Solution
Web3 and Metaverse
Web3 and Metaverse
Everyone’s buzzing about web3 and the metaverse, but what are the real-world implications for companies and investors? We'll help you find the answers.
If the web’s second generation introduced interactivity, web3 is poised to change interaction itself. Enabled by digital identity and powered by blockchain technologies, the Internet’s third iteration is more open and decentralized—ushering in an entirely new digital economy.
Web3 has the potential to introduce new opportunities across a variety of sectors, yet it will impact many industries’ profit pools by removing the traditional intermediaries in value exchange. Tokenization, blockchain payment rails, and decentralized finance (DeFi) are pushing financial institutions to rethink business models and market structures. Digital rights ownership (NFTs) will enable consumer brands to reimagine loyalty programs, engagement, and brand experience. Moreover, the metaverse will transform the way people engage with technology and commerce, propelling companies to rethink how they interact with customers in new virtual environments.
We help you unpack web3’s implications and establish a future-back view of how it could impact your industry. We assess opportunities and threats, reimagine your business model with new digital experiences, support product launches, and chart a course for long-term value generation. Our web3 and metaverse consultants bring experience from many fields, having completed more than 100 cases with clients ranging from incumbent financial institutions and leading private equity investors to consumer products companies, retailers, media and gaming companies, and even web3 natives. In a rapidly shifting landscape, we’ll help you separate the noise from the strategic actions you must take to prepare, adapt, and ultimately thrive in the next digital era.
Our Experience
Our Experience
100+
Cases for PE and growth investors, incumbent financial institutions, and industry organizations
Featured Insights
Our Core Industries
Our Core Industries
Private equity and financial investors
We help investors identify real pockets of value in this emerging ecosystem, understand how web3 trends may affect portfolio companies, and prepare for long-term changes to alternative asset management on the horizon.
Financial services
With expertise at the intersection of financial services and web3, we help firms navigate disruption—whether by launching new web3-related products, using digital asset rails for core infrastructure, or exploring how traditional markets might evolve with tokenization.
Consumer products
As consumers become increasingly digital native, how brands connect with them—and even the types of products they sell—have changed. We help brands bypass the short-term hype and understand how web3 and metaverse applications can drive sustainable value.
Retail
The rise of digital goods and fully virtual, immersive commerce in the metaverse presents new opportunities for retail platforms. We help clients understand the practical application of these technologies and the long-term potential to better connect with customers and grow markets.
Media, sports, and entertainment
Web3 and the metaverse will fuel firms’ expansion into new frontiers. We can help you identify value-generating opportunities, whether it’s using web3 tech to find new monetization models for IP, creating new fan experiences, or building new virtual worlds.
Tech
Powering the rise of web3 and the metaverse are the technology companies—hardware and software—that provide the infrastructure for these new ecosystems. Our deep cross-industry web3 and metaverse experience assists firms in building support for the right use cases and needs.
Web3 and the Future of Banking
Web3’s growing role in financial services is poised to shake up business as usual, creating ripple effects in everything from transactions to regulation to recruitment. We sat down with Morgan McKenney from Provenance Blockchain Foundation, Alejandro Valenzuela of Banco Azteca, Kelly Mathieson of Digital Asset, and Himal Makwana of FIS to understand how web3 is propelling the future of banking.
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Web3 Talent
The Talent Dynamic in Emerging Digital Financial Services
As financial services firms prioritize attracting talent, web3 creates new opportunities to make the industry more inclusive. Recognizing that building capabilities and platforms requires diversity of thinking, leaders are broadening their talent search. At the same time, the democratization of finance ushered in by web3 may help firms draw candidates who value mission-based, purpose-led companies.
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Regulation
Protecting and Regulating the Financial Digital Asset
The nascency of a legal framework poses a significant barrier to adopting financial digital assets. Mortgages on blockchain, for example, offer benefits to all parties—but the asset requires legal protection. UCC article 12 broadens the digital asset range to be legally protected, but there’s still work to do.
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Digital Identity
The Intrinsic Link Between Web3 and Native Digital Identity
Digital identity may be every customer’s most important asset, but it’s the weakest link in the blockchain landscape, says Morgan. While credentialing and security solutions are still being built, one thing that’s certain is that each of us will ultimately control our own identity assets. Moving past the experimentation phase, however, will require mainstream adoption of the digital asset ecosystem, along with banks’ leadership in creating solutions.
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Future of Finance
Blockchain and the Evolution of the Digital Financial Factory
Blockchain. NFTs. Crypto. These buzzy words percolating in the public consciousness today will, in a mere decade, describe the new “factory of finance”—how assets are issued, financed, and serviced. As Morgan explains, this shift will address inefficiencies in financial services, enable more real-time settlement, improve asset liquidity, and boost transparency. Get ready for the self-checkout line of finance.
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Stablecoins and CBDC
The Changing Nature of Money
As cryptocurrency transforms finance, very tangible benefits and drawbacks have emerged. With cash offering a sense of privacy, cultural changes will be necessary to go digital. Direct transactions without intermediaries are more convenient and efficient—but remove traceability. Alejandro discusses the evolving state of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and the implications for governments, banks, and consumers.
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Central Bank Digital Currency
Embracing Digital Currency while Preserving the Two-Tiered Banking System
Much like a dollar in our wallet, digital currencies must offer security. There’s an opportunity to advance the current structure—while preserving privacy—by improving depositor risk. For government benefit programs, for example, central bank digital currency allows the issuer to add technological programmability. This offers citizens convenience and certainty of receipt while allowing the government to build rules around how funding is used.
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Web3 Use Cases
The Web3 Use Cases Poised to Transform Financial Services
As Web3 accelerates, three use cases will address users’ pain points—and as a result, foster adoption. Free from the constraints of the traditional financial system, stablecoins meet a growing need for efficient settlement. Enabled by blockchain, smart contracts allow users to move, share, or trade money without being beholden to counterparty risk. Lastly, tokenization increases the visibility of rights of ownership, bringing value to real estate deals, among other transactions.
- Web3 Talent
- Regulation
- Digital Identity
- Future of Finance
- Stablecoins and CBDC
- Central Bank Digital Currency
- Web3 Use Cases
The Talent Dynamic in Emerging Digital Financial Services
As financial services firms prioritize attracting talent, web3 creates new opportunities to make the industry more inclusive. Recognizing that building capabilities and platforms requires diversity of thinking, leaders are broadening their talent search. At the same time, the democratization of finance ushered in by web3 may help firms draw candidates who value mission-based, purpose-led companies.
Protecting and Regulating the Financial Digital Asset
The nascency of a legal framework poses a significant barrier to adopting financial digital assets. Mortgages on blockchain, for example, offer benefits to all parties—but the asset requires legal protection. UCC article 12 broadens the digital asset range to be legally protected, but there’s still work to do.
The Intrinsic Link Between Web3 and Native Digital Identity
Digital identity may be every customer’s most important asset, but it’s the weakest link in the blockchain landscape, says Morgan. While credentialing and security solutions are still being built, one thing that’s certain is that each of us will ultimately control our own identity assets. Moving past the experimentation phase, however, will require mainstream adoption of the digital asset ecosystem, along with banks’ leadership in creating solutions.
Blockchain and the Evolution of the Digital Financial Factory
Blockchain. NFTs. Crypto. These buzzy words percolating in the public consciousness today will, in a mere decade, describe the new “factory of finance”—how assets are issued, financed, and serviced. As Morgan explains, this shift will address inefficiencies in financial services, enable more real-time settlement, improve asset liquidity, and boost transparency. Get ready for the self-checkout line of finance.
The Changing Nature of Money
As cryptocurrency transforms finance, very tangible benefits and drawbacks have emerged. With cash offering a sense of privacy, cultural changes will be necessary to go digital. Direct transactions without intermediaries are more convenient and efficient—but remove traceability. Alejandro discusses the evolving state of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and the implications for governments, banks, and consumers.
Embracing Digital Currency while Preserving the Two-Tiered Banking System
Much like a dollar in our wallet, digital currencies must offer security. There’s an opportunity to advance the current structure—while preserving privacy—by improving depositor risk. For government benefit programs, for example, central bank digital currency allows the issuer to add technological programmability. This offers citizens convenience and certainty of receipt while allowing the government to build rules around how funding is used.
The Web3 Use Cases Poised to Transform Financial Services
As Web3 accelerates, three use cases will address users’ pain points—and as a result, foster adoption. Free from the constraints of the traditional financial system, stablecoins meet a growing need for efficient settlement. Enabled by blockchain, smart contracts allow users to move, share, or trade money without being beholden to counterparty risk. Lastly, tokenization increases the visibility of rights of ownership, bringing value to real estate deals, among other transactions.
