By Michelle Price

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The growth of online virtual worlds will help advance the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies for payment transactions but it won’t be a game-changer, according to Frédéric Chesnais, chief executive of French fintech company Crypto Blockchain Industries.

Metaverses are blockchain-based virtual worlds that allow users to trade and purchase virtual assets using cryptocurrency. Many analysts believe the rising popularity of metaverses could lead to an increase in digital tokens.

Chesnais was the former CEO of Atari, a videogame company. He said that he believes it would be crucial but not the turning point.

After Facebook (NASDAQ) announced in October that it would change its name to Meta, and will be focusing its efforts on creating its own virtual world, the metaverse was in high demand. Smaller fintechs and large corporations are also working together to create digital worlds.

Crypto Blockchain Industries invests heavily in blockchain projects, and is currently working on AlphaVerse – a blockchain-based metaverse.

Chesnais claimed that mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency will be driven by more than 1 billion people around the world who lack access to a bank account. This is because they don’t have an address nor an official identification.

He stated that cryptocurrency is the only way these individuals can have better quality of life.

“This is the most important moment for crypto.”

On Wednesday, Yat Siu, the chairman and co-founder Animoca Brands — which invests in and builds various virtual worlds — cautioned https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/digital-assets-face-bumps-road-amid-china-like-growth-metaverse-investor-yat-siu-2021-12-01 that while digital assets are set to grow as virtual worlds become more popular, investors in these technologies will face “bumps in the road” as the technologies mature.

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