Looking to Power the Metaverse Through NFTs and Decentralized Sustainable Computing? Enter The Cudos Network

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The metaverse hopes to introduce a world unconfined by the boundaries of reality. 

Much like hacker and pizza delivery driver Hiro Protagonist in Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash,” you too can lead that double life, sifting through the metaverse with an air of purpose and determination. Through a neatly packaged digitized self, you socialize, shop and commune. For the first time, you exist beyond just your physical confines, and in front of you lies a world of possibility.

Many share this entrancing vision of the metaverse, but the concept is not without its problems and limitations.

An Intel Corp. INTC report sheds light on one of them. In the report, Raja Kouri, general manager of Intel’s Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group, warns that “our computing, storage and networking infrastructure today is simply not enough to enable” this idea of the metaverse. In a tone that demands a reality check, he notes that “truly persistent and immersive computing will require a 1,000-times increase in computational efficiency from today’s state of the art.”

A Market Research Future (MRFR) report places a 41.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) on the metaverse market by 2030, but some critics are placing spotlights on the sustainability issues contingent with this rising demand. Recent reports from Kazakhstan and Iceland, for example, indicate that blockchain-powered transactions have gotten so intense they require power-plant shutdowns, while a University of Cambridge report showed that the energy consumption of blockchain-powered transactions was equivalent to that of countries like Argentina, Finland, and Switzerland.

Digging further, Facebook’s rebranding to Meta Platforms Inc. FB and the corporate world’s infatuation with the metaverse introduce yet another threat to the metaverse’s growth: centralization. Advocates of the importance of decentralization note that authoritative capabilities held within the hands of a few conglomerates may bottleneck the metaverse’s economy, which relies heavily on the fluidity with which users can monetize and transfer content.

“The extent to which this [centralization] will impact the development of applications and hardware that will power the ecosystem is yet unclear,” according to Cudos. “But if you cannot show off your $3,000 avatar from Somnium or Decentraland in a metaverse built on a hyper-regulated Facebook-owned ecosystem, well, what is the point?”

Aside from this succinct summary, Cudos aims to provide a potential solution to the metaverse’s computing, sustainability, and centralization issues. 

What Is the Cudos Network, and How Might it Help the Metaverse?

Cudos reports that it unites cloud and blockchain and uses spare computing to create a decentralized, sustainable and connected world — a blend of solutions seemingly suited for the version of the metaverse the world wants.

Take the centralization issue as an example. All nodes on the Cudos blockchain are connected but not controlled by a single authority. This model mitigates the threats arising from Microsoft Inc. MSFT, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, and Nvidia Corp. NVDA’s highly centralized metaverse offerings.

Cudos’ solution arises from a clever observation: The company notes that up to $1 trillion is spent on information technology (IT) hardware annually, yet this hardware sits idle about 50% of the time.

By connecting blockchain developers and services to this global pool of computing power, Cudos claims to provide a global network that’s up to 10 times more cost-effective than others. This cost-effectiveness reportedly comes at no opportunity cost, as the Cudos Network holds the ability to power computationally demanding initiatives like the metaverse, decentralized finance, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

With recent partnerships with NFT-gaming company Cornucopias and mobile company Tingo, the Cudos Network hopes to shape its infrastructure for the future of the metaverse.

Metaverse advocates can learn more and register their interest on the Cudo Compute website.

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