=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3869/p05
|storemode=property
|title=An Analysis of the State of Art of the Metaverse and Its
Disruptive Impact on Services
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3869/p05.pdf
|volume=Vol-3869
|authors=Andrea Cigliano,Francesca Fallucchi,Marco Gerardi
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/icyrime/CiglianoFG24a
}}
==An Analysis of the State of Art of the Metaverse and Its
Disruptive Impact on Services==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3869/p05.pdf
An Analysis of the State of Art of the Metaverse and Its
Disruptive Impact on Services
Andrea Cigliano1 , Francesca Fallucchi1,2 and Marco Gerardi1
1
Department of Engineering Science, Guglielmo Marconi University, 00193 Rome, Italy
2
Leibniz Institute for Educational Media, Georg Eckert Institute, 38118 Brunswick, Germany
Abstract
The metaverse is a virtual environment where individuals may connect with one another, partake in a variety of activities, and access
digital content. It coexists with the real world and it has the potential to significantly affect daily life as well as a variety of services and
applications as it develops. To understand the importance of the impacts of the metaverse in today’s society, just think of the disruptive
technologies that enable it: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Extended Reality (ER), IoT, Digital Twin (DT) and Blockchain/NFT all with
assistance with the availability of large, rich and structured/unstructured dataset and advanced computational models. Metaverse is
cadidated (and not only) to redefine everyday life, designing activities and services/products provisioning towards increasing efficiencies,
money saving and quality performance, with a big impact in everyone and helping the design and testing of next generation of internet.
However, there still remain not only technical and interoperability issues but above all ethical, human, social, and cultural concerns as
to the metaverse’s influence upon its prospective scope in reconstructing the quality of urban life. This paper undertakes an upper-level
scientific literature review of the area of the metaverse from a broader perspective. Further, it maps the some services and the relative
requirements for declinate the enabling technologies of the metaverse, and explores their contributions.
Keywords
Metaverse, DT: Digital Twin, ER: Extended Reality, VR: Virtual Reality, Blockchain, Nft, Quantum Computing, IOT, LLM: Large Language
Model, NLP: Natural Language Model, GenI: Generative Artificial Intelligence, DH: Digital Humanity, AI: Artificial Intelligence
1. Introduction as you" [7]. Putting the various definitions as a common
factor, metaverse means a collective, persistent and interac-
Recent investments and disinvestments by big tech and tive parallel reality created by synthesizing virtual worlds
some large companies in the metaverse have been seen as a in which people can use personal avatars to work, play and
vital sign that the internet will transform and take on a new communicate with each other [8]. For this research we con-
dimension. After the Covid-19 pandemic, people have to ducted a literature search on a variety of online scientific
stay at home and perform many activities in digital environ- database sources and analyzed which services in real life
ments, which has accelerated the digitalization process. The could be impacted by the metaverse is treated in the fields
recent energy crisis has accelerated the process of develop- of iot, energy, smart cities and other related collateral areas.
ing alternative energy sources or more sustainable distribu- Every service has requirements in term of QOS (Quality Of
tion and consumption [1, 2, 3, 4]. The new internet design Services) [9] . These requirements and relative QOS have
is planned to be developed to support a permanent digital enabling technologies associated for the respect of its.
world where thousands and millions of people can act simul-
taneously and switch between different platforms. However,
problems such as the management of energy resources and
1.1. Contributions
equipment products that will support the necessary infras- We will describe metaverse current background, which helps
tructure need to be overcome. In this context, this paper us explain why is a hot topic just now, despite having being
intends to give is the state of the art of the development of around for long time. We highlight current overview on
the metaverse, with particular regard to the technologies scientific pubblications on metaverse. We will further high-
used and the academic publications carried out in the re- light why, this time, the context is radically different from
search areas related to Metaverse, Energy and Smart Cities. what we experienced in the past: that is, why the upcoming
As a first step is a brief conceptualization and definition of metaverse instances could represent something semanti-
the Metaverse. Basically it is a combination of the prefix cally different from what we have seen in the technology
"meta" (meaning beyond) and the suffix "verso" (short for domain until now (an approximated answer: exponential
Universe), if we wanted to define it, it is a composite world technology growth; unprecedented capabilities in data gen-
with a coherent value system and an independent economic eration, collection, and analysis; and, convergence of the
system linked to the world physicist. The term metaverse cyber-physical worlds). Based on the introduced founda-
was first created by Neal Stephenson in his science fiction tional material we develop our vision of the metaverse, high-
novel Snow Crash in 1992. Herrman and Browning define it lighting the metaverse-enabling technologies in particular
as “a fully realized digital world that exists beyond the ana- on developing energy and smart city services. Finally, in our
log one we live in” [5]; Morgado explained it as "a plethora discussion we argument the thesis that the exposed threats
of interconnected world" [6]. Meta Platforms, Inc. Bosworth and the envisaged impacts generated by the development of
and Clegg (2021) describe it most simply: "The metaverse the metaverse call for an interdisciplinary approach where
is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore computer science and engineering are critical.
with other people who are not in the same physical space
1.2. Sections
ICYRIME 2024: 9th International Conference of Yearly Reports on Infor-
matics, Mathematics, and Engineering. Catania, July 29-August 1, 2024 The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In Sec-
$ a.cigliano@unimarconi.it (A. Cigliano); f.fallucchi@unimarconi.it tion II we revise the method utilized and some background
(F. Fallucchi); m.gerardi@unimarconi.it (M. Gerardi) information and related work in the field. In Section III,
© 2024 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR
ceur-ws.org
Workshop ISSN 1613-0073
Proceedings
38
Andrea Cigliano et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 38–46
we discuss the current istances on metaverse or more cor- • Training and education: Professionals and students
rectly Metaverses, with a specific reference to the many can participate in training and education sessions
technologies correlated. In Section IV, based on the state in virtual environments, similar to a physical class-
of play and the introduced guiding principles, we provide room;
our analysis of what are the most stringent criticalities of • Conferences and Meetings: Businesses can host vir-
the metaverse, also highlighting broad—in scope, depth, and tual conferences and meetings in metaverse envi-
breadth—research directions in energy and smart city. Fi- ronments, which offer a more immersive experience
nally, in Section V we provide our conclusions. than a standard video conference;
• Shopping and entertainment: Consumers can ex-
plore virtual stores, view and purchase products in
2. Related Works 3D, and participate in entertainment events such as
The services impacted by the metaverse are analyzed and concerts and shows;
treated in many real-world scenarios such as widely dis- • Arts and Culture: Visitors can explore virtual mu-
tributed cloud sevices and solutions[10, 11], as well as health- seums and galleries, view 3D artwork, and interact
care [12, 13, 14], gaming [15], education [16, 17, 18], cultural- with other visitors.
heritage [19, 20], smart city [21], etc. Technologies involved Below a list of Metaverse services and a typology of classifi-
as metaverse enabler have been largely treated in these do- cation:
mains of services and frameworks are proposed [22, 23]. In
these studies, AI [24, 25, 26] is one of main pillar to build
the metaverse. The other one is Digital Twin [27, 22], in 4. Metaverse services and
the metaverse every real single entity, concept, or operation implementation requirements
should be involved in the created 3D environment. Thus, a
huge amount of various types of data are highly needed in In Table 3 it is reported the requirements of the Metaverse
such a system, including Internet of Things (IoT) collected typology.
from various locations, devices and in an immersive while
being accessible through XR, including augumented reality
(AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) [22]. The 5. Metaverse architecture and
technologies that allow human interaction with the meta- Metaverse-enabling technologies
verse are mainly concentrated on case studies that look at
healthcare and gaming [28, 29, 30, 31, 32]. Metaverse per- and requirements coverage
spectives cannot be dissociated from a pervasive technology
Since its first appearance, the concept of Metaverse is still
like AI in fields like education and work [16, 33, 24]. The
evolving with various descriptions, such as a second life
research works on blockchain technology and the metaverse
[42], 3D virtual worlds [43], and life-logging [44]. Com-
is certainly the combination that has a high number of re-
monly, the Metaverse is regarded as a fully immersive, hy-
search works on the use of cryptocurrencies and NFTs as
per spatiotemporal, and self-sustaining virtual shared space
means of payment and beyond [34, 7, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39], also
blending the ternary physical, human, and digital worlds
including specific sectors, e.g. automotive [40].
[45]. Metaverse is recognized as an evolving paradigm of
In this paper draws attention to metaverse state-of-art
the next-generation Internet and the evolution of Social
and contributes to the answer to the research questions of
Media and the next mobile Internet revolutions [45], where
recurring research contexts on metaverse, namely:
users can live as digital natives and experience an alterna-
• What is the Metaverse, and what are the supporting tive life in virtuality. The Metaverse integrates a variety
technologies based on existing papers? of enabling technologies [47, 34, 48], including the Non-
• How Metaverse has been detailed in research along Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) [50]. In particular, digital twin
with other keywords? produces a mirror image of the real world, Virtual Reality
• Are there constraints in the existing Metaverse re- (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) provide immersive 3D
search which require further research? experience, 5G and beyond offer ultra-high reliable and ul-
tralow latency connections for massive Metaverse devices
The metaverse aims to be pervasive in everyone’s everyday as wearable. It provides an immersive experience, generates
life, but there will be services that will be impacted more a mirror image of the real world based on Digital Twin tech-
than others that will lead to real disruption or "metaverse nology and Avatars, and builds an economic system based
service disruption" (MSD). Below are some services that will on Blockchain technology. The Metaverse is comparable as
undergo a profound transformation with the growth of the a new type of social form, that includes economic systems,
metaverse . cultural systems, and legal systems, which are closely re-
lated to reality, but have their own characteristics. Hyper
Spatiotemporality refers to the Metaverse, a virtual world
3. Metaverse service disruption parallel to the real world. It breaks the boundaries of time
and space and offers users an open, free and immersive ex-
Already nowadays the metaverse is used in many fields, but
perience. The pervasiveness inherent in the Metaverse can
the services that will be impacted in a disruption will be:
be seen in recent sci-fi movies/series such as Avatar(2009,
• Games and Virtual Reality: Players can immerse 2022), Ready Player One (2018), The Peripheral (2022) and
themselves in 3D virtual worlds and interact with others. The Metaverse is the tight integration, interaction,
other players in real time; and intertwining of the real and virtual worlds that requires
the integration of a variety of new technologies to create
a novel Internet application and social form. The method
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Andrea Cigliano et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 38–46
Metaverse related work detailed list
Year Publication Brief description
2022 Y. Wang et al. [41] A comprehensive survey of the fundamentals, security, and privacy of meta-
verse. Specifically, an analysis on distributed metaverse architecture and its
key characteristics with ternary-world interactions.
2007 J. Sanchez [42] An Interactive Qualitative analysis of the user experience in Second Life, an
online Metaverse, in an undergraduate literature class. A focus group of
eighteen students produced a systems model including ten affinities with one
primary driver and one primary outcome.
2013 J. D. N. Dionisio et al. [43] Moving from a set of independent virtual worlds to an integrated network
of 3D virtual worlds or Metaverse rests on progress in four areas: immersive
realism, ubiquity of access and identity, interoperability, and scalability.
2019 A. Bruun et al. [44] Research in the wild has emerged in HCI as a way of studying participant
experiences in natural environments. Also, lifelogging tools such as physio-
logical sensors have become more feasible for gathering data continuously in
the wild.
2021 H. Ning et al. [45] The development status of Metaverse, from the five perspectives of network
infrastructure, management technology, basic common technology, virtual
reality object connection, and virtual reality convergence, it introduces the
technical framework of Metaverse.
2021 D. Grider et al. [46] The Metaverse is still emerging, but many key components have started to
take shape and are revolutionizing everything from e-commerce to media and
entertainment, and even real estate.
2021 L.H. Lee et al. [47] The first effort to offer a comprehensive framework that examines the latest
metaverse development under the dimensions of state-of-the-art technologies
and metaverse ecosystems, and illustrates the possibility of the digital ‘big
bang’.
2022 Q. Yang et al. [34] Dive into the metaverse by discussing how Blockchain and Artificial Intel-
ligence (AI) fuse with it through investigating the state-of-the-art studies
across the metaverse components.
2021 H. Duan et al. [48] A three-layer metaverse architecture from a macro perspective, containing
infrastructure, interaction, and ecosystem.
2022 S. Dhelim et al. [49] a Fog-Edge hybrid computing architecture for Metaverse applications that
leverage an edge-enabled distributed computing paradigm.
Table 1
Metaverse related works list.
Metaverse services
Service Typology Refs
Decentraland Decentralized Virtual World https://decentraland.org
Somnium Space Decentralized Virtual World http://somniumspace.com
Cryptovoxels Decentralized Virtual World http://www.voxels.com
The Sandbox Decentralized Virtual World https://www.sandbox.game
Oculus Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality https://www.oculus.com
Playstation VR Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality https://www.playstation.com/it-it/ps-vr
Magic Leap Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality https://www.magicleap.com/en-us
Roblox Gaming Metaverse https://www.roblox.com
Fortnite Gaming Metaverse https://www.fortnite.com
Meta Horizon Social VR https://www.oculus.com/horizon-worlds
Mozilla Hubs Social VR https://hubs.mozilla.com
Rec Room Social VR https://recroom.com
Spatial Enterprise Metaverse https://www.spatial.io
Immersal Enterprise Metaverse https://immersal.com
Rumii Enterprise Metaverse https://www.dogheadsimulations.com/rumii
Stellantis Virtual Shopping Experience https://stellantisvirtual.com
Skodaverse Virtual Shopping Experience https://www.skoda-
auto.com/world/skodaverse
Table 2
Metaverse Services and Typology of classification.
used will be to analyze the papers and publications on the from a technological point of view, Figure 2 provides an
Metaverse on the Smart Cities and Energy sector with a overview of what the metaverse enablign technologies com-
focus on the technologies used in in particular by focusing ponents.
everything in the three layers in which the metaverse has The Metaverse architecture does not separate the physi-
been defined in the scientific literature [48](see figure 1). cal world from the virtual world so that it can produce an
To make it easier to understand the Metaverse concept immersive experience. The infrastructure layer contains the
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Andrea Cigliano et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 38–46
Metaverse services
Reqs Dec. Virt. VR / AR Gaming Social VR Ent. Meta- V. Shop. Exp.
World Met. verse
Massive Access High High High High Low High
Mobility/Coverage Low Low Low Low Medium Low
Payment Systems High High Low Low High Medium
Table 3
Service Type Requirements.
Figure 1: Three-layer Architecture of The Metaverse [48]
basic requirements to support the operation of the virtual senses (especially sight and hearing) to produce a completely
world, such as computation, communication, blockchain, immersive experience that immerses the viewer in a com-
and storage. The interaction layer is an essential part of pletely virtual environment that feels very realistic. AR is a
the interaction layer that bridges the physical and virtual technology that combines the digital and physical worlds.
worlds. The ecosystem layer can provide a parallel living Object identification, plane detection, face recognition, and
environment with various services continuously serving all movement monitoring are just a few of the technologies
the world’s inhabitants. A decentralized economic system it employs to distinguish real-world surfaces and objects.
must also support the Metaverse ecosystem based on smart Augmented reality could become our primary portal to the
contracts. Based on previous studies and literature, we con- Metaverse, as well as our primary interface to digital re-
cluded that the most critical technologies to create a Meta- sources, replacing the present ecology of phones and desk-
verse platform are Blockchain, Virtual/Augmented/Mixed tops. Mixed reality is a fusion of augmented and virtual
Reality (Extended Reality or XR), Artificial Intelligence, In- reality that does not take place exclusively in the physical or
ternet of Things (IoT), Digital Twin. virtual environment [52]. Mixed reality can be employed in
a variety of applications to enrich the Metaverse, including
5.1. Extended Reality entertainment, military, healthcare, and robot operations
[53, 54, 55, 56]. Extended Reality (XR) is an umbrella term
Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that uses software and that encompasses Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality
hardware to replace one’s perspective of the physical world (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and everything in between.
with a digitally created one [51]. The most popular VR ap- Within the rapidly-emerging Metaverse, the potential of
plications today employ comprehensive control of a user’s XR is driving expectations for a slew of previously unimag-
Figure 2: Metaverse enabling technologies
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Andrea Cigliano et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 38–46
• Interaction and Engagement with Natural Lan-
guage Processing (NLP): AI-enhanced communica-
tion tools allow for real-time language translation
and generation of realistic dialogues with NPCs;
• Behavioral AI with enhances the responsiveness of
environments and characters to user actions, creat-
ing a more immersive experience;
Figure 3: Extended reality scheme based on Paul Milgram’s • Accessibility and Inclusivity with Adaptive Inter-
scheme [6]
faces: AI algorithms can adjust the user interface
dynamically to accommodate users’ physical and
cognitive needs.
inable possibilities. When Extended Reality replaces conven-
tional PCs and affects the way we work, play, and connect
5.3. Internet of Things (IoT)
on a daily basis, human lives will never be the same. People
will use the Metaverse’s virtual capabilities to apply for jobs, The Metaverse gathers data from a variety of Internet of
earn a living, meet up with pals, shop, and even get married. Things (IoT) devices to ensure that it runs efficiently in
several applications of the Metaverse such as medicine, ed-
5.2. Generative Artificial Intelligence ucation and Smart Cities. The IoT devices will connect the
Metaverse through the use of a diverse range of hardware,
(GenAI) controllers, and physical items. Connecting to the Meta-
The concept of the Metaverse refers to a collective virtual verse and navigating both physically and virtually is made
shared space, created by the convergence of virtually en- possible by IoT devices equipped with specialized sensors.
hanced physical and digital reality. It is persistent and pro- The capacity of IoT devices to perform operations in the
vides enhanced immersive experiences. GenAI, particularly Metaverse will be critical to the user’s ability to operate in
Large Language Models (LLMs) and other generative mod- the Metaverse. Whether remotely performing large-scale
els, play a critical role in this environment by enabling the computing tasks, accessing large databases, or providing
creation of dynamic content and intelligent interactions. shared experiences between users, they are inextricably
GenAI refers to technologies that can generate new content linked to networks and communications. The fifth genera-
from existing data. This includes text, images, video, and tion (5G) and the sixth generation (6G) are the communica-
audio generation. LLMs, generative adversarial networks tion foundation of the Metaverse. 5G has the advantages of
(GANs), and variational autoencoders (VAEs) are pivotal high speed, low delay, ubiquitous network, low power con-
in crafting personalized and engaging content in the meta- sumption and interconnection of all things, which makes it
verse. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, inte- possible to realize the Metaverse. 6G will break the limita-
grating both qualitative and quantitative research. Data is tions of time and virtual reality, expand the service objects
collected through virtual ethnography in various Metaverse from humans, machines, and things in the physical world to
platforms, interviews with developers and users, and anal- the “environment” of the virtual world, and realize the coop-
ysis of user-generated content within these environments. eration between humans-machines-things-environment by
The study also reviews existing literature on generative AI connecting the physical world and the virtual world, provid-
applications and their implications for virtual worlds. GenAI ing the network foundation for the Metaverse. In the 5G and
and in general AI is a research discipline proceeded based 6G network environment, quantum communication ensures
on the hypothesis that every aspect of learning can in prin- the communication security in the Metaverse. Post quantum
ciple be so precisely described [57]. The state-of-the-art AI cryptography is already a reality today, quantum commu-
studies focus on machine learning, deep learning, and rein- nication provides high security by applying quantum key
forcement learning in the fields including computer vision, based on quantum no-cloning theorem and uncertainty prin-
decision-making, and natural language process (NLP). Intu- ciple [43]. Moreover, quantum communication improves
itively, the breakthroughs of AI in the real world motivate the overall security due to the superposition properties of
people to realize Metaverse. For example, machine learning qubits.
provides technical support for all systems in Metaverse to
reach or exceed the level of human’s learning. It shall signif- 5.4. Digital Twin
icantly affect the operational efficiency and the intelligence
of Metaverse. Intelligent voice services provide technical Digital Twin is a digital reproduction of a real product or
support, such as voice recognition and communication, for component created by the combination of simulations and
Metaverse users. service metadata [58]. Data from numerous sources are in-
cluded in the digital representation throughout the product
5.2.1. Applications of Generative AI in the Metaverse life cycle. These data are constantly restructured and shown
in a variety of ways in order to forecast current and future
• Content creation in a Dynamic Environment De- situations in both operational and design settings, therefore
sign): Generative AI algorithms can create expan- improving decision making [59]. Constructing a complex
sive, detailed virtual environments on-the-fly, adapt- virtual model that is the counterpart or twin of a physical
ing to user interactions; object in the real world is what Digital Twin is all about.
• Content creation with Character and Avatar Cus- It employs simulation, machine learning, and reasoning to
tomization: AI-driven tools enable users to create aid decision-making and is generated from real-time data.
highly personalized avatars and non-player charac- Metaverse will be able to offer remote maintenance work-
ters (NPCs) that can interact intelligently with users; shops for machines that need to be repaired, which might be
linked to or mapped onto a real workshop, thanks to digital
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Andrea Cigliano et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 38–46
twin and simulation technologies. Digital twins are an im- upon fiat currencies, the Metaverse inevitably needs
portant part of the Metaverse because of their non-artistic cryptocurrencies, which deliver value during their
qualities. circulation, payment, and currency of settlement.
In detail, blockchain systems have implemented a
5.5. Blockchain series of operations for cryptocurrencies, such as
creation, recording, and trading. Traditionally, Bit-
Metaverse envisaged scenario that it is closely related is coin [35] adopts the UTXO (Unspent Transaction
just a parallel world, where the economic ecology is in- Outputs) transaction model to trace the usages of
evitable. The digital assets are the core functions provided this cryptocurrency, while Ethereum [36] records
by the blockchain, such as the homogenized tokens based the balance of each account address, which can be
on ERC-20 and the non-homogenized tokens based on ERC- queried directly through the Ethereum dataset tools
721 or ERC-1155. Since the blockchain technology maintain (e.g. Etherscan). Both UTXO and Ethereum adopt
the smooth economic operation of Metaverse, blockchain the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus. Miners mint
technology is the soul of the Metaverse. The motivation coins by generating new blocks. However, there is
behind integration of blockchain in the metaverse can be a cost for them to generate blocks. In such PoW
summarized in: consensus, miners mine blocks by calculating a hash
puzzle, which consumes a giant amount of electric-
• Ensuring Data Privacy and Security
ity. For Ethereum 2.0, miners under the PoS (Proof of
• Ensuring the Quality of the Data
Stake) consensus mechanism mine blocks by elect-
• Enabling Seamless and Secured Data Sharing
ing, which depends on the coin age of miners [37].
• Enabling Data Interoperability Using blockchain technologies, there are multiple
• Ensuring Data Integrity ways to deal with cryptocurrency exchanges. The
There are many use cases of application of blockchain in vast majority of cryptocurrency exchanges occur in
the metaverse, for example: centralized exchanges such as OKEx and AOFEX.
The advantages of the centralized exchanges include
• Financial system: Tamper-proof, openness, trans- low-latency transactions, simple interfaces and a
parency and decentralization are the four significant certain level of security. However, the centralized
features in blockchain. In the Metaverse, millions of exchanges also experience scandals such as price ma-
transactions happen for goods exchange in a short nipulation by insiders taking advantage of informa-
time, so the security and efficiency of these trans- tion asymmetries. Other cryptocurrency exchanges
actions must be guaranteed. Based on the above- occur in decentralized exchanges, where smart con-
mentioned features, blockchain is a good candidate tracts or other peer-to-peer network execute trans-
for the large-scale and scalable economic system actions automatically [38]. In some cases, the smart
construction in the virtual world contracts, e.g., IDex and Paradex, maintain contin-
• Smart contract deployment: The inherent nature of uouslimited order books offchain, a counterparty
the blockchain network allows smart contracts to be of the order or the exchange itself performs order
automated, programmable, open, transparent and matching and submits order pairs to the smart con-
verifiable among other remarkable features, thus al- tract for processing. In other cases, such as Uniswap
lowing for onchain trusted interactions without the and Bancor, the smart contract performs as a coun-
need for a thirdparty verification platform. If the terparty and trade with its user directly. It is easy
financial system in the Metaverse is built on top of to foresee that metaverse built by different corpora-
the blockchain, the characteristics of smart contracts tions will coexist in the near future. Thus, various
can be used to decentralise the operation of contracts cryptocurrencies used in those smaller metaverses
in a programmed, noncustodial, verifiable, traceable need to be exchanged like fiat currencies in the phys-
and trustworthy manner, thus significantly reducing ical world. We envision that multiple cryptocurren-
the harmful behaviours such as rent-seeking, cor- cies will also coexist in future Metaverse. The Meta-
ruption and underhanded operations that may exist verse users will naturally need to exchange different
in the financial system, and can be widely used in cryptocurrencies.
the financial, social and gaming sectors.
• NFTs: The most important feature of NFT is indi-
vision and uniqueness, which make it suitable for 6. Results and discussion
identity representation, for example, assets that are
The Metaverse, designed as a simulation of the natural world,
exclusive and indivisible and can be freely traded
covers all areas related to humans and society and offers a
and transferred. In the Metaverse, these virtual as-
suitable working platform for researchers in all fields, from
sets come with certificates called NFTs that indicate
health to sports, from education to art. This the research
ownership.
deals with the scientific aspect of the Metaverse studies and
• Cryptocurrency: is one of the main applications
examines academic studies in Energy and Smart Cities and
under the spotlight empowered by blockchain. It
in other research keywords connected from a technological
also makes blockchain more popular. The trust of
and related domain point of view. Most of the studies in
a wide range of users supports the value system
the literature have explained the concept of the Metaverse.
of cryptocurrencies and drives both the circulation
The implemented applications observed, are mainly at the
and trading of cryptocurrencies. To date, more than
prototype level. However, these studies, which make signif-
12.000 virtual currencies have been issued world-
icant contributions to the literature in terms of design and
wide, and new virtual currencies are still being cre-
editing, have a high potential to be realized when sufficient
ated every single day. Like the real world builds
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Andrea Cigliano et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 38–46
technical infrastructure is provided. The AR/VR technolo- currency exchange between the Metaverse and the physical
gies, digital twins, and Blockchain applications, which are world remains an open issue. In addition, the transaction
components of the Metaverse, have been actively used for a volume and frequency that occurred in the Metaverse will
while. Furthermore, technological developments that allow become extremely much higher than happened in the phys-
the purchase and sale of non-Fungible Token (NFT)-based ical world. Thus, how to support such high-volume and
artworks, souvenirs, and lands, which have been very pop- high-frequency transactions remains a challenging problem
ular lately, show that the promised universe is one step in the future Metaverse. Another issue related to future
closer. However, for this fictional universe to be fully real- Metaverse might be the inflation caused by massive cryp-
ized, 5G technology needs to come into play, AR/VR hard- tocurrency supplements in a decentralized economy system
ware and content should become widespread, and the use built upon blockchain and AI technologies.
of peer2peer technologies should increase. When the Meta-
verse is brought to life as it was designed, it will be possible
to perform many daily activities such as working, travel- 7. Conclusions
ing, shopping, going to school, having fun by creating a 3d
The analysis carried out on the research publications us-
avatar in a digital universe. Any change users make in the
ing a sample of the universe searched through the online
Metaverse will be permanently visible to almost everyone,
metadata sites of the research works for certain keywords,
thus providing users with greater identity and continuity
it emerged that the metaverse it is already having an impact
of experience. The Metaverse becoming a reality will sup-
on certain categories of services and will be increasingly dis-
port and transform existing research topics and reveal new
ruptive. The services involved will be increasingly pervasive
research areas. In addition, this digital universe will be a
as the technologies enabling the metaverse are pervasive.
big data source with the data it will produce. Therefore, it
The research area relating to the metaverse and quantum
will also provide a suitable working platform for big data,
computing deserves a separate discussion, which deserves
data science, and artificial intelligence researchers. With
a separate discussion as the latter is a rapidly growing and
the development of the technological infrastructure and the
maturing technological area. The challenges facing us in
interest of researchers in this field, it is expected that the
the metaverse are enormous in the short to medium term.
number of scientific studies in the area will increase, and
According to the current trend, it seems that metaverse will
richer content will emerge soon. All these developments
be the future from multiple perspectives and offers limitless
herald an exciting future. An open Metaverse, this is one
possibilities from many frontiers. Enabling technologies
of the challenging issues that will determine, in my view,
such as Blockchain, GenAI, XR, Digital Twin will be in-
its success or not. In this context, the key word is interop-
strumental in realizing the true potential of the Metaverse.
erability. Not only does the so-called Metaverse still not
There is a huge research prospect in these areas.
exist in the forms in which the marketing of certain com-
panies wants to sell it. But not even a single Metaverse
is the digital twin of the physical world. Rather, there are References
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