Defining (and Finding) the Opportunities in Metaverse Payments

The metaverse of today isn’t like the metaverse of old science fiction. In fact, it’s not one thing at all, but many virtual worlds, each with its own opportunities for players in the payments space. While the metaverse is a future opportunity—possibly even existential—for companies such as Meta, there is also a metaverse that is happening right now. Even as real users conduct real commerce in actual metaverses today, broad adoption in the short term faces substantial real-world barriers. These include the technical limitations of current networks and hardware, a lack of clarity around legal frameworks governing products developed and sold in metaverses, and the simple fact that consumer behavior takes time to change.

This Javelin Strategy & Research report looks at metaverses today and how they might evolve. It also lays out a framework for a layered metaverse payments stack to help payments companies identify their best opportunities.

Key questions discussed in this report:

• What is the metaverse—and, more important, why are there actually metaverses?
• What are the opportunities for companies involved in the payments space and how will they emerge?
• What should payments companies do now to prepare for the coming metaverse future?

Companies Mentioned:

Apple, Comcast, Fortnite, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Minecraft, Nokia, PayPal, Pokemon, Qualcomm, Roblox, Samsung, Snap, Square, Sony, T-Mobile, Walmart