Nicolas Weber: CeDeFi in Metaverse and Gaming
Nicolas is on a mission to foster Decentralization. He’s an early stage crypto investor, part of the founding team at Amazing Blocks , Founder and CEO of The DAC and Founding Initiator of THE HUB . Moreover, he is the Co-Founder of the Tokenization Working Group at the European Blockchain Association e.V. . In this article, I will share the insights that I have gained by interviewing Nicolas Weber .
During the past few months, I have been researching about?CeDeFi ?use cases in different industries. Many interviews have been conducted with experts in the gaming industry as well as?Metaverse ?and?DeFi ?ecosystem’s pioneers; with the goal of creating a brainstorming database for the future.
CeDeFi is the abbreviation of Centralized-Decentralized Finance and it refers to bringing the functionalities of both systems together. using CeDeFi we can have the privilege of an innovative financial product while it’s meeting the regulations.
Mahsa: “How CeDeFi will create the next frontier of Esports in Metaverse? If we can create a Centralized-Decentralized Finance prototype in games which connects the digital wallet of the gamers and their centralized bank accounts, how will it change the gaming industry?”
Nicolas: “I think CeDeFi will function as a bridge to onboard the Esports community. It will be the core value layer; because it’s going to be difficult to directly onboard the Esports community into the DeFi protocols as they are right now. they lack intuitive user experiences.
CeDeFi as that bridge, could be quite interesting. you kind of have that safety. Of course, everyone can argue about whether centralized systems are safer or not; but just from the logic of the Esports community, that could appear a bit more familiar and thus safe to them. they won’t just have a wallet but a proper account as well, that is even protected from the legal side and insurance. It will be unfortunate, if they spend a lot of time creating their identity, hence their wallet, and then all of a sudden, they lose their private keys and then everything is lost.
CeDeFi could be a good onboarding point. I do believe that CeDeFi will at some point lose certain market share that is growing right now. in the next three to five years it will be growing, and then it may decrease again once the true access to DeFi will become a bit more intuitive.
There will be a good opportunity for financial players that may want to get into the crypto space and web3. This bridge can onboard a lot of new users for them; users that typically would not necessarily work with them directly, unless they have that kind of opportunity or that type of market that they can penetrate in that sense.
From my point of view, the opportunities that come with CeDeFi in Esports are endless. whether it’s collateralizing your assets and getting a loan, whether it is just additional incentives or whether it is interoperability between different games. Money is not trapped into one specific game or virtual world. So these are a couple of the aspects that provide a lot of value. But of course, the onboarding needs to be intuitive.”
Mahsa: “How will Metaverse change the human interaction with Media as well as the financial services?”
Nicolas: “I see Metaverse as the front end or the embodiment of web3. A lot of the general benefits that can be associated with Web3 are also associated with the Metaverse; the younger generations are spending a lot of time in Roblox or Fortnite while they are engaging with the internet.
Right now, all these are happening through 2D applications and centralized Games. That’s where the Metaverse comes in. through the Web3 angle, it provides tangibility of value with the tokens and provides more accessibility to resources globally. Metaverse provides more gamification, right of the engagement and enhances the experiences that we have on the internet. all these will increase the amount of time that we spend there.
The “.eth” or the ENS domain is considered as an identity and proper domain. Although, If you look at the Web3s ecosystems, there are not that many users yet; And if you look at the different virtual worlds compared to Web2; the big challenge will be How and when do we onboard? When can the Metaverse truly attain its potential?
I think that CeDeFi will be a core part in the beginning of bridging the different worlds. We will move away from the Standard Banking model. the logic of a bank will become a bit less relevant and the focus will go more towards platforms. the platform itself, the protocol itself may be fully decentralized, but the access to it may have to be from a regulatory perspective, a bit more centralized.
Financial services in general, are not really seen as fun other than to those that are really deep into the financial sector. In Germany, there’s still a huge number of people who don’t even invest. So, I think that’s also one of the core pillars, where the Metaverse can provide a lot of value through gamification of financial processes to make financial services more fun and more accessible.”
Mahsa: “What would be the reaction of professional game players as well as the non-tech-savvy people to this new Gaming frontier? What if we can actually create a CeDeFi prototype which connects users’ in-game digital wallets to their centralized bank accounts? Would gamers like this or not? Will it encourage normal people to become professional gamers?”
Nicolas: “The core issue with most of the newcomers in this industry is that the focus is on incentives and money; but for gamers, that’s not the main reason why they play a game. It’s fun for them.
We have to reach a balance in blockchain Gaming ecosystems. they should become more intuitively accessible and more fun, so that the focus will be more on the game and not the money. because that’s where you lose the gamers and their interest.
We have already seen an increase in the number of game players. More and more people are becoming professional gamers. adding that web3 layer to the space and providing a lot more different revenue streams has opened the doors and the path for more people to become professional gamers and to make this core priority.
In gaming, you’re always dependent on an ecosystem that other people provide you. Web3 allows us to create our own ecosystems where you’re not just a standard gamer anymore, but you also become a builder. There will be a huge transition from being just a consumer to becoming an owner and investor in that ecosystem. that will attract more people.
Esports is a kind of influential ecosystem for the young kids entering the space. they go to Twitch, and all these platforms will also be a core pillar where kids watch their favorite soccer players, and then they all of a sudden want to become a soccer player.
The more the Esports market matures, the more gamers we will see. We’re moving away from repetitive jobs being done by humans. there needs to be more ecosystems where people can obtain value. That’s where gaming can play a crucial role down the road.”
Mahsa: “What are some obstacles regarding banking in Metaverse games which need further research? For sure it will take some years until we reach the full potential of this technology; But what aspects should be researched to accelerate the progress and the mass adoption?”
Nicolas: “One core aspect is the educational side. Web3 has become much more accessible, and easier during the past years; But at the same time, it has lost a lot of quality, and there’s a lot more biased education out there. Let’s say someone has a company which is a centralized playing ecosystem and he is pushing some kind of education. it will be his own narrative. we need a bit more neutral education that does not want you to become their customer.
We need a more dynamic education where you get a general overview, and then you have different tracks where you can choose which rabbit hole you want to dive deeper into. We are actually working on such an educational programme. I think these types of programmes will become crucial. different industry players should work together on shaping that.
Another obstacle is the UI & UX. When someone comes from the Web2 environment, if the product is not presented well to them, they won’t like it. We need new models for non custodial wallets to become easier to use. It must become clear that the wallet is not just some random internet wallet; but it’s actually your digital identity that is associated with that wallet. It’s not just where you store your money, It’s also your passport, identity, extra credentials or even your CV That is attached to that wallet. These aspects need to be enhanced.
Apart from that, I think we also need better tools that focus on aggregation. Right now, we have a lot of different dApps, marketplaces, virtual worlds and different protocols. it’s not necessarily that the technology isn’t there; but the user experience in that sense, is also very fragmented. The most successful Web2 applications are focused on aggregation. Amazon is aggregating goods. Facebook is aggregating social. Google is aggregating the internet, information and data. So, that aggregation aspect needs to be solved as well.
Last but not least, is the regulatory side. A lot of people are struggling to enter the market, because they have a lot of doubts and fear. At the end of the day, the legal side cannot catch up with the disruptive speed of Web3; But at the same time there needs to be the right approaches and guidelines about how to protect yourself as much as you can. Based on what lawyers suggest, you have to protect your liability. But how do we do it?
Frameworks should not limit the space but protect people. governments should not be able to have much influence on it, but still they should provide protection. In my opinion, standardization is the key. We cannot just generally look at each country from an individual perspective. there needs to be a more harmonized legal structure.”
About Crypto Diva
I’m already in the Future… Meet me there! Blockchain Technology is my passion and I have dedicated my career and research path to DeFi. My ultimate goal is to encourage more female professionals in the DeFi industry.
As the Marketing Manager of?Paycer Protocol , I’ve got the privilege of being in close contact with CeDeFi experts who are creating the foundations the future financial world. I love to make the impossible possible and i’m willing to go the extra mile for that. Be my companion in my DeFi journey and I’ll show you everything.
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