Blockchain-Driven Networking and Communications in the Metaverse

The emergence of the Metaverse as a 3D virtual world has introduced new challenges in networking, communications, and security. As the Metaverse continues to evolve, protecting users’ digital content and personal data has become a critical concern. Blockchain, with its decentralized, immutable, and transparent features, offers a promising solution to address these challenges. This paper provides a comprehensive review of blockchain applications in the Metaverse. We examine blockchain’s role in data acquisition, storage, sharing, interoperability, and privacy preservation, alongside its impact on enabling technologies such as IoT, digital twins, AI, and big data. Finally, we identify future research directions to foster innovation in integrating blockchain with the Metaverse.