Citibank, a major international bank, believes that by 2030, more than 60% of the world’s population will be able to use the metaverse.
In its new report, the company said the total market for the meta universe could grow to $8-$13 trillion over the next eight years.
According to Statista, the size of the meta-universe market in 2021 was estimated at about $38.85 billion.
“The metaworld is moving toward becoming the next generation of the Internet or Web3,” the report said.
The bank believes that through the new digital world, users will be able to access a range of services, including commerce, art, media, advertising, health care and social collaboration.
According to the company, a device-independent meta-universe will be accessible through personal computers, gaming consoles and smartphones, leading to a large ecosystem. However, scaling the meta-universe would require significant investment in infrastructure.
“The meta-universe content streaming environment will likely require more than 1,000 times the computational efficiency of today. Investment will be required in areas such as computing, storage, network infrastructure, consumer hardware and game development platforms,” the bank said.
Citi also predicts that various forms of cryptocurrency will dominate the meta-universe, but digital assets will have to coexist with fiat currencies, stackablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC).