The Metaverse Explained

Jun 23, 2025 | 5 min read

What is the Metaverse?

A metaverse is a virtual world for gamers and developers. Often the metaverse is a virtual world with digital infrastructure that can be accessed with special virtual reality equipment, but in many cases this is not necessary. The metaverse is an environment that is active 24 hours a day where users can interact with each other and play together.

Within the metaverse world, building is often possible and users can trade their items, constructions, and plots that they earn or create themselves in digital marketplaces. In some metaverses, digital objects can be stored and traded as NFTs.

Some metaverses aim for decentralization through DAOs and blockchain technology, which means that everything that happens is determined by the users and not by a central entity. Everyone is free to develop new games and trade freely with other users. Additionally, the decentralized infrastructure offers the possibility to bring attributes (NFTs) to other metaverse-like virtual environments simply by linking your crypto wallet with another world. You need to link your crypto wallet to the metaverse in order to play. Your crypto wallet is therefore your account.

Within the metaverse, you create your own character (avatar). This is a virtual representation of yourself. This helps you to be recognizable to other users.

Key Takeaways

The metaverse is a virtual world with real economies, where users can build, communicate, and trade in virtual worlds.
Through blockchain and DAOs, many metaverses attempt to give users more control over the world they are active in, in a decentralized way.
The metaverse offers opportunities for businesses and education. Organizations can build virtual offices, advertise, or provide training in digital worlds, giving the metaverse business and educational applications.
The metaverse provides space for building games, worlds, and digital objects that can be traded via smart contracts.

How does the Metaverse work?

The metaverse is built with blockchain technology. This means that executing transactions, creating new things, and interacting with other users can take place thanks to the blockchain on which it is built. The transactions made are stored on the blockchain (a digital ledger). This happens in a secure way and everything you do is immutable. The blockchain is a transparent environment where data is easy to find.

Economy within the metaverse

Players and developers can truly earn digital money in the form of tokens, which they can use to trade items such as NFTs. In the metaverse, there is a real economy. Additionally, the metaverse offers opportunities for companies, such as software and hardware providers, hosting companies, and app developers, to earn money with the metaverse. Because the metaverse is an online world that mimics reality, companies can even advertise there. You often see large companies buying land in the metaverse to advertise or open virtual reality stores where, for example, you can try on clothes or discuss banking matters. Examples are Adidas and Gucci, both of which have bought land in The Sandbox, as well as the bank JPMorgan, which has bought land in Decentraland.

There are also numerous companies investing in the metaverse by investing in metaverse development projects or building a virtual world themselves, such as Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, which created the game Horizon Worlds.

For creative developers, the metaverse is ideal. They have the freedom to realize all their wild ideas and build the coolest projects, such as the most beautiful buildings but also small games in the metaverse. The blockchain offers many possibilities here, such as tokenizing objects, but also enabling earning tokens (cryptocurrencies) by playing. In this way, both participants and developers can benefit from the freedom and opportunities of the metaverse.

Everything participants earn can be used in-game or traded on metaverse marketplaces, where players can buy new attributes like weapons and clothing or purchase land. When you own land, you have the right to do whatever you want with it. This makes the metaverse a very diverse world where every piece of land is unique.

The Metaverse in our daily lives

The metaverse could play an important role in our daily lives in the future. Much is already happening online. Just look at our digital social contact on social media channels or online shopping. We are more active than ever on the internet. This does not seem to change. What might evolve is our online behavior towards Web3, where blockchain technology is the new internet. The increasing popularity of blockchain and especially the metaverse could cause more and more people to find their way to the metaverse and make it the daily norm. Companies are already investing in the metaverse to prepare for this.

Where the metaverse could play an important role:

Social contact: Increasing popularity could lead to social contact in the metaverse. It could replace part of our contact on social media, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. People can meet in the metaverse, communicate, and perform activities together, like building new things or going to the cinema. Additionally, the metaverse could be the ideal place to meet new people, which can lead to new friendships and relationships.
Business: The metaverse could also become interesting for businesses in the future. In a world where remote work and working from home are becoming the new norm in some sectors, the metaverse could play an important role. Where you currently communicate online via email or online services like Microsoft Teams, the metaverse makes it possible to meet in a digital office. Companies could choose to buy a piece of land and build a corporate building on it with meeting rooms and offices. This could prevent companies from having to rent expensive ‘real’ office spaces but still create an environment where colleagues can come together.
Economy: The metaverse could also influence online sales. While people currently mostly shop via webshops and visit physical stores, the metaverse could be a suitable place for companies to offer their products as the metaverse gains popularity. Some companies already build showrooms in the metaverse, like clothing stores. Here players can buy in-game items but also real clothes that can be shipped to their homes. Cryptocurrencies play an important role in this. Purchases made within the metaverse are paid via crypto and stored on the blockchain.
Education and training: When you think of an online world, you do not immediately think of education. Yet the metaverse could be a place where digital schools and training providers actively offer their services. The metaverse offers the possibility to build online classes, create simulations, and conduct virtual workshops.

Development of new metaverse projects

A lot of work is being done on developing new metaverse projects by the blockchain industry, but also by renowned companies that see opportunities and believe that the metaverse will play an important role in the future.

Various developers are creating unique virtual worlds where people can play, communicate, and collaborate. This also means building an infrastructure in which different decentralized virtual worlds can seamlessly work together and creating applications and tools that developers can use for their own content. Advanced technological innovations are applied to make this possible, such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and, thanks to the rapid rise of AI, also artificial intelligence.

For development, existing functionalities of, for example, the Ethereum and Solana blockchains are used. You often see new projects focusing on creating a virtual world where users can buy and sell in-game attributes via DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and smart contracts with crypto.

Besides the development of new virtual worlds, there are also companies that only invest in using existing metaverses. They invest in commercial applications such as virtual advertisements, digital stores, and even create job opportunities within the metaverse.

In short, the metaverse is used by various initiatives because they all see the potential of the metaverse. Below is a description of which major tech companies and blockchain projects all use the metaverse in their own way.

Large Tech Companies Building the Metaverse

Meta (formerly Facebook) - develops a broad metaverse ecosystem around Horizon Worlds, leveraging AI technology to make virtual interactions and worlds smarter and more realistic.
Apple - fully commits to spatial computing with the Apple Vision Pro, building a seamless mixed reality experience where hardware, software, and user interaction converge.
Microsoft - focuses on the business metaverse with solutions like Mesh for Teams and HoloLens, collaborating with industries to improve virtual collaboration.
Google - invests in AR and VR technology via ARCore and projects such as Project Starline, aiming to foster immersive communication and virtual connectivity.
Nvidia - develops the Omniverse platform as a digital infrastructure for building industrial, scientific, and creative metaverse environments.
Sony - expands its influence in the virtual entertainment world through PlayStation VR2 and partnerships with immersive metaverse content developers.
Epic Games - builds an open and accessible metaverse with Unreal Engine and the ongoing evolution of Fortnite, where developers, brands, and players come together.
Roblox - continues to position itself as a youth-focused metaverse with a thriving user-driven economy and tools for players to create their own worlds.

Blockchain Projects Building Their Own Metaverse

ApeCoin - serves as the currency within Yuga Labs’ Otherside universe, a large-scale metaverse project based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem.
Decentraland (MANA) - was one of the first decentralized virtual worlds, where users can own land, build, and participate in a DAO-based economy.
Axie Infinity (AXS) - evolves as a play-to-earn game universe where players can generate income through NFTs and battles.
The Sandbox (SAND) - offers a virtual land platform with strong brand partnerships, including Adidas, Gucci, and Warner Music, focused on creation, ownership, and gamification.
Enjin Coin (ENJ) - focuses on integrating NFTs within games, enabling secure trading and use of digital items across various metaverse projects.
Render Network (RNDR) - provides decentralized GPU computing power to metaverse developers, enabling efficient rendering of complex 3D worlds.
Illuvium - combines AAA-quality graphics with blockchain technology in an open-world game connecting multiple worlds and user experiences.
Somnium Space - is a VR-focused metaverse where users can buy land, build content, and experience fully immersive environments through blockchain.
NetVRk - offers a toolbox for easily building virtual worlds and promotes creative expression through a blockchain-based ecosystem.
MyNeighborAlice - combines game elements like farming and land management with NFT ownership, targeting a more casual, social user experience within the metaverse.

Metaverse Advantages and Disadvantages

The metaverse is a technology that offers many benefits to players, developers, and businesses. However, there are also disadvantages to consider. Below, the pros and cons are listed side by side.

ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
The metaverse allows users to meet new people and play together with friends.	Although the blockchain is secure and transparent, there is a risk of collecting personal data and privacy breaches. Always carefully check who built a world and whether special conditions apply.
Thanks to the metaverse, you have access to different virtual worlds, each with its own forms of entertainment. Due to decentralized access, you can always log in regardless of your location.	The metaverse is virtual and therefore not real. Users might lose themselves in the online world and become unable to distinguish it from the real world.
Businesses can use the metaverse to promote their products, but it also offers new job opportunities and the possibility to open a digital office where employees can collaborate from home.	All contact is online. This means you do not speak to people face-to-face. It can feel safe, which might lead you to avoid 'real' contact in the future. Be aware of this. After all, you still have a life outside the metaverse.
The possibilities of the metaverse are endless. Developers can build entire economies as well as new games and in-game assets, such as buildings and clothing, which can then be traded on online marketplaces.
Thanks to the ability to buy virtual land, anyone can participate and create their own things.
Schools and training providers could use the metaverse for educating their students. Regardless of location, everyone could attend lessons.

Final thoughts

The metaverse is an emerging digital technology with great potential. It offers users new forms of interaction, creativity, and economic activity. Through the use of blockchain technology, ownership and interaction are managed in a transparent and secure way. However, there are also drawbacks, such as privacy risks and the possibility that users may lose themselves in the virtual world. The success of the metaverse will also depend heavily on the level of adoption by the general public and businesses. The more people use the technology, the more valuable and functional the ecosystem becomes. At the same time, dependency on digital infrastructure grows, requiring conscious decisions regarding use and regulation. The success of the metaverse will depend on how well we combine technological opportunities with responsible usage.