The word “metaverse” was coined by legendary science fiction author Neal Stephenson back in 1992. In his book Snow Crash, he described a future where humans live inside a massive 3D computer network and interact with each other using avatars. Stephenson proposed a metaverse within our own world, but they were tied together. Actions in the alternate version of the world would impact this one, and vice versa. This idea has intrigued people ever since, inspiring countless variations on the theme over the years. But most had one thing in common: They were all centralized, which means that one entity could control the metaverse and everything in it, including people’s virtual identities, and even erase them. The Blockchain Metaverse That changed in 2013 when Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin published a white paper proposing what’s now commonly called a “world computer” — with digital interactions based on distributed blockchain technology rather than conventional centralized servers. Besides enabling applications like decentralized finance and transparent voting, Ethereum enables decentralized metaverses like Next Earth. Instead of having just one server hosting simulated worlds, this new model allows anyone, anywhere to truly own their virtual assets and identity, without fear of centralized censorship or seizure. Why are Decentralized Metaverses Better? Decentralized systems don’t have any single point of failure. They can be co...
