The metaverse is not a new word to many. However, more people are familiar with Virtual Reality (VR) games and the artificial three-dimensional environments that come with them worldwide. Once the VR headset is strapped on, these environments completely replace real-life environments, fully immersing players in awe as they navigate other worlds and providing a thrilling experience.
Suppose you are one of those who are familiar with this technology. In that case, it is quite easy for you to see the metaverse as a collection of interconnected virtual worlds, similar to the internet but accessible through virtual reality. Of course, this is true to a certain extent. But, a key feature of the metaverse distinguishes it from the current internet: it is based on blockchain technology.
What is the Metaverse?
The term "metaverse" is a combination of the words "meta" and "verse," the first meaning "beyond," and the other meaning "universe." The metaverse, therefore, looks to open the doors to the creativity of our imaginations and bring them to life. The metaverse is a system of virtual worlds where users can share and communicate to revolutionize the internet. While web 1.0 was a generation of read-only web pages for advertisements, and web 2.0 facilitated interoperability and user-generated content in the form of social media, web 3.0 is defined by completely decentralized networks.
High-bandwidth computer networks will characterize the metaverse because it runs independently of any centralized authority, allowing decentralized data transfer for stable and real-time communications. It will also function with smart contracts for transparency, censorship resistance, and permissionless transactions. Additionally, images, videos, text, music, 3D objects, and 3D sceneries all have open and interoperable standards in the metaverse, and payment gateways accept cryptocurrency and fiat payments. It is worthy of note that all of these can only be accomplished using the blockchain.
What Is The Blockchain?
A blockchain is simply a growing register of cryptographically linked blocks. The cryptographic hash of every preceding block, a timestamp, and equivalent transaction data are included in the next block. As a result, the blocks form a chain, with each subsequent block strengthening the preceding ones. Because of this, blockchains are resistant to data tampering since data in any one block cannot be changed without affecting all the blocks before it.
This setup enables the blockchain to function as a peer-to-peer network and facilitates decentralization in operations. All transactions on the blockchain are recorded publicly as computers worldwide keep track of every single transaction at every time. The computers are otherwise called nodes, and every node keeps a copy of the blockchain and helps the network run smoothly and securely. In this way, the computers unanimously validate the legitimacy of every transaction.