The advancement of digital payment ecosystem in metaverse: A literature review

Abstract

Metaverse, a virtual space created as a digital version of the real world, is currently under development. Over the past two years, there has been a significant rise in scientific research on the metaverse. However, prior research necessitates a methodical examination of the literature on developing the metaverse environment, particularly with regard to payment ecology. To bridge this gap, we reviewed 40 journal articles related to the metaverse digital payment ecosystem and offer recommendations for future research. We refer to the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews” (“SPAR-4-SLR”) procedure for carrying out a thorough review of the literature. Bibliometric analysis was also performed for the thematic observations. The results reveal five clusters in the Metaverse digital payment ecosystem: (1) metaverse reality, (2) technology, (3) data analytics, (4) blockchain, (5) non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other tokens. Metaverse digital payment ecosystem research is still somewhat scattered and has no significant theme. Furthermore, this study provides a path for future research on the stability of the payment ecosystem and the metaverse regulatory framework.