📔 Weekly Journal: $35 Trillion Dollar Industries Of The Future
[6 min read] Your weekend guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier. Today, the usual market news as well as everything you need to know about Industry 5.0
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Journal 📔, your guide to the latest news & innovation in emerging technology, digital assets, and our exciting path to the Metaverse. This is week 107 of the 520 weeks of newsletters I have committed to, a decade of documenting our physical and digital lives converge.
New subscribers are encouraged to check out the history & purpose of this newsletter as well as the archive.
- Ryan
🌐 Digital Assets Market Update
To me, the Metaverse is the convergence of physical & virtual lives. As we work, play and socialise in virtual worlds, we need virtual currencies & assets. These have now reached mainstream finance as a defined asset class:
🔥🗺️ 7-day heatmap below, showing the current share of the market for the top cryptocurrencies, and their change in price over the last week.
🎭 Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces.
🗞️ Interesting news from this week
A new report highlights that advancements in Industry 5.0 could generate $35 trillion across 164 emerging markets by 2035, reshaping the global economy. Driving this growth are ten mega themes, including AI, hyperconnectivity, energy transitions, electrification, and autonomous systems. The industrial metaverse, alongside 5G and 6G technologies, will create a hyperconnected ecosystem worth $12.3 trillion, while AI advancements, such as causal AI and automation, will contribute $10.6 trillion. Sustainable energy and mobility solutions are forecast to add $8.9 trillion and $2.7 trillion, respectively, with electric vehicles and green hydrogen playing pivotal roles. Meanwhile, innovations in healthcare, agriculture, and space exploration promise to revolutionise industries, leveraging breakthroughs in robotics, genomics, and AI-driven diagnostics.
As Christmas approaches, the festive spirit is taking a high-tech turn into the metaverse, a digital universe where users interact much like they do in the physical world. In this expansive digital realm, traditional gifts are being swapped for virtual goods ranging from designer apparel to cosmetics and concert tickets. Major brands like Nike, Gucci, and Disney are diving into these virtual spaces, offering unique experiences that merge real and digital worlds. Hosted on platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, these brands are setting up interactive ventures such as Nikeland and Gucci Garden, enhancing consumer engagement through immersive activities. According to Professor Jana Bowden from Macquarie University, the metaverse is not just a shopping destination but a revolutionary way for brands to interact with consumers, offering everything from virtual try-ons to digital concerts.
Wilder World has captivated gamers worldwide with the release of its gameplay trailer, now trending as the 9th most wishlisted game on the Epic Games Store. The trailer, heralding Wilder World’s 2025 release, dazzles with high-speed racing, intense FPS combat, and vibrant social interactions, all set in a stunningly realistic metaverse. This groundbreaking platform, powered by AI, blockchain, and NFTs, promises a player-driven economy that blends the thrill of gaming with the innovation of digital ownership. Wilder World stands out by integrating Web3 technologies seamlessly, ensuring a smooth experience even for gamers new to blockchain. The game is set for a super early access launch in Q1 2025, offering players economic autonomy through an on-chain marketplace, utilizing $WILD tokens and NFTs. Experience the future of gaming in Wilder World's new trailer and sign up for early access at Wilder World Early Access Registration
.
👓 Read of the Week: 2025 Will Be the Year of Decentralization: 5 Predictions
In a pivotal forecast for 2025, the COO of Unstoppable Domains predicts a major shift towards decentralisation, catalysed by the groundbreaking success of Bitcoin and innovative decentralized technologies like DePIN. After Bitcoin's historic rise to $100,000 in 2024, the next year is poised to see its potential as a foundation for global strategic reserves, with potential valuations reaching up to or exceeding $1 million. The DePIN technology, enabling users to earn passive income by utilising their computer resources, is set to redefine ownership and earning power, promising up to 5% of an average income without effort. Additionally, meme-coins are anticipated to gain legitimate business utility, fostering new community-driven projects. Moreover, Time Magazine may break tradition by awarding its Person of the Year to a humanoid AI, reflecting the profound impact of robotics and AI on society. The year could also mark a shift from traditional Google searches to AI-driven alternatives, revolutionising how information is accessed and utilised.
🎥 Watch of the week
In the race to dominate the emerging metaverse, Meta, formerly Facebook, has taken a prominent stance, rebranding and investing billions into this virtual, interconnected universe. Mark Zuckerberg's vision involves transforming Meta into a metaverse pioneer, projecting a potential user base of a billion by decade's end. In this weeks watch, explore how Meta is leading the charge into the metaverse, betting big on its potential to revolutionise how we connect and interact online. Despite the challenges and evolving market dynamics, Meta's commitment to developing this new digital realm underscores its vision of an immersive, interconnected future. Tune in to discover how Meta aims to transform the digital landscape through innovation and investment.
AI 🎨🤖🎵✍🏼
In the Metaverse, AI will be critical for creating intelligent virtual environments and avatars that can understand and respond to users with human-like cognition and natural interactions:
Artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as a transformative force in 2024, unveiling secrets of the past and accelerating scientific discovery. In the Vesuvius Challenge, AI deciphered over 2,000 characters from ancient Herculaneum scrolls carbonised in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, offering unprecedented insights into Roman and Greek history.
Meanwhile, machine learning illuminated patterns in sperm whale communication, bringing researchers closer to decoding marine mammal "languages."
Archaeologists also leveraged AI to map over 1,300 previously unknown Nazca Desert geoglyphs, doubling the known figures in mere months. Additionally, AI-driven tools like AlphaFold revolutionised biology, predicting 3D structures of nearly all known proteins and facilitating breakthroughs in medicine.
Despite its promise, AI remains limited in areas like predicting protein mutations and raises ethical concerns over biases in decision-making systems. Nonetheless, 2024 cemented AI’s role as a "superpower," reshaping our understanding of the past and the building blocks of life.
That’s all for the free version this week! If you have any organisations in mind that could benefit from learning about emerging technology, be sure to reach out. Educational workshops are one of many consulting services I offer.
DCA With Me 🤑
Dollar Cost Averaging is an investment strategy in which an investor regularly invests a fixed amount of money into a particular asset/asset class at regular intervals, regardless of its current market cycle. By doing so, the investor can reduce the impact of market volatility and potentially earn a better return over time. Motto = time IN the market beats trying to time the market
To experiment with this, I invest $50 NZD into a Digital Asset every week. Each week I will choose an asset that seems underpriced in the short term and has positive long-term potential. My timeframe is 3-5 years. I don’t give financial advice but if you want to follow along with me you can use my easycrypto.co.nz referral link to support this newsletter. Let’s dive into this week’s pick:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Metaverse Field Guide to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.