Making The Metaverse — Will Decentralization Prevail?

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The metaverse is perhaps the most talked-about digital frontier this year. 

Companies like Nike Inc. NKE and Walt Disney Co. DIS are investing millions in their versions of the concept. Brands believe the virtual world could be an opportunity for even more monetization than the current iteration of the internet. If this version of the metaverse dominates, the scale of data collection may dwarf what exists today.

Arguably leading the charge for this corporatized version of the metaverse is the new iteration of Facebook, Meta Platforms Inc. FB.

Meta, along with big tech giants like Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL and Microsoft Corp. MSFT, exert a surprising amount of control on the internet today. The vast majority of apps used on a daily basis rely on server farms run by these companies to operate.

Many say they wish to innovate past this centralized iteration. As the metaverse comes into being, the push toward a decentralized structure may become critical to empowering people as opposed to corporations. It could also help protect against some critical security vulnerabilities that exist in centralized systems.

The company Cudo Ventures says that it has created Cudos to address exactly this. Cudo Ventures describes Cudos as a decentralized cloud computing platform that is intended to be the backbone of the metaverse. Harnessing the power of the blockchain, the network is hosted on systems across the globe, not in concentrated server farms owned by a handful of companies.

Ownership may be fundamental to the future. Who owns data, identities, valuable items, and money is one of the important issues in question. With a centralized vision of the metaverse, a non-fungible token (NFT), for instance, may not end up really being owned by an individual because it’s controlled by the company that owns the servers it’s hosted on. With Cudo’s decentralized structure, according to the company, true ownership is retained.

Another issue with the current structure of walled-gardens like Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc. AAPL is that it requires users to trust these platforms and third parties with their data and information. In the metaverse that information could be quite specific and even more valuable, which is precisely why Cudo believes users themselves should be in control of their information The most effective way to achieve this, according to Cudo, is through a decentralized platform like the one they’re building.

Which version of the virtual future comes to pass remains to be seen, but with the efforts of individuals and companies like Cudo from across the globe, a decentralized metaverse that is meant to serve the people who use it seems possible.

If you’d like to know more about the project, check out https://www.cudos.org/

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice.

Photo by Richard Horvath on Unsplash