The metaverse is expected to grow to more than $426 billion by 2027, leading more organizations, venture capitalists, and brands to the immersive virtual world. The possibilities of the metaverse for payment enterprises are coming into focus, with embedded finance, open banking, and banking-as-a-service potentially benefiting from it. However, businesses venturing into the metaverse must overcome infrastructure challenges and prioritize building platforms that can earn customer trust and gain adoption. Investments in infrastructure must ensure smooth consumer experiences and instill checks and balances to fend off cyber risks. Businesses must make their payment platforms in the metaverse as user-friendly and trustworthy as possible to ensure widespread adoption.
One of the most valuable possibilities of the metaverse is that it could pave the way for consumers from emerging markets to access this marketplace, promoting inclusivity for underbanked consumers. The virtual world could help level the playing field in markets where financial inclusion is poor, creating new revenue streams and consumers that payment providers can tap into. APAC and Latin America are experiencing unprecedented e-commerce growth as the number of unbanked consumers continues to decline, presenting possibilities for the opening of a much larger market in the metaverse. Additionally, businesses must decide whether to build their own robust platforms or partner with others that already have a presence in the metaverse. Cooperation instead of competition can be beneficial for businesses to move money around, get access to different payment methods, and comply with local regulations.
Widespread uptake of the metaverse will depend on consumer trust, and as a result, building bulletproof platforms and protecting user privacy become crucial. Businesses that prioritize these measures will have the most to gain in the still unknown and uncertain virtual world.
