Metaversed

Chapter 4New Rules

We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!

—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Based on the collective lessons we've learned since the dawn of the Internet, we should all be happy to see more than just a few large companies involved in the creation of the metaverse. Governments and standards organizations worldwide, independent developers and creators, start-ups and universities are already stepping up to play their roles. Each is exercising a degree of influence on how every player acts and how this new hybrid dimension will work for us all.

Governments

When you talk about different business industries, sometimes you forget how fundamental governments are in defining the success of a marketplace. Besides their influence on health, education, security, and the entire monetary system, governments can subsidize industry growth or create tariffs on foreign competitive products to boost local production. On the flip side, new regulations, additional taxes, and fees can slow down marketplace growth.¹

Around the world, governments are already setting up strategies to leverage the speed and size (and yes, the hype) of the future metaverse. Their motivations range from boosting their own digital economies, enriching their talent pool, and supporting job growth to testing new ways to compete, fighting new kinds of illiteracies within their countries, enabling effective public policy, regulation, and, well, taxes.

Cryptocurrencies ...