The metaverse presents a momentous opportunity, but also brings about new challenges. The World Economic Forum is bringing together government, academia, business and civil society to guide the development of a safe and inclusive, equitable, interoperable and economically viable metaverse.

Policymakers should act quickly to gather macroeconomic impact data to inform the design of regulatory frameworks and create standards that are custom-made for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

The Japanese government is developing a new system for digital governance known as the 'trusted web'. This shares some of the democratizing elements of Web3, but prioritizes trust and verification of information. The trusted web could offer a way to govern the internet transparently and safely, without the downsides associated with over-concentration of power.

Despite global financial instability, central bank digital currencies (CBDC) are emerging as high priorities for central banks.

Technology can be a stabilizing factor in a changing world, enhancing business resiliency. Chief digital officers should scale use of data and artificial intelligence, while investing on emerging technologies, such as quantum computing. The roadmap to meeting the 2030 SDGs rests on competitive and responsible development of technology by business.

The metaverse will have its biggest immediate impact not in the consumer sector, but on industry and business. Digital twin technology is already in widespread use across industry, in fields including shipping and aerospace. We will develop many technologies for the industrial metaverse that will make their way into the consumer metaverse.

We're cautiously optimistic a carefully designed CBDC could give a new payments tool with best features of cash, digital payments and crypto. Success will require thoughtful design of the CBDC intermediary ecosystem, and supporting options like self-custody and strong privacy.

2022 was a terrible year for cryptocurrencies, with the loss of $2 trillion in market value. We could now see the handover of crypto technology and blockchain infrastructure to more regulated and established institutions. Cryptography and blockchains will continue to be integral parts of the modern economic toolkit.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain are revolutionizing the exchange of value – as the internet did for the exchange of information – however the need for industry reform is clear. Cryptocurrency’s use cases vary worldwide with more uses possible with emerging web3 technologies.

The global Web3 market was worth an estimated $3.2 billion in 2021, and is projected to continue growing. There is likely to be a changing policy landscape for Web3 innovators, and an increased use of decentralized social media. There will be more tokenization of assets, and increasingly mainstream use of blockchain technology.