Vitalik Buterin states Meta will ‘misfire’ with its metaverse
Co-founder of Ethereum admits ‘we don't really know the definition of the metaverse yet’
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin does not believe that any of the current “corporate attempts to intentionally create the metaverse are going anywhere”, adding the attempt by Meta will “misfire”.
In response to Dean Eigenmann, co-founder of Dialectic, Buterin said via Twitter that the metaverse “is going to happen”, but he does not believe any “existing corporate attempts to intentionally create the metaverse are going anywhere”.
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In the same Twitter thread, Buterin targeted Meta, formerly Facebook, and explained because nobody fully understands “the definition of the metaverse yet” and as it is “far too early to know what people actually want”, anything “Facebook creates now will misfire”.
Meta is one of 35 companies that have signed up to the Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF). The MSF “provides a venue for cooperation between standards organisations and companies to foster the development of interoperability standards for an open and inclusive metaverse, and accelerate their development and deployment through pragmatic, action-based projects.”
Microsoft, Alibaba and Sony are also members of the MSF, which states any company is free to join.
Meta facing Federal Trade Commission lawsuit
Buterin’s remarks come after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg on 27 July to stop it acquiring technology company Within Unlimited and its fitness app, Supernatural.
In a statement, the FTC deemed the acquisition illegal as Meta is already a participant in the broader market of virtual reality fitness apps with its Beat Saber app. If Meta and Within Unlimited remained separate entitites, the FTC added that they could naturally spur each other on and “keep adding new features and attract more users, competitive rivalry that would be lost if this acquisition were allowed to proceed.”
