Accenture, the global service provider and consulting firm, has once again shown interest in web3 and crypto. Senior managing director David Treat spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. According to Treat, metaverse-enabled features might simultaneously change business models and open up new revenue sources. These include AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), and the ability to tokenize “identity, money, and things”
In a recent survey, the firm stated that by 2025, the metaverse could open a trillion-dollar worth of business opportunities. Nearly 9,000 customers were polled for the survey. More than half (55%) believe that the metaverse presents an economic potential for producing and selling content.
Regardless, metaverse initiatives took a hit in 2022 with the onset of crypto winter and a brutal bear market. Investor sentiment changed, and attention began to flow into surviving the cold.
Nevertheless, Treat claims that the key is to create “architectural patterns”, that foster user confidence in the event that something does go wrong.
Treat stated that,
“That requires some governance, audit control, and ability to think through the hybrid structures that we’re working with to do that in different creative ways.”
The Accenture exec on crypto self-custody
According to Treat, portability is the future of self-custody in crypto. Treat says that users should be given the choice to transfer their data and cryptocurrency to other locations.
Treat further mentioned,
“I need to be able to bring that object, and the identity that I’ve received or my money and take it to a different digital context. And if that’s a different ledger with a different wallet, that’s a pretty dystopian outcome.”
The practice of self-custody took the center stage towards the end of 2022, with the collapse of the popular crypto exchange, FTX. Although facilities for self-custody have been around for quite some time, clients often trust their assets with the platform.
After the FTX episode, wallet tokens began to rally big, with a sudden in-flow of capital and interest. Crypto proponents have been pushing for self-custody for a long time, and it appears that Accenture also believes along those lines. Moreover, Treat’s opinion is quite valid. Users should have complete control over their digital assets, identities, and other things.
