Introduction : Blockchain, Metaverse, and Digital Payments

Abstract

The development of blockchain, metaverse, and digital payment technologies has pushed the boundaries of digital transformation even further—from financials to many other industries, most notably healthcare and education. Blockchain technology is widely recognized as a distributed ledger records transactions in a secured decentralized manner, thus eliminating the need for central control. Initially developed to support cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, blockchain’s applications have expanded significantly in recent years. For example, it enables the execution of smart contracts and secure data management in finance, supply chain management, and healthcare. Its innovative features like decentralization, immutability, transparency, and security make it a breakthrough in ensuring tamper-proof and reliable record-keeping (Beck et al., 2017). Blockchain also addresses privacy and security challenges, making it suitable for diverse applications from personal data processing in compliance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (Nofer et al., 2020) to Internet of Things (IoT) integrations (Ghiro et al., 2021).