Joseph Araneta Gamboa l June 28, 2023 l Business Mirror
Science fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” in 1992. He conjured it in his book titled Snow Crash, depicting a dystopian future world where rich people escape into an alternative, connected reality. In 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed the social media giant’s corporate name to Meta and announced that it would henceforth become a “metaverse company” with a utopian vision in which billions of people would inhabit immersive digital environments for hours on end —working, socializing, and playing games inside virtual and augmented worlds.
On the other hand, computer scientist Gavin Wood invented the term “Web 3.0” in 2014 to denote the next generation of the internet as a truly decentralized and more democratic version of the current Web 2.0, which is dominated by a handful of big players like Amazon and Microsoft. It has since been shortened to Web3, a recent buzzword used by high-profile techies such as Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk.
The convergence of Web3 and the metaverse could lead to a new era of digital innovation through the use of decentralized, secure protocols such as blockchain technology with a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. Both cutting-edge technologies would have a significant long-term impact on the future of connectivity since they are permission-less systems built on a peer-to-peer network of computers with no central authority in control.
Nowhere is this development more relevant than in the financial world. In 2022, more than 45 percent of finance apps were based on Web3 technology. The most successful example is the cryptocurrency market, where assets are stored in electronic wallets and stay under the total control of the users. Similarly, metaverse users can own virtual real estate and other digital assets, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can be traded within the platform.
AAG Ventures, a Web3 infrastructure company, has unveiled the MetaOne wallet that provides hassle-free, end-to-end crypto interactions. The Singapore-based firm focuses on providing software that helps simplify interactions with blockchain applications and the metaverse for both mainstream users and traditional companies.
Last week, AAG’s co-founder and CEO Jack Vinijtrongjit was in town to headline a forum on “The Web3 Revolution: Unlocking the Future” at the BGC Capital House in Taguig City. A serial entrepreneur and tech enthusiast with an extensive background in enterprise software architecture and development, he joined a startup in California’s Silicon Valley where he realized the power and complexity of integrating multiple systems.
Vinijtronghit said AAG Ventures is his fourth tech startup and he aims to make it the backbone of the Web3 economy as well as bring one billion people into the metaverse by 2030. When AGG launched the MetaOne wallet in the first quarter of 2023, security and usability were prioritized to make sure people felt comfortable engaging in the Web3 economy—buying crypto; swapping it across ethereum virtual machine (EVM) and non-EVM blockchains; and cashing it to fiat or local currency whenever they want.
According to the AAG team, another notable improvement for access is localization. “We have implemented a localization framework so that we can enable users to switch to their preferred languages starting with Indonesian, Filipino, and Vietnamese,” they explained. Many of the core team members come from Southeast Asia with degrees from universities in the United States, and two of the co-founders are Filipinos.
With MetaOne’s ZK technology, zero-knowledge proof verification of identity and asset ownership can be performed without compromising the privacy of the wallet owner. Users will never have to worry about which wallet contains a particular NFT or risk exposing the wallet address along with their other assets.
Indeed, Web3 and the metaverse offer tremendous opportunities which could lead to a virtual universe that is fully integrated with the internet—where users can seamlessly move between the physical and digital worlds.
*** Joseph Gamboa is the vice-chair of the Finex Ethics Committee and director of Noble Asia Industrial Corp. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions and the BusinessMirror. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph