Imagine: IRL (In Real Life) you’re seated in an interactive chair, with haptic gloves allowing you to feel digital objects, and you are peering out of the eyes of your NFT (in this case an avatar), in a digital conference room at work.
You’re in the decentralized CryptoVerse.
Today, your team is discussing some IRL building specifications on a downtown project. Across from you is the NFT avatar of your CEO: It’s made to look like Frank Lloyd Wright, her favorite architect, which she uses for occasions like this. She is seated behind a floating image of the downtown project (also an NFT), which anyone holding the cryptographic keys to enter the conference room can maneuver, add on to, and/or edit.
The avatar NFT of an engineering colleague of yours is seated to your left. He appears to be disengaged from the conversation (as no sound or movement has come from him for the past ten minutes). It’s possible that he’s jumped into another skin to experience a more exciting piece of the CryptoVerse, like the new SVS vampire game… or maybe he’s just shopping for some new digital clothing to deck himself out in, who knows?
The decentralized CryptoVerse will stretch as far and wide as our mind’s eye will allow.
It will combine all our senses into experiences where anything that is possible by way of our imagination, will also be made possible inside the decentralized CryptoVerse.
And rather than take part in a dystopian future where centralized entities like Facebook own the “MetaVerse,” the decentralized CryptoVerse is, instead, an evolving, digital landscape filled with spectacular creations that We the People own and control, rather than the Big Tech Technocracy (consisting of Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG), and Amazon (AMZN).
Sci-Fi fans, who have read (or watched) Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One or Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash gave us our first taste of the CryptoVerse. And gamers, too, already know what it’s like to interact through avatar NFTs inside a 3D landscape (Fortnite was a precursor).
Popular movies have given everyone glimpses of the CryptoVerse: movies like Minority Report, Total Recall, and Pandora, all hinted at a future that blends our physical and digital realities.
In fact, as technology has evolved, humanity has taken part in a slow migration into the CryptoVerse. PCs, which were originally capable of only text on a screen, gave way to 2D images. 2D images were transformed into digital voice and video; and then, voice and video evolved into 3D experiences in gaming; soon… all our digital interactions will be in the immersive CryptoVerse: desk jobs, social interactions, and many different forms of digital entertainment.
This is not in a future far, far away…
It’s happening right now. Being built right now. And being experienced right now.
NFTs: The building blocks of the Decentralized CryptoVerse
Many of us have been caught off guard by the seemingly outrageous prices of NFTs and the race to acquire them. At first glance, an NFT looks like any other type of digital media: be it a recording, a tweet, an image, or video. But the difference is that unlike all other forms of digitization on the internet, NFTs have the unique quality of decentralized ownership… meaning, everyday people can purchase NFTs, which are the building blocks of the future internet. We the People will own the Internet of the future, not the Big Tech Technocracy.
In this respect, NFTs are all pieces within an organically growing harmonic puzzle called the CryptoVerse.
NFTs, which are built on smart contracts, are creations that can be traded, bought, and sold on a marketplace. The platform blockchains holding the smart contract, provides the record of ownership for the NFT that is stored within a crypto wallet, which can be connected to an exchange, or a decentralized application (dApp). This ownership record is secured through cryptography, the same technology used to secure highly sensitive material, such as codes to a nuclear arsenal.
Therefore, just by owning the cryptographic keys to your crypto wallet where your NFT is held, your ownership to the NFT is authenticated. The NFT can then act as a digital passport where only you, the holder of keys, will have access to controlling the NFT and receiving its exclusionary benefits.
Let’s take the Sneaky Vampire Syndicate NFT, for example. You may have purchased your Sneaky Vampire on OpenSea.com and learned that there is also a web site where Sneaky Vampire owners can connect their crypto wallets and socialize with other Sneaky Vampires. In the CryptoVerse this place is actually being created—it’s called The Lair and is part of the SVS roadmap.
Depending on the specific programming contained within your NFT’s smart contract, connecting your NFT to the CryptoVerse may allow you to do some extraordinary things, like turn into a bat and fly (merely speculative at this point, but NFT development is only limited by the human imagination).
In the CryptoVerse, there will be spaces that only SVS vamps will have access to, along with the ability to buy and sell digital items that are exclusive to only SVS vamps.
SVS vamps is only one example. There are now numerous successful NFT projects like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Crypto Punks, and Hash Masks… these NFT projects are all building ecosystems around their brand. Early adopters recognize the future potential and value such NFTs will bring.
The decentralized CryptoVerse gold rush has just begun.
Here is another potential use case for your NFT: Let’s say the development team behind your NFT project strikes a deal with a clothing brand providing a deep discount, which is exclusive to holders of the NFT. To access the discount, you visit their online store (or kiosk in the CryptoVerse) and link-in your crypto wallet. Once linked, the discount can automatically be applied to a purchase.
As you can see, the utility for NFTs goes far beyond being mere static images or blocks of sound and video on a screen. The above scenarios are merely an inkling of what’s possible. NFTs are specialized entities that come with unique sets of benefits; value will be continuously created and distributed to their owners in many different forms (but only for projects with staying power).
Therefore, NFTs are evolving entities that are taking on a life of their own. They are the building blocks of the CryptoVerse.
Real Estate takes on a whole new meaning in the decentralized CryptoVerse
Just like IRL real estate is bought, sold, and financed IRL… so too is digital real estate being sold on platforms like the Sandbox and Decentraland, again in the form of NFTs. Simply put, these plots of imaginary landscapes are made up of nothing but code (as is everything else in the CryptoVerse), yet they will have extreme value someday. (Please note: there is still no clear winner in the crypto real estate NFT game).
When we connect to the CryptoVerse, we will automatically be transported into a complete 3D immersive architecture, where we will interact and communicate with other NFT owners. The NFT real estate will be owned by Us, just like the NFT clothing will be owned by Us, in fact… all things in the CryptoVerse will be owned by Us, We the People.
And owning land in the decentralized CryptoVerse will enable you to do things like host digital events, such as online concerts or exclusive parties. Snoop Dog, for example, can own his own stage in the CryptoVerse in a town square where NFT avatars can gather and watch a concert.
We spend so much of our time staring at screens. It is only logical to make our connected experiences the most productive (when it comes to work), the most entertaining (when it comes to leisure), and the most interactive (when it comes to socializing).
The decentralized CryptoVerse is the mushrooming human imagination made tangible.
And as everyone has noticed how, over time, everything digital just keeps advancing (this is attributable to Moore’s law), so too will advancement continue in the decentralized CryptoVerse: as our devices become more intuitive and immersive, we will be able to mimic and even surpass IRL experiences, which are limited by our physical realities.
NFT Utility tokens
What if you were able to stake your NFT and collect a reward in the form of token?
The token could then be used for further utility, such as, a merchandise store where the token could be spent to buy products, or even decentralized concert (such as the Snoop Dog concert described above).
Because only the holders of a specific NFT will be able to generate the token with the exclusive rights. The token itself has value and merit and can be sold to other, who would like to take part in specific offer or event.
For example, there may be song drops that Snoop Dog community may own, which are available to be purchased by solely by the token holders. The tokens gain value through the power of the NFT community developing the ecosystem around the NFT.
DAOs and NFTs
You may be beginning to understand that buying certain NFTs are like buying into a broader community, which itself border on being a company of sorts. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations are therefore becoming part of the narrative surrounding NFTs as means of governance.
Cypherpunk values resonate deep within many of these communities, so active engagement, participation, and the strategic direction of NFT communities can be decide through DAOs.
Woodies, for example, is an NFT created through Ultra DAO. The Ultra DAO behind the Woodies project consists of artists, programmers, marketers, developers, and NFT enthusiasts. Through the DAO, they can vote on the future direction of the project that the DAO supports. Though Woodies itself does not have a DAO, because it falls under the umbrella of team committed to growing the NFTs utility, it gives confidence to the community that there is team committed to its future success.
These decentralized governing structures surrounding NFT projects are vital. NFT rug pulls will become commonplace, as nefarious developers can create projects with all sorts of promises to make a quick buck, and then abandon the project entirely once the money is made. Which is why I caution you to extensively research any NFT project that you are investing in.
May the Best Blockchains Win
There are so many public blockchains taking part in the progression toward the decentralized CryptoVerse. And some blockchains are much more centralized than others. Ultimately, the surviving platforms will be the ones that are the most decentralized.
A key aspect of true decentralization is that the protocols are in the hands of the community, and not any single entity that can make changes without an overwhelming consent.
We the People, will demand decentralization, by flocking only to the blockchains that are the most secure, equitable, and democratized.
This is an important consideration, because right now NFTs are being developed on many platform protocols, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Tezos. The base layer of decentralized blockchains may be immutable ledgers, but the logic (the protocols) behind the ledger, if truly decentralized, are controlled by the people. Therefore, if blockchain protocol of the NFT has centralized aspects, We the People will opt to change the protocol, or just exit the chain completely.
In this manner, centralized blockchains will slowly die if they don’t adapt to our demands for decentralization.
I mention this, because Ethereum does have centralized characteristics. And right now Ethereum is at the forefront of NFT activity. However, other base layer blockchains are developing and moving into this space fast. Even Bitcoin, through the Stacks protocol, now allows smart contract development on the Bitcoin network.
NFTs themselves are also adaptable. A community could migrate their NFT to another chain by offering an NFT sale exclusive to holders of the NFT, yet the sale will be on a more decentralized blockchain. Therefore, if a community determines that the platform upon which there NFT was created is too centralized, the entire community could “escape” from that blockchain by offering exclusive purchase rights to the NFT on the more decentralized blockchain. In this scenario, once the new NFT is created on the more decentralized blockchain, further development will continue there and leave the less centralized blockchain behind.
In this way, platform protocols like Ethereum will be forced to compete with other protocols to retain traction. This is the beauty of crypto. We the People will ultimately decide on which blockchain is the most decentralized, and we will build the CryptoVerse on that blockchain.
Thus, in the decentralized CryptoVerse, the human imagination flourishes in ways never dreamt possible.
Full disclosure, I am an owner an investor in some of the aforementioned NFTs and tokens that are building the CryptoVerse. It is alway important to do your own research when it comes to investing. To help further your research and knowledge of the CryptoVerse, I have compiled some links below mentioned in the article.
