Citi predicts that the global market for metaverse economies could reach $8 trillion to $13 trillion by 2030. The global bank also predicts that five billion metaverse users will be reached by 2030.
Citizen says the Metaverse is a potential $8 Trillion-$13 Trillion opportunity
Citi has released a new Global Perspectives & Solutions report (Citi GPS), titled “Metaverse Money: Decrypting The Future”. The bank is the world’s largest and has around 200 million customers. It also does business in over 160 countries and jurisdictions.
The report, which is 184 pages long, explains various aspects of the metaverse. These include the definition of a metaverse, its infrastructure, digital assets (including non-fungible tokens) in it; money and defi (decentralized financing) in it; and regulatory developments that affect the metaverse.
Citi spoke out about the size of the metaverse’s economy.
Citi noted that “a device-agnostic universe accessible via PCs and game consoles could result in an extremely large ecosystem,” Citi wrote.
The total market addressable for the metaverse economy is estimated to grow to $8 trillion and $13 trillion in 2030, according to our estimates.
Citi also stated in the report that it believes there could be five billion metaverse users.
Ronit Ghose, co-author of the report, is the global head for Banking, Fintech & Digital Assets, Citi Global Insights.
The report’s experts indicate that there are up to 5 billion users, depending on whether you use a broad definition (mobile phones user base) or a more narrow definition (VR/AR device owner base). We adopt the former.
The report also details how users could access the metaverse. The authors stated that “Consumer hardware makers will be portals into the metaverse and possible gatekeepers.” Similar to today, there will be a split between the U.S./international metaverse and the China/ firewall-based metaverse. There will also likely to be a spectrum based upon technology and business model, i.e. metaverse centralization or decentralization.
The report also reveals that the “metaverse of the future” would include more digitally-native tokens, but traditional money would still be embedded.
Money in the metaverse can come in many forms: in-game tokens and stablecoins, central banks digital currencies (CBDCs), and cryptos.
Citi reports that digital assets and NFTs in the metaverse will allow sovereign ownership for users/owners. They are also tradeable, composable and immutable and most importantly interoperable.”
The authors also looked at what metaverse regulation might look like. They predicted that “If the metaverse(s), is the new iteration on the internet, it would attract great scrutiny by global regulators as well as policymakers.”
They also warned that “all the challenges of the Web2 Internet could be magnified within the metaverse, like content moderation and free speech and privacy.”
A blockchain-based metaverse will also help to keep up with the constantly evolving laws regarding cryptocurrencies and decentralized financing (defi), in many jurisdictions around world.
Global investment bank Goldman Sachs predicted that the metaverse could offer an opportunity worth as high as $8 trillion in January. Morgan Stanley, another major investment bank, also predicted the same amount for the metaverse last November. Bank of America stated that the metaverse presents a huge opportunity for the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem.
