If you tuned into Facebook’s earnings call and listened to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you heard him mention “the metaverse” 20 times.
Facebook sees a future where it can project advertisements virtually to consumers wearing 3D headsets. But the metaverse goes far beyond that.
In fact, it’s drawing attention right now from some of the smartest people in Silicon Valley.
In today’s Market Insights video, Steve Fernandez and I explain what the metaverse is, and share a way you can profit from it today.
(If you’d prefer to read a transcript, click here.)
Ian King: Hey everyone. Ian King here joining me is my friend and colleague Steve Fernandez.
This week we’re going to talk about a very, very exciting technology trend. It’s a term, actually, that’s been around for 30 years. And that is the metaverse.
It’s a term that was coined in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in a famous sci-fi book called Snow Crash. But the idea has really picked up traction lately.
What Is The Metaverse?
Steve, why don’t you explain to our viewers exactly what the metaverse is?
Steve Fernandez: Sure. So, the way I see the metaverse is projecting our physical experiences into a virtual setting.
It can be as simple as sitting on a couch. We can do that in the physical world, but in the metaverse, we can sit on a couch in Thailand, or we can sit on a couch anywhere else.
It can completely change the environment that we’re in. So, you’re projecting a physical experience into a virtual experience.
Ian: Fascinating. And you know what’s really interesting? I think it’s just the next progression in how technology is really encompassing our life.
You know, if you think back 20 years ago, you had the desktop computer, and then your laptop, and then all of a sudden smartphones came around, and now you have your phone as sort of your digital life wherever you go.
Is Metaverse The Next Stage Of Technology?
You’ve now got this thing that’s like a Swiss Army knife. Wherever I go, I can order an Uber or food or delivery or Amazon. But the next stage really seems to be engaging more in this sort of virtual world.
Is that true? What do you think?
Steve: I think so. And see that Big Tech also thinks the same way.
I mean, if you tuned in to Facebook’s recent earnings call and listened to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you heard him mention the metaverse 20 times. So, Facebook, for example, sees a future where it can project advertisements virtually when you wear a headset.
And, you know, if you can think it, you can do it. And if anything, that’s what technology has showed us for the last 20, 30 years.
So, yeah, I could see this being something that’s pretty popular in the next 10 years.
Ian: Right. And let’s talk about why this is becoming a reality.
I mean, I think the first key component of this is the fact that chips are getting much faster every year. I mean, Moore’s Law, which says that the speed of a computer chip is going to double every 18 months, isn’t happening as fast as it was.
But the chips from Nvidia and AMD are still getting faster and faster and also cheaper, which is why we can create these virtual worlds in an Oculus or some other type of augmented reality glasses.
Is that correct?
Steve: Right. Yeah, I mean, I guess you could say what we do with the technology is a function of how effective that technology is.
In the past, it’s really always been about how efficiently we can compute. So, with better equipment and cheaper equipment, we can perform more with less, kind of like we alluded to in other videos.
What may have taken years to do 20 years ago now takes a matter of a couple of minutes because we can compute so much faster. So, that drives innovation and really speeds up the timeline for everything that we’re doing.
Ian: I think the other component of this is the fact that we can now store data on blockchains.
And the thing that’s really important to think about is that you can have something that’s created digitally, which can be unique, and you can trace the provenance back to a certain blockchain.
So, you can buy a piece of digital real estate, like you can do in a Boston company called Decentraland, where you actually own real estate in a virtual world and you have a title to it. And I’ve seen that you can go into Decentraland, and it actually has real virtual real estate brokers that will sell you land and a storefront. You can buy a plot and build a house on it.
Now, Steve, you’re in the younger generation. Do you see your peers and other people investing in these types of ideas and digital world?
Steve: Honestly, it’s hard to say. I mean, it’s so new.
There definitely are people that are investing and spending top dollar to get, you know, what have historically been the best places to be in a physical world. They’re spending top dollar to get those places in a virtual world.
And with the blockchain, it’s really proof that they own those pieces of virtual property. So, I think as technology and these immersive experiences get better, which is inevitable, it adds weight to the idea of owning digital real estate.
If you can really feel like you’re at Niagara Falls, for example, that’s probably a very valuable piece of real estate to own. In a virtual world, you may even be able to charge rent on that experience, things of that nature. And like you said, the blockchain really legitimizes that process.
How To Invest In Metaverse
Ian: So, let’s talk about how viewers should think about investing in this space. Is there an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that somebody can buy into to give themselves exposure to the metaverse right now?
Steve: Yeah, there’s one that comes to mind. It’s the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF (NYSE: META).
It’s going to invest in a lot of the tech companies that are powering this trend. And it’s going to give you exposure to the companies that will likely spearhead the growth of the metaverse.
Ian: Cool, cool.
For myself and Steve Fernandez, I’m headed to the metaverse right now. We’ll see you next week. Thank you.
Regards,
Editor, Strategic Fortunes