Every day, there’s news about the metaverse. And if we go too many days without broaching the subject, you’d think that Finshots isn’t keeping up with the times. So, in today’s story we talk about marriages and the metaverse.

The Story

Unless you’ve been taking a (probably well deserved) year-long break up in the mountains, you’ll at least have a faint idea what the metaverse is about. But for argument’s sake, let’s say you don’t.

Here’s how Mark Zuckerburg defined it.

“It’s a virtual environment where you can be present with people in digital spaces. You can kind of think of this as an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at.”

In summary, the metaverse is a digital universe — where you can interact with your friends, meet them on occasions and even party with them if you so desire. You can spend millions of real money to buy virtual land. You can buy digital-only sneakers from companies like Nike. And now you can even have your wedding ceremony in the metaverse. That’s right! Last week, the New York Times wrote about a couple who decided to get married in the metaverse.

And here’s how it happened.

The ceremony was staged by Virbela — a company that specialises in building virtual environments. And while this is in fact the first time they’re hosting a wedding inside the virtual world, they’ve been doing a lot of other exciting things for a while now.

For instance, this orientation event for one Mexican Software company. New employees can attend the event, partake in team-building sessions, experience the organization culture and also participate in a scavenger hunt that carries groups from one place to another — only everything is happening inside a virtual world. It's crazy to imagine, we know. But take a look at these pictures and you should get a sense of what we are talking about.

The company also hosts virtual seminars, education sessions, and as of today — weddings too.

So anyway the couple got hitched inside Vibrela’s virtual world and attendants from all over the world could participate without much hassle. And herein lies the beauty of virtual weddings. You can let your creativity run wild at a fraction of the cost. You could hold your wedding at the fanciest hotels in New York City. Your menu could have truffles foraged from the forests of Europe. Your guest list could be massive. And they could gift you NFTs — tokens that will always belong to you and items that represent real value. People can live out all their fantasies even if it’s only through a digital avatar.

Sure, you could argue that it’s all impersonal and a bit of a sham for the most part, but for people seeking an affordable alternative, this could be it. And it doesn’t just have to stop with just the virtual experience. It could go much further if you only got the blockchain involved.

The blockchain is a distributed ledger. Everybody in the network has a copy of this ledger and contracts etched here are immutable. You can’t change them on a whim. So if you could somehow execute a smart contract inside the blockchain, you could have proof of marriage. In fact, when Billionaire Brock Pierce wed his wife Rose on the blockchain back in 2018, they put together a smart contract that could be renewed, changed or dissolved annually. And unlike a marriage certificate you could misplace at any time, this document is etched in time forever.

But what about the legal status you ask?

Well, that’s a bit dubious. Depending on the country you live in, you may need a notary and a few other things, but imagine all the possibilities this opens up. If governments get in on the act as well, they could actually legalize this thing and save a lot of money in the process. It could be convenient for the people and it could be convenient for the policymakers as well.

So yeah, while you may still want to have an actual wedding with real people and real interactions, this metaverse thing is unlikely to go away anytime soon.

Speaking of things that last forever, you know what doesn't last forever? Good health. And while a blockchain can solve a lot of problems, the one thing it can't do is protect your downside if your health takes a turn for the worse. What you need instead is an old fashioned health insurance policy and if you're worried about all the complexities involved, talk to us at Ditto. It'll be a breeze, just like that wedding in the metaverse.

Until then...

Don't forget to share this article on WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Twitter