Understanding the metaverse and its future

Rahul Sood, CEO of Irreverent Labs (creators of MechaFightClub), explains the metaverse and its future.

Rahul is a blockchain gaming creator, Bitcoin & NFT collector and an investor in Maingear, Quaze, Vrvana, & ZED. Prior to this, Rahul was CEO of Unikrn (acq’d by Entain), created Microsoft Ventures and founded VoodooPC.

How would you define the metaverse? 

The metaverse is an augmentation to the existing world that we live in, where you can be walking down the street and see augmentation through your glasses – the data and characters you pass are things take place in a parallel universe.

What is the point of the metaverse for society?

The point of the metaverse and augmented reality is about providing information to help you make smarter decisions to enrich your world as you go about your everyday life.

There’s a lot of really great things that can happen in the metaverse, especially within gaming and entertainment. Roblox recently had a Gucci bag sell inside it for more than a Gucci bag is actually worth in real life.

How can there be more than one metaverse, and what is the potential for them to interact?

Decentralised worlds like The Sandbox, Decentraland, and ZED RUN are all building different metaverses with specific niches, for example ZED RUN has a metaverse all about horseracing, where you own thoroughbreds and can take them into different words.

How far away is the metaverse from being a reality for the average consumer? 

Within a year to two years. What I find amazing about this space is the infinite possibilities. It has the potential to change family reunions where even though you might live in different corners of the world you could get together and play games.

What are you most excited about in the metaverse?

My new company that I started, Irreverent Labs. I’m completely blown away with the momentum and investor interest in the space, and it’s been the highlight of my career.

Is the idea of companies spending millions on virtual land far away?

It’s not far away at all, but it’s important to be careful where you’re buying land from. Just because someone says ‘I’ll sell you some virtual land’ does not necessarily mean it’s a good thing.

What have been your biggest learns in this space so far?

Regulators still don’t fully understand how to regulate the metaverse. It’s an exciting space and there’s tons of opportunity, but the legal opinion on what you are building is only worth the paper it’s written on – you need to do your research.

This episode of What’s on the Block? is hosted by Maxine Ewing.