The Metaverse – built from virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality – is arriving via wearable headsets that have cameras, microphones, speakers, sensors and communications built in. These spatial computing technologies create new social and economic connections, and while some of these connections are virtual, the business implications are very real. The authors set out the potential for financial services in metaverses and the ‘always-on’ immersive future internet, beginning with a look at the key technologies needed to make these metaverses useful for businesses. They then go on to explore the emerging realities in which new markets will function and the digital assets that will be exchanged in transactions between online identities. The book develops a comprehensive and practical model of the Metaverse and the nature of those new transactions in a business environment. It has a clear view of virtual worlds and it provides both a simple taxonomy for digital assets and a tried-and-tested model of digital identity that will provide a better understanding of the opportunities that exist in the many metaverses where we will work, rest and play in the near future.

Victoria Richardson has spent more than twenty-five years working with payment and identity technologies. She has advised a range of companies – from start-ups to major banks, telcos and government bodies – on the business implications of technology change.