Payments, Payment Rails, and Blockchains, and the Metaverse — MatthewBall.co

And if a user wants to move their on-platform money to their bank account, they must typically pay 1% (up to $10) for it to arrive same-day, or otherwise wait two to three days (during which the platform collects interest).

Throughout this primer, the Metaverse has been positioned as both a successor state to the mobile internet, as well as a platform for human leisure, labor, and existence at large. The success of this vision depends on whether the Metaverse has a thriving economy.

In theory, the virtual world should have “better” payment rails than the “real world.” After all, its economy primarily involves goods that only exist virtually, which are bought via purely digital (and thus low marginal cost) transactions, and are, for the most part, $5–100 each. This economy is also large. Roughly $54B was spent on virtual goods,... See more

Payments is defined as “The support of digital payment processes, platforms, and operations, which includes fiat on-ramps (a form of digital currency exchange) to pure-play digital currencies and financial services, including cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, and other blockchain technologies.”

To maintain control, each hardware platform gatekeeps or cripples potentially competitive Metaverse-related technologies.

Beyond various platform fees, the Metaverse economy is adversely affected by the policy decisions of various virtual platforms and publishers. These policies make it harder for users to spend money, maroons user spending, penalizes users for spending diversity and or using multiple platforms, and limits the utility of all purchases and constrains t... See more

But in truth, the “rails” of the “virtual economy” today are much worse than those of the “real world.” They’re more expensive, cumbersome, and slow to change.

The very premise of the Metaverse presumes that the “next” platform shifts from hardware-based operating systems and hardware-centric experiences to persistent and ubiquitous virtual simulations.

It also becomes far more difficult and costly for a developer to build on a public blockchain, then cut themselves and/or their experiences off from it once successful

when a business is paid, 1.5–3% transaction fees to the business are common.