The web3 / metaverse economy could be an $8 trillion to $13 trillion total addressable market by 2030, according to a Citi research report published in March 2022.
Web3 and the Metaverse are shaping a new application layer for the internet that represents a huge opportunity for brands that are able to strategically integrate it into their overall marketing strategies.
The bank’s definition of the metaverse goes beyond sticking to virtual worlds, like gaming and applications in virtual reality. Citi’s broad vision of the metaverse includes smart manufacturing technology, virtual advertising, online events like concerts, as well as digital forms of money such as cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
Under this umbrella, the metaverse could see 5 billion unique internet visitors by the end of the decade, driving trillions of dollars in revenue in this next-generation of the internet, the bank said.
Citi is just the latest banking giant to call the metaverse and web3 a trillion-dollar opportunity. In research published in December, Goldman Sachs put a $12.5 trillion number on the space, in a bullish outlook that assumed one-third of the digital economy shifts into virtual worlds and then expands by 25%.
Bullish forecasts from Citi and others come even as investments tied to the metaverse have underperformed of late. A huge amount of money already has flowed to companies addressing the space, meaning some of the growth is already baked into equity prices.
