of the emergence of new technologies in blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFTs, virtual reality has once again caught the hearts of people around the world.?

Like with any hot button issue, there are people less enthusiastic about the Metaverse because they believe that virtual reality is just another bubble like many others in history. However, to this point, I have to disagree. I have not only been closely following developments within this field but also encountered many investment opportunities to make me think otherwise. In fact, I am optimistic about the future of the Metaverse.?

First of all, technologies like blockchain and 5G have elevated the standard for information transmission, calculation, and accumulation to a whole different level. Among all of this, I believe that the most important innovation is the growth in cryptocurrency and NFTs that has linked the digital and real economies together. This has greatly enabled people to engage in virtual realities in their normal, daily lives. In addition, innovations like the creation of Stablecoin and inter-blockchain applications have successfully increased the opportunities for different blockchains to intermingle. As technology improves, the world is becoming closer to the Metaverse as we speak.?

Second, as our society becomes more tech-enabled, future generations will only rely more on digital realities. Because of the pandemic, we’ve observed that people utilize internet services to meet their practical needs. However, 10 years down the line, we can predict that Generation Z and α will effortlessly rely on the internet for everything. Generation Z today, although very young, already exhibit behaviors that will likely continue into the future, such as the use of avatars or digital identities, internet-based communities, etc. And going into the future, the demand for more virtual services among this demographic will only increase with time. This power will drive us closer to the emergence of the Metaverse.?

We certainly can’t deny that there still remain many technological gaps today that need to be addressed for the Metaverse. However, if we went back ten years prior, it would be hard for us to imagine that there would be self-driving cars today, or even to fathom the possibility of inter-space travel. Therefore, what I’ve come to realize is this: if only humanity has a dream, there is no such thing as impossible. Today, we are standing at a transition point in history. Now I’d like to ask you, are you ready to jump into the Metaverse?

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準備好踏進元宇宙了嗎？

暨加密貨幣在全球掀起的「淘金熱」與非同質化代幣（NFT）所引爆的「收集熱」之後，各界對元宇宙（Metaverse）的討論也隨之快速升溫，更在近期 Facebook 大張旗鼓宣布改名為「Meta」、全力發展元宇宙事業後，將討論的熱度推到了顛峰。?

其實以更宏觀的角度來看，元宇宙的概念並非全新，而更像是虛擬世界（Virtual Worlds）概念的延伸進階版。過去從科幻小說、電影到遊戲，人們對於虛擬世界的想像和憧憬一直都存在，而隨著科技的進步，每隔一段時間當有新的技術，如 3D、VR、AR 等，帶領我們往實現虛擬世界更靠近一步時，「虛擬世界即將成真」的議題就會被搬到檯面上討論。這一次，也正是因為區塊鏈、加密貨幣與 NFT 等技術的出現，再次喚起了深埋在許多人心中的願景。

不過，由於對於虛擬世界的狂熱在歷史上反覆上演卻始終沒有成真，因此也有人認為元宇宙不過只是舊議題冷飯熱炒，極有可能又再次化為泡沫，因此持保留態度。對此，我最近不僅持續密切關注相關題材，也就投資面思考其機會點。從幾個基本面的大方向來說，我是看好元宇宙相關題材的。

首先，區塊鏈、5G 等技術進一步將資料傳輸、運算與紀錄能力提升至另一個層級，往後隨著相關技術持續優化，對於元宇宙的實現就越有利。其中我認為更重要的是，加密貨幣和 NFT 讓虛擬世界和現實世界中的經濟有了連結，大幅提升人們將現實生活中的行為轉移至虛擬世界的可能性。尤其與法幣掛鉤的穩定幣（Stablecoin）的出現、跨鏈應用的推陳出新，都讓成功連結不同區塊鏈的機會大大提升。

其次，不只現代人因為這次疫情已經習於透過網路完成日常生活所需，往後十年來看，Z 世代甚至是 α 世代這些數位原住民，對他們來說在網路世界中進行各種日常生活行為幾乎豪不費力。且觀察當今 Z 世代的行為，早已出現元宇宙中所想像人們會有的行為，例如以虛擬化身（Avatar）進行直播、與他人社交互動等，不難想像未來他們對於虛擬世界的需求還會持續成長，而這股力量有機會將我們更進一步推向元宇宙的世界。

雖然就目前看來，要實現元宇宙固然還有很多務實面的技術問題需要克服，但十年前的我們也無法想像今天的世界已經有了無人駕駛的技術、也極有可能實現太空旅行的夢想，所以我想，只要人類有夢，就有實現的可能！我們正站在這個時代的轉捩點，你，準備好踏進元宇宙了嗎？