The Case Against Crypto In The Metaverse
This newsletter has already asked the question of whether cryptocurrencies will take center stage in the metaverse , but this question is worth revisiting.
The argument in favor of cryptocurrency is that this technology is the only way to protect the right to digital property. As Andres Horavik points out about the "core components" of the metaverse, "true digital property rights were impossible before the advent of related innovations such as cryptography, blockchain technology, and NFTs." Consider the recent real estate metauniverse craze: An NFT is a certificate of authenticity that acts as a "document" for a person's "home." This principle can be applied to everything from your avatar's clothing to your virtual machine to anything used in a virtual world.
But Minecraft, one of the largest meta-like spaces, has outright banned NFTs, accusing them of being a funding device "incompatible with the long-term joy and success of its players." Is it cutting edge or ahead of the curve?
I spoke with investor, entrepreneur, founder of relationship counseling program Relationship Hero, and outspoken cryptoskeptic and Twitter boxer Liron Shapira to assess the relative merits of the claims made by defenders of the Web3 metaverse.
"It's a classic case of abstract reasoning that sounds like it makes sense on an abstract level, but then when you unpack it and get more concrete, it melts away," Shapiro said of the argument that blockchain is the key to functional compatibility. and the dominance of Greater Freedom technology over our data. “It's nice to think, what if you don't trust [these companies]? But in practice it doesn't matter much... Their examples are unconvincing."
A good example of Shapira's argument was a January debate with Balaji Srinivasan, a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz (and former CTO of Coinbase), who argued that blockchain is a world-changing technology. Shapiro asked Srinivasan why he should use blockchain for accounting or fundraising when things like DocuSign and Kickstarter are doing well. Sophisticated payment systems already exist for digital financial transactions; Why add another layer of confusion based on "portfolio"? (Srinivasan's counterargument: The programmable nature of blockchains makes them uniquely valuable for facilitating the flow of money and increasing the number of possible transactions.)
But you don't have to be a complete crypto geek like Srinivasan to see these technologies as complementary. When I spoke with Matthew Ball about the publication of The Metaverse, a book that describes both the pros and cons of Web3 integration and the metaverse, he said he sees the technology's potential to make users less dependent on large corporations. . but he sympathizes with players and other consumers who see it as just a money-making scheme (as did the developers of "Minecraft" when they announced the ban on NFTs).
Given the downturn in the market and the possibility of increased regulatory pressure, it is not just players who are suffering from the reputation of cryptocurrency. In light of this, it's easy to imagine that huge corporations don't count (especially given Meta's troubled history with cryptocurrencies).
The best argument for cryptocurrency being a tool for the metaverse can be made every day, everywhere, but virtual real estate is more of a speculative cannon than a shock app like Google Maps or Facebook. A new use may emerge, but as these two technologies evolve, their relationship becomes less interdependent and more old-fashioned.
mixingThe Treasury Department today sanctioned one of the world's largest cryptocurrency mixers, Tornado Cash, for its role in helping North Korean hackers (and others) launder stolen money .
What is a "crypto mixer"? A helpful explanation from Ars Technica describes them as "linking user deposits and withdrawals" by pooling large sums of user funds and then allowing users to withdraw the initial amount they deposited. , But not that deposit. There are legitimate reasons for wanting to protect someone's privacy, but it's also a clear opportunity for large-scale money laundering.
And Tornado Cash was huge: As POLITICO's Eric Geller revealed to Pro subscribers today, the Treasury Department is accusing North Korean hackers of laundering $455 million worth of Ethereum through a service stolen in a March heist. (And more than $7 billion in total.) Tornado Cash also isn't the first blender to get slapped for launching such a service since Blender.io in May.
A senior Treasury official told Eric that the effort is aimed at "sending a strong signal" to crypto companies with very weak intelligence-gathering capabilities.
afternoon teaNow is the time for a long-awaited update from DFD's "future history" department : this time from the literary world.
As part of my day off down the Wikipedia rabbit hole, I read Thomas Pynchon's October 28, 1984 New York Times book review Is It Good to Be a Luddite? I came across his essay. postmodern literature addresses the role that anti-technologists have traditionally played in shaping our technological and scientific culture, providing catharsis for those who feel disoriented or overwhelmed by "progress": think of Frankenstein's monster born of human hubris. I'm trying to play God.
The essay makes some surprisingly optimistic assumptions about the "computer age," noting that "there is a growing consensus that knowledge really is power, that money and information represent a fairly simple conversion, and that if the logistics can be worked out, miracles possible". anything is still possible,” including the recent rapprochement between so-called Luddites and techno-optimists. (So much for that.)
Pynchon also alludes to the potential for such a modern Promethean moment in a prison essay where he notes that “if our world is to survive, the next big challenge will center, as you heard here for the first time, on crooked research and artificial intelligence. , molecular biology and robotics. "Development is one".
Which sounds like Blade Runner (a film that was only two years old at the time of this essay's publication). But in debates about how humans will respond to artificial intelligence, the ethics of genetic engineering, or the meaning of the word "work" in an automated world, those curves have fallen even higher than in Pynchon's work, if not to such an explosive convergence. as you can imagine. Not much has been heard from either author in recent years, but perhaps it's not too much of a stretch to expect the themes to be explored in another Dark Ages novel.
in the following 5 linksContact the entire team: Ben Schreckinger ([email protected]); Derek Robertson ([email address protected]); Konstantin Kakaes ([email protected]); and Heidi Vogt ([email address protected]). Follow us on Twitter @DigitalFuture.
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