metaverse special Organisation (DAO). Instead of having a centralised authority that governs the operations of a platform, by using a DAO, Web 3.0 technologies and communities provide a form of self-governance. TheWeb 3.0 economy fundamentally works with cryptocurrencies. The ability to pay for goods and services with a decentralised form of payment is enabled across Web 3.0 with the use of tokens, which are all built and enabled on top of blockchain technology. Web 3.0 enables a growing number of different types of new applications and services to power the new digital economy including Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs), decentralised finance (DeFi), decentralised applications (dApps) and bridges that enable interoperability between different blockchain platforms. Why is the metaverse such a big draw and what are your hopes for it? The metaverse is The Next Internet. Combining web 3.0 with the power of the metaverse will bring monumental change to how we work, play, socialise, watch, and learn. The concept of the metaverse is not new and we can trace its origins back to the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash which was authored by Neal Stephenson and is a must-read. In fact, gamers have been interacting with each other on gaming and social gaming platforms within animated worlds where users represent themselves through an avatar. The metaverse is an always-on, 3-dimensional virtual world for immersive multi-sensory experiences where users and their avatars can explore a vast number of experiences in real-time irrespective of their physical location. Goldman Sachs predicts that the metaverse is an $8 trillion opportunity in terms of monetisation and revenue generation and I firmly believe in the scale of the marketplace, give or take a trillion. Although I am certain that the metaverse and web 3.0 will take time to mature and gain mainstream traction, there is already evidence of major brands such as Nike and Gucci starting to experiment with the sale of NFTs in collaboration with major social gaming platforms. My hope is that we see exciting new companies being born within the metaverse that will become the new unicorns within the next 5 years and I sincerely hope that Metapolis is in this group. What excites you most about web3, the metaverse and the potential of Metapolis? Firstly, I must tell you that we must stop speaking about metaverses; this is not a plural space in my opinion. Different players will build different venues within one single metaverse (note: singular) as individuals and companies build the equivalent of immersive websites which utilise the power of web 3.0 infrastructure. At Metaverse, we call these venues ‘cities and domes’ and are working with emerging and established brands to provide a service whereby we build these venues with cuttingedge technology, beautiful design and useable back-end services that are enabled by the underlying blockchain. Our business model is best described as Metaverse-as-aService or MaaS. I am currently working with luxury brands across the fashion, automobile, wine and jewellery sectors to experiment with venues designed by Metapolis through the creation of multi-sensory experiences hosted within the metaverse where we can bridge between digital and physical experiences for the consumer. Our proprietary technology allows for the creation of life-like 3-dimensional spaces where a user’s avatar can interact with other avatars, across the globe, in real-time to experience events that showcase a brand’s products in an engaging way that is not possible in Web 2.0. Unlike most metaverse companies, we are not merely selling digital real estate. Rather we are building an interoperable standard for metaverse onboarding, the avatar linked to identity, MaaS for ease of onboarding for brands to not be left behind with all the tech knowledge required. My vision, which has evolved in a linear fashion, is for a world where I can join up the ventures which I have created in order to create an entire ecosystem of industries that also work with other ecosystems openly and transparently. What are the most important lessons your career and work have taught you? I do hope to write a book on this specific question at some point in the future when I eventually 16
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