Digital Asset

China accounts for 84% of all blockchain patent applications, but there’s a catch

China’s push for blockchain technology gained steam after 2019 when President Xi Jinping called for corporations from tech giants to become industry leaders in the nascent tech.

China accounts for 84% of all blockchain applications filed worldwide, according to the latest data shared by the country’s government official.

China has steered clear of the cryptocurrency market. However, the Beijing government has been supportive of the underlying blockchain technology. The country has actively promoted the use of blockchain tech over the years, and thus the high percentage of blockchain patents isn’t surprising.

President Xi Jinping has also played a key role in promoting the nascent blockchain technology. In 2019, the president called upon citizens, tech companies and stakeholders of the ecosystem to actively participate and innovate with the nascent tech as it would play a key role in the future of the next industrial revolution.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier, Chinese companies had filed 4,435 blockchain patents within one year of President Xi Jinping’s endorsement of the industry. According to another study, China accounted for roughly 60% of the world’s blockchain patent applications from 2015 to June 2021, followed by the United States and South Korea.

The figure was released on Tuesday by Wang Jianwei, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. However, the figures didn’t include a timeframe in which these patent applications were filed.

Related: Tencent receives patent for blockchain-based missing person poster

While China accounts for the highest number of blockchain patent applications, the approval rate is significantly low, with only 19% of the total filed applications getting approved, reported South China Morning Post.

Another important thing to note here is that China is not very big on decentralization, which is the principle on which blockchain tech is based. This was evident from the country’s digital yuan development, where the central bank developed the digital national currency on the curated version of a blockchain with full control over its functioning rather than using the traditional distributed network approach.

Selling physical items as NFTs, explained

A growing number of physical items are being immortalized in NFT form. What are the opportunities here… and the challenges that need to be addressed?

Where are the challenges that face the NFT sector in the future being discussed?

Mattereum is hosting a dedicated event to discuss physical asset NFTs on Sept. 21.

The meetup begins at 6pm London time — that’s 7pm in Berlin, 1pm in New York, and 10am in California.

A previous event was held in July 2022, and set out how coveted high-value assets such as red wine, fine art and real estate could benefit from Mattereum’s approach to NFTs.

With an ever-growing number of blue-chip companies exploring this space, adoption among everyday consumers will continue to skyrocket. Mattereum is determined to ensure that the industry gets off on the right foot, with investor protection a number one priority.

Learn more about Mattereum

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.

What happens if something goes wrong?

Typically, disputes will end up going through the courts — but this can have mixed success.

It’s easy to forget that NFTs remain a nascent technology, and this means that legal systems still lack understanding about how they work. This may mean that the nuance surrounding digital assets may get missed during civil action… but those in the lawsuit will still have to contend with hefty legal bills.

Mattereum — a new protocol that delivers transferable proofs of digital ownership — aims to do things differently. It offers its customers the legal technical capability to create Trustable NFTs for their physical assets, and legally binding mechanisms for dispute resolution that can be enforced in over 160 jurisdictions around the world. Such smart contracts establish a bond between ownership of the NFT and ownership of the physical asset, whether it’s six bottles of red wine, a luxury car or a rare instrument.

While it may appear that this approach takes more time at first, it can have advantages. Offering valid authenticity documentation can significantly increase an asset’s value — and boost the likelihood of a sale. It also creates a solid legal framework for the future.

What are the safeguards in place to prevent scams?

It’s crucial to ensure that an asset’s authenticity, provenance, condition and ownership rights can be verified — giving buyers confidence in what they’re buying.

Standards across the NFT industry can help here. When the physical items that back an NFT go into a vault, it’s crucial to be crystal clear on who will have the rights to take it out again. External auditors could also be tasked with assessing the background behind a transaction, and information about the condition of an item could be woven into metadata.

More than anything else, it’s crucial for NFT platforms to gain a reputation for being trustworthy and credible. Not only is word of mouth a powerful marketing tool, but it can also assure consumers that they’ll be in safe hands if they buy a collectible through one of these platforms.

Are there any big brands that are getting involved with physical NFTs?

Yes — and that’s despite the bear market, which has seen trading volumes cool. More major companies are inevitably going to join in the future.

Nike has dominated the rankings when it comes to mainstream brands generating revenue from NFTs. Recent research shows the sportswear giant has netted a whopping $185 million in revenue after delving headfirst into the world of digital sneakers — in part thanks to a canny acquisition of the Web3 studio RTFKT.

But Nike’s efforts aren’t just about ensuring that avatars in the Metaverse look good in cutting-edge virtual threads. It’s also been dabbling in NFT collections that accompany digital designs with a real-world version of the sneakers they buy. This could shape up to be a new wave for the fashion industry — and the innovation doesn’t stop here.

Another particularly desirable memento for music fans relates to ticket stubs after they’ve been to a concert — a lasting memory they can stick on their wall that says “I was there.” Ticketmaster is now dabbling in establishing NFT tickets that can serve as a commemoration of memorable gigs, immortalized forever on the blockchain. Other forms of technology, known as Proof of Attendance Protocols (or POAPs) could take this concept even further.

Could this help modernize the lucrative world of collectibles?

Yes — and potentially ramp up safety in the process.

Sports memorabilia remains incredibly popular — with Pokemon cards also enjoying something of a renaissance in recent years.

NFTs can be used to create digital representations of items that exist in the real world. This can help clamp down on counterfeiting, and create a crystal-clear record of ownership. 

Some crypto companies have been established which even offer custody services for blue-chip collectibles — ensuring they’re kept in a safe place and in mint condition. While this may sound counterintuitive at first, this can prove especially compelling if you regard memorabilia as an investment opportunity.

It can also streamline the process of auctions in secondary markets.

How is it possible to sell real-world items as NFTs?

Practically anything can be tokenized these days — and several companies have already started transforming physical items into nonfungible tokens.

Perhaps one of the biggest and most compelling use cases to emerge so far concerns property. If you’ve ever bought a place before, you’ll know how arduous and time consuming this process is — with reams upon reams of paperwork and antiquated systems.

NFTs are being touted as a way of modernizing how things are done, with ownership being duly recorded on the blockchain. This can speed things up, reduce disputes, and help clamp down on fraud, too.

This also opens up the door to house purchases being made with cryptocurrencies instead of fiat — and a number of businesses, especially in Miami, have sprung up in recent months to bring this to reality.

Australian senator drafts bill aimed at stablecoin, digital yuan regulation

Senator Andrew Bragg on Monday released a draft bill aimed at regulating crypto exchanges, stablecoins and the digital yuan.

Australian Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has released a new draft bill aimed at clamping down on digital asset exchanges, stablecoins and China’s central bank digital currency, the e-Yuan.

In a statement on Sunday, Senator Bragg stated that “Australia must keep pace with the global race for regulation on digital assets” as “it is essential that the parliament drives law reform” on the matter.

The new draft bill, titled Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2022, calls for the introduction of licenses for digital asset exchanges, digital asset custody services, stablecoin issuers, as well as disclosure requirements for facilitators of the e-Yuan in Australia.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Senator Bragg said Australia has “quite a risk exposure, as an economy, and that’s one of the reasons why we need to have a serious program for managing disruption, managing risks, that emanate from the development of a CBDC.”

Senator Bragg said the objective of this particular act is to provide “an effective regulatory framework” as well as to provide “for the reporting of information by certain banks that facilitate the use or availability of digital Yuan in Australia” and to provide “additional duties” for governing bodies in relation to this act and the “regulation of activities relating to digital assets and digital Yuan.”

Senator Bragg said that this isn’t “an accusatory position to take” it’s simply just being “prepared and gathering information” which he thinks is entirely “reasonable.”

The Liberal senator also added that Australia wouldn’t benefit from having a CBDC as “privacy issues cannot be managed,” however, it is important that the Australian government “put something on the table” to manage other CBDCs being introduced, as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia has “spoken before saying there needs to be regulation on stablecoins.”

The draft bill consultation is open until Oct. 31, 2022 and welcomes “community feedback.”

Andrew Bragg, a pro-crypto Australian politician, has been an outspoken advocate for cryptocurrency since he was elected senator in 2019. Senator Bragg has been pushing for a clear regulatory framework for digital assets and crypto companies since 2021, in an effort to prevent local startups from moving overseas.

Senator Bragg noted that he “chaired the committee” for digital assets with “no fixed view at the time” and “conducted an inquiry into these matters” as well as informing himself “about the risks and opportunities.”

Related: Chinese municipal bank issues first-ever digital yuan loan using intellectual property as collateral

Meanwhile, the Australian Labor government is said to be working on “crypto asset reforms” to “improve the way Australia’s regulatory system manages crypto assets.”

Last month, the treasury stated it will “prioritize token mapping work in 2022, which will help identify how crypto assets and related services should be regulated.”

US Treasury publishes laundry lists of crypto risks for consumers, national security

The Treasury Department was downbeat on crypto in two publications produced in response to the president’s executive order on digital asset development issued in March.

The United States Treasury Department released three publications related to digital assets Friday, in response to U.S. President Joe Biden’s Executive rder “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.” One of them focuses specifically on crypto assets, and a shorter action plan looks at countering illicit finance risks. 

The discussion of crypto assets in “Crypto-Assets: Implications for Consumers, Investors, and Businesses” takes a cynical tone from the beginning, with the introductory paragraphs of the report stating:

“The potential for blockchain technology to transform the provision of financial services, as espoused by developers and proponents, has yet to materialize.”

About half of the report is a descriptive survey of crypto assets, after which the authors turn to the risks they pose to users. It divides risks into three categories, the first of which is conduct risks, that is, practices within the ecosystem. The report alleges that losses from cryptocurrency fraud skyrocketed in 2021 and are on course to overtake that record this year. It also identifies transparency issues of various kinds.

Operational risks, which include “deficiencies in information systems or internal processes, human errors, governance and management failures, or disruptions from external events” are given detailed consideration. Closely related but separately discussed are crypto-asset intermediation risks, which are the same risks investors face in traditional markets, such as volatility and custody issues, but form a “unique landscape” due to the nature of crypto.

Potentially the most valuable section of the report is a lengthy discussion of the opportunities and risks that crypto assets pose for vulnerable populations. This is especially so due to the extensive statistical information in the section.

The report makes three recommendations: vigilant monitoring, with increased enforcement, interagency cooperation and information sharing; that agencies produce more guidance and rules, and for greater educational outreach.

Related: Information, AML/CFT steps are key to fighting international digital crime, DOJ report says

The “Action Plan to Address Illicit Financing Risks of Digital Assets” approaches digital assets from the perspective of national security. It recommends seven priority actions that mainly encompass monitoring and enforcement efforts domestically and internationally.

It also recommends updating Bank Secrecy Act regulations and increased engagement with the private sector through “the publication of official documents, discussions, and Treasury programs that enable public‐private and private‐private information sharing.”

Wall Street mainstays setting up digital assets exchange with on-chain settlement

Some of the biggest names in finance are joining together to create the EDXM exchange, citing a pent-up demand for crypto assets and the need for compliance and security.

Major financial firms have teamed up to create EDX Markets (EDXM), a new exchange that will trade digital assets through trusted intermediaries. The exchange will provide services to institutional and retail investors. 

The new exchange will be backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Virtu Financial, according to an announcement released on Tuesday. Jamil Nazarali has moved from Citadel Securities, where he was global head of business development, to the exchange as its CEO.

The EDXM board of directors, made up of representatives of the founding members, commented:

“Crypto is a $1 trillion global asset class with over 300 million participants and pent-up demand from millions more. […] Unlocking this demand requires a platform that can meet the needs of both retail traders and institutional investors with high compliance and security standards.”

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz recently hinted that Fidelity would enter retail cryptocurrency trading. Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin has been a vocal critic of crypto in the pastbut has become more accepting of digital assets in recent months.

Related: Charles Schwab’s asset management arm launches crypto-linked ETF

EDXM will settle trades on a blockchain through a network of digital custodians. It claimed in a statement that the exchange will “remove significant conflicts of interest that affect existing cryptocurrency exchanges by separating responsibility for operating the exchange from the entities trading on it.”

In addition, the exchange promised, “a highly liquid cryptocurrency ecosystem that aggregates liquidity from multiple market makers to reduce spreads and improve transparency.” Paradigm recently partnered with FTX to provide spreads trading of eight cryptocurrencies.

The exchange will operate on technology developed by the Members Exchange (MEMX), a stock exchange set up by many of the same founding firms in 2019.

Tokenization of illiquid assets to reach $16T by 2030 — Report

A large chunk of the world’s wealth today is locked in illiquid assets, notes the report’s authors.

The total size of tokenized illiquid assets, including real estate and natural resources could reach $16.1 trillion by 2030, according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

In a newly released report from BCG and digital exchange for private markets ADDX, authors including BCG managing director Sumit Kumar and ADDX co-founder Darius Liu noted that “a large chunk of the world’s wealth today is locked in illiquid assets.”

According to the report, illiquid assets include pre-IPO stocks, real estate, private debt, revenues from small and medium businesses, physical art, exotic beverages, private funds, wholesale bonds, and many more. 

Reasons for this asset illiquidity are attributed to factors such as limited affordability for mass investors, lack of wealth manager expertise, limited access — such as when assets are restricted to elite cliques (in the case of fine art and vintage cars), regulatory hurdles, and other scenarios in which users have difficulty acquiring or trading an asset. 

On-chain asset tokenization could solve this problem, a market that surpassed $2.3 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $5.6 billion by 2026, as per the report.

The authors added that in just the last two years, global digital asset daily trading volume has soared from 30 billion euros in 2020 to 150 billion euros in 2022, noting that it “is still minuscule in comparison to the total potential of illiquid tokenizable assets in the world.”

By 2030, the authors forecast the on-chain asset tokenization opportunity to reach $16.1 trillion — made up largely of financial assets (such as insurance policies, pensions, and alternative investments), home equity, and other tokenizable assets, such as infrastructure projects, car fleets, and patents.

Tokenization of global illiquid assets by 2030. Source: Boston Consulting Group

The authors also noted that this was a “highly-conservative forecast” and that in a best-case scenario, the tokenization of global illiquid assets could reach $68 trillion.

However, the potential of tokenized assets will differ across countries due to various regulatory frameworks and asset class sizes.

In Singapore, the Monetary Authority recently launched the Project Guardian, a blockchain-based asset tokenization pilot that will explore decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in wholesale funding markets by establishing a liquidity pool of tokenized bonds and deposits to execute borrowing and lending processes on-chain.

In addition to Singapore, tokens issuance is regulated in Hong Kong, Japan, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Other authors in the report include BCG’s project leader Rajaram Suresh, associate director Bernhard Kronfellner, and consultant for BCG Aaditya Kaul, noting:

“On-chain asset tokenization presents an opportunity to obviate many of these barriers of asset illiquidity as well as the current modality of traditional fractionalization.”

Real estate may be among the illiquid assets that could benefit from tokenization, with investors looking for investments backed by real-world assets in DeFi.

Cointelegraph Research Terminal revealed that real estate assets account for upwards of 40% of the pipeline for certain technology providers, making it one of the primary sectors for security token offerings.

Earlier this month, the digital asset investment platform Zerocap announced that companies on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) could be able to trade tokenized bonds, equities, funds, or carbon credits after a successful proof-of-concept trial.

Tokenization of illiquid assets to reach $16T by 2030: Report

A large chunk of the world’s wealth today is locked in illiquid assets, notes the report’s authors.

The total size of tokenized illiquid assets, including real estate and natural resources could reach $16.1 trillion by 2030, according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

In a newly released report from BCG and digital exchange for private markets ADDX, authors including BCG managing director Sumit Kumar and ADDX co-founder Darius Liu noted that “a large chunk of the world’s wealth today is locked in illiquid assets.”

According to the report, illiquid assets include pre-initial public offering (IPO) stocks, real estate, private debt, revenues from small and medium businesses, physical art, exotic beverages, private funds, wholesale bonds and many more. 

Reasons for this asset illiquidity are attributed to factors such as limited affordability for mass investors, lack of wealth manager expertise, limited access such as when assets are restricted to elite cliques (in the case of fine art and vintage cars), regulatory hurdles and other scenarios in which users have difficulty acquiring or trading an asset. 

On-chain asset tokenization could solve this problem, a market that surpassed $2.3 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $5.6 billion by 2026, according to the report.

The authors added that in just the last two years, global digital asset daily trading volume has soared from 30 billion euros in 2020 to 150 billion euros in 2022, noting that it “is still minuscule in comparison to the total potential of illiquid tokenizable assets in the world.”

By 2030, the authors forecast the on-chain asset tokenization opportunity to reach $16.1 trillion — made up largely of financial assets (such as insurance policies, pensions, and alternative investments), home equity, and other tokenizable assets, such as infrastructure projects, car fleets and patents.

Tokenization of global illiquid assets by 2030. Source: Boston Consulting Group

The authors also noted that this was a “highly-conservative forecast” and that in a best-case scenario, the tokenization of global illiquid assets could reach $68 trillion.

However, the potential of tokenized assets will differ across countries due to various regulatory frameworks and asset class sizes.

In Singapore, the Monetary Authority recently launched Project Guardian, a blockchain-based asset tokenization pilot that will explore decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in wholesale funding markets by establishing a liquidity pool of tokenized bonds and deposits to execute borrowing and lending processes on-chain.

In addition to Singapore, tokens issuance is regulated in Hong Kong, Japan, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Other authors in the report include BCG’s project leader Rajaram Suresh, associate director Bernhard Kronfellner and consultant for BCG Aaditya Kaul, noting:

“On-chain asset tokenization presents an opportunity to obviate many of these barriers of asset illiquidity as well as the current modality of traditional fractionalization.”

Real estate may be among the illiquid assets that could benefit from tokenization, with investors looking for investments backed by real-world assets in DeFi.

Cointelegraph Research Terminal revealed that real estate assets account for upward of 40% of the pipeline for certain technology providers, making it one of the primary sectors for security token offerings.

Earlier this month, the digital asset investment platform Zerocap announced that companies on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) could be able to trade tokenized bonds, equities, funds or carbon credits after a successful proof-of-concept trial.

Think tank launches ‘technical sandbox’ exploring United States CBDCs

The Digital Dollar Project’s Technical Sandbox Program is set to begin in October, aiming to provide a clearer understanding of the ramifications of a United States CBDC.

A United States think tank has launched a “technical sandbox” aimed at advancing the exploration of a potential United States central bank digital currency (CBDC).

In a Wednesday Tweet from Digital Dollar Project (DDP), the organization said the new program would explore “technical and business implementation” questions revolving around a U.S. CBDC.

The organization noted that the initial participants of the sandbox include crypto-firm Ripple, financial technology company Digital Asset, software platform Knox Networks and banking solutions firm EMTECH.

The Technical Sandbox Program aims to give the federal government, policymakers and the private sector a clearer understanding of how a potential CBDC would be rolled-out.

This includes the potential implications to retail and wholesale and international use cases such as cross-border payments.

The U.S Federal Reserve has yet to decide whether or not it will implement a CBDC but has been exploring the potential risks and benefits that come with them.

On Jan. 20, it released a discussion paper examining the pros and cons of CBDCs but neglected to give any hints about its future plans.

The paper suggested that CBDCs could act as digital money free from credit and liquidity risks, improve cross-border payments, help preserve the dominance of the U.S dollar, promote financial inclusion and extend public access to safe central bank money.

Potential risks found included a changed U.S financial system, more severe bank runs for other forms of money, reducing the power of monetary policy, operational resilience and a difficult balance between transparency and safeguarding consumer privacy rights.

Meanwhile, China’s own CBDC, the digital yuan, is quickly being rolled out across the country, while the same is occurring in Nigeria with the eNaira. The Bahamas and countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union have also launched CBDCs, while Russia is set to roll out its own in 2024.

The FedNow service, an instant payment service set to be launched in mid-2023, aims to begin “technical testing” in September, according to a Monday press release. FedNow is seen as a step toward an eventual CBDC.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP partner Alexandra Steinberg Barrage, a former FDIC policy expert, tweeted her support for the program on Wednesday. Barrage suggested that regardless of what your views are on a U.S. CBDC, pilot programs and data are essential when evaluating new tech.

The Technical Sandbox Program is set to begin in October with cross-border payments being the initial focus for the early participants.

The program is set to be released in two separate phases, including an educational phase and a pilot phase.

During the educational phase, providers and participants will seek to understand the technology from both a functional and business perspective. While in the pilot phase, the focus will be on identifying and testing specific ways in which CBDCs can be utilized.

Related: Fed and MIT’s CBDC research: Distributed ledger tech has ‘downsides’

The Digital Dollar Project is a partnership between the not-for-profit organization Digital Dollar Foundation and IT consulting firm Accenture. DDP seeks to encourage research and discussion around a U.S. CBDC and released a white paper proposing a tokenized U.S. digital dollar in May 2020.

Russian PM takes cue from Iran’s crypto payment permit for imports

The adoption of digital assets provides a good opportunity to ensure uninterrupted payments for imports and exports, Russia’s prime minister said.

Russia may soon be taking a cue from Iran by using cryptocurrencies for imports, according to commentthe Russian prime minister.

The adoption of digital assets is necessary as a “safe alternative” for cross-border payments, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin declared at a strategic session on the development of the domestic financial system on Tuesday.

The prime minister added that digital assets provide a good opportunity to ensure uninterrupted payments for imports and exports. Mishustin also pointed out the importance of ensuring tech infrastructure independence and the cybersecurity of financial institutions, stating:

“We need to intensively develop innovative areas, including the adoption of digital assets. This is a safe alternative for all parties that can guarantee uninterrupted payment for the supply of goods from abroad and for export.”

Mishustin’s remarks came shortly after Iran’s Industry of Mines and Trade Ministry approved the use of cryptocurrencies for imports. The local media reported on Monday that the authority moved into crypto payments due to the ongoing international trade sanctions against Iran.

Russian authorities have previously considered crypto for international payments. In May, Ivan Chebeskov, head of the Financial Policy Division within Russia’s Finance Ministry, said that the authority was considering the possibility of incorporating crypto payments. “The idea of using digital currencies in transactions for international settlements is being actively discussed,” he said at the time.

Related: 72% of Russians say they have never bought Bitcoin: Survey

The idea of international payments in crypto even received support from Russia’s biggest governmental crypto skeptic, the Bank of Russia. In June, Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina stated that cryptocurrencies can be used in cross-border or international payments but only if they don’t get into Russia’s domestic financial system.

Spatial digital art exhibitions to level up metaverse experiences

Art curators are “unframing” contemporary art to create interactive experiences for metaverse goers that more closely emulate IRL experiences.

In Decentraland’s third annual Metaverse Art Week held on Aug. 24–28, curators turned to new ways to utilize digital space to bring more interactive and true-to-life experiences of art. 

The metaverse world modeled its latest virtual festival after the real-life Biennale art event, which utilizes public space to display art. Visitors to the in-real-life (IRL) festival can walk around spacious pavilions and working parts of the city to engage with artists and brands outside of traditional gallery walls.

Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, the events and community producer for Decentraland, commented to Cointelegraph on this year’s design concept.

“The core value of this year’s art week is to unframe the art in spatial experiences. For that, what we did is to repurpose public space in Decentraland.”

In the digital world, art galleries and exhibitions aren’t new. Digital nonfungible token (NFT) art galleries have been implemented by companies like Spatial, and traditional art houses like Sotheby’s are active in hosting NFT art events. 

Sculpture exhibition from visual artist Nick Knight in Art Plaza in Decentraland Metaverse Art Week Source: Decentraland 

In Decentraland alone, there are six major art galleries hosted by big-name NFT marketplaces such as Rarible, SuperRare and KnownOrigin.

What makes this event different is the way in which visitors interact with the art. Decentraland expects sizable engagement based on metrics from past events such as Metaverse Fashion Week, which saw 108,000 unique visitors, according to the foundation. 

The quality of metaverse events and avatars is a major discussion in the industry after feedback regarding quality in events like Metaverse Fashion Week. Mark Zuckerberg of Meta was recently met with criticism over the quality of avatars available in its new digital experiences. 

Casimiro said this is a top priority for the Decentraland team in developing these events:

“Our team really worked hard in bringing new mechanics to Decentraland so that a lot of those art installations have an unedited interaction.”

This can be seen in action through Opensea’s infinite gallery, where users can stand in an interactive hall of endless moving art. According to the team, the employment of such a mechanic in its metaverse is a first and the community will be able to use it in the repository.

As engaging as digital art design can be, for new users, accessibility is still an issue. Across the industry experts highlight education as a key factor to break down barriers to entry. 

Casimiro told Cointelegraph that creating accessibility and educational components to digital events is critical to keep users engaged. 

“In the long term we need to always come out of the metaverse with actual knowledge. I am a big believer that we need to use the metaverse as an instrument of communicating knowledge and making it accessible to people.”

Interactive art galleries, poetry readings and digital performances are the next frontier in metaverse engagement. In July, metaverse infrastructure company Condense released new technology to live stream IRL events into the digital world.