Money in the Metaverse

A new transaction space for new financial services.

Dateline: Woking, 15th January 2023.

Over on Wall Street, JP Morgan says that the demand for using cryptocurrencies as payment methods was falling off even before the current explosion of crypto catastrophes. I have to say that I am unconvinced that the demand was ever there. Most people hold cryptocurrency as a speculative asset and where it is used for payments it is generally converted to fiat currency for transactions.

Meanwhile, over on Main Street, the Walmart CTO Suresh Kumar says that crypto will become an important payment tool across the metaverse and social media, areas of great interest to retailers because these are where customers will find and learn about new products.

What these statements from people who ought to know what they are talking about seem to mean is that no-one will be paying with Bitcoin in the future and that everyone will be paying with Bitcoin in the future. Is there a conflict between the views of Wall Street and Main Street?

Well, it depends (as so many of these things do) on what you think “crypto” is.