Mark Zuckerberg announces "a wallet for the metaverse"

Meta Pay's post mainly focuses on what the company hopes to build in the future: "a wallet for the metaverse." While Meta Pay is the same tool as it was earlier, just branded as Meta, Zuckerberg says the company is working on something that will allow users to manage their identities, items, and payment methods as they navigate the digital world Meta bet will be the future.

The company has hinted at these plans before: Its May announcement of the Meta Pay rebrand also mentioned that it was "scoping out what a single wallet experience might look like" with regards to making payments and storing your identity and digital items. Zuckerberg's post, though, focuses primarily on how the company's metaverse wallet will enable proof of digital ownership; he mentions how it could be used to create and buy "digital clothing, art, videos, music, experiences, virtual events, and more."

The concept of a wallet proving you own digital items is much like crypto wallets containing NFTs. And while Zuckerberg's post doesn't mention blockchain at all, the company has recently been working on integrating NFTs into Instagram and Facebook. Still, the company hasn't said if it plans actually to build its metaverse using crypto or if it will just take inspiration from it. (As per Meta's history, the latter may be the better option; its attempt to create a real cryptocurrency did not end well, and it is reportedly looking for a non-blockchain-based digital currency.)

Zuckerberg also shares that the plan is for the Meta wallet to be interoperable, allowing it to bring its products into "any metaverse experience." While Zuckerberg admitted he's not sure what cross-company interoperability will look like, Meta recently helped form a standards group to get everyone on the same page regarding language and technology related to the metaverse.

The wallet Zuckerberg details is likely a long way off, mainly if it's meant to be interoperable by standards that don't yet exist. However, that hasn't stopped the company from selling digital items in the meantime; You already have a store that sells clothes for your digital avatars.