Blockchain’s Role in Metaverse Trust and Transactions

The metaverse is a new technology which promises to enhance human-to-computer interaction and achieve an immersive experience in computing and communication. In parallel, blockchain is viewed by many as a pillar of trust in creating a secure and decentralized metaverse. In this paper, we first articulate the functionalities required by a simple metaverse use case, and then examine the challenges an strengths of a blockchain-based implementation in providing those functions. Our analysis shows that blockchain-based solutions may require centralized functions in name lookup, lacks assurance for name uniqueness and accessible data authentication as of now, and faces scalability challenges due to the high demand on computing and storage resources.