If we can compare the Metaverse to the internet, HTML has not yet been invented, and we are still in Plain Text mode. From a tech perspective, the Metaverse is still in its earliest stages.”
Amber Ghaddar is an ex-JP Morgan trader turned serial entrepreneur in web3. She’s a recognized voice in the field where she’s often quoted on CNBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, Nasdaq, and BBC. She’s a Fintech Times’ Rising Women in Crypto Powerlist 2020, Innovate UK Fintech Senior Leaders Standout 2021, European Women in Finance 2022 and Top Women in Crypto 2022. Amber is also an advisor to governments on crypto regulations and hedge funds on crypto strategies.
London, UK This futurist started her career in Global Investment Research at Goldman Sachs London, and moved to the Cross Asset Solution team at JP Morgan London in 2012, where she worked on structured and exotic products across Equities, FX, Rates, Credit and Commodities. She then spearheaded the Macro Systematic Trading Strategies effort at JP Morgan London, focusing on fixed income dynamic risk premia trading strategies.
Amber is one of the masterminds behind participative capitalism and calibrocracy having been invited to world-class events (Davos, TEDx, UN Women, and Money2020) to talk on the subject. She is also a guest lecturer at EDHEC Business School in Nice.
Her focus is on linking web2 with web3 at AllianceBlock. Amber’s initial concentration has been the financial industry but has begun to embrace and explore gaming, social media and entertainment sectors. G-Nation is a new project she’s working on that aims to create a digital nation with never-seen-before economics and governance. She also launched one of the largest accelerators for women founders in Europe – The 200 Billion Club – with more than 100 VC partners.
“Women represent 50-percent of the world’s population, but women CEOs lead just 24 companies on the Global 500 list – a mere 4.8-percent of the world’s largest businesses. The 200 Billion Club aims to change the status quo by increasing funding towards women founders and CEOs.”
The Metaverse and web3 create limitless opportunities. Amber believes this emerging technology presents the perfect opportunity for social change and to drive the future of work. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote and hybrid work setups. What was a niche movement three years ago is now a worldwide phenomenon. However, the importance of office camaraderie can’t be denied, and current remote work setups fail the human connection test.
“We must adapt and implement new technological features to bridge the collaboration gap for hybrid and distributed workforces. And I strongly believe the Metaverse will be the solution,” Amber enthuses.
“My G-Nation – which I’m building with An Coppens – is a gamified Extended Reality Metaverse, initially optimized for offices and corporates instead of hunting virtual boars to amass virtual loot. We enable corporates to configure their office spaces for productivity-boosting interactions, personal well-being, and immersive experiences to improve employee retention, break log-jams, and enhance overall workplace camaraderie.”
Asking Amber about the impact of the Metaverse on people’s lives, the world and the future of technology, Amber says its possibilities are 1 2 boundless. According to her, the ultimate consequence of the Metaverse will be the creation of digital nations. “A nation used to be a community of people formed based on a combination of shared features, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, and territory. However, Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman famously said, ‘The world is now flat.’ We define a nation as a community of people unbound by borders, generating a dignified living regardless of language, history, ethnicity, culture and territory.”
According to Amber, web3 caters mainly to developers at present. Similar to the internet in its early days, Amber believes that not only more and more SDK (Software Development Kits) but also more accessible UX and UI (User experience/User interface) must be built to increase adoption. Additionally, web3 exists in a regulatory grey zone and requires better regulations to protect investors/players and actors. She sees this to be the f lavor of 2023.
Amber spent most of her teenage years living in emerging markets with socialist, capitalist, or autocratic economies. She doesn’t believe the current form of Nordic socialism could work everywhere and doesn’t believe the current version of capitalism is healthy, either. “The 2008 crisis left us with an ever-expanding wealth gap between the top 1-percent and the bottom 50-percent. And this leads to an increase in extremism on the right and left of the political spectrum. I have always believed that a wealthy economy, where the wealth gap between the top 5-percent and bottom 50-percent is not as staggering as it is today, is a stable economy.”
She feels governments have failed citizens – both in developed and developing countries. Amber has envisioned a way forward with web3 and the Metaverse: “Participative capitalism leveraging web3 can be a viable solution to create wealth but most importantly to create stability in an ever-changing world.”
When asked what advice she would give to women wanting to join this new world she states that understanding coding and blockchains are primordial. She continues, “I advise everyone to go onto Coursera to learn more. With the internet revolution, we had access to collective intelligence, and it is easy to be kept up to date on the numerous advancements in the field. Crypto Twitter is a good source, and subscribing to online news outlets should be a must-do, too. The Bigger Pie is one of the most active women’s communities in blockchain – and one I advise to join.”
Web3 is a generational revolution, believes Amber. “Who would not have wanted to be one of the first Apple, Facebook, and Amazon employees? And, who would not have wanted to build the Apples, Facebooks and Amazons? We’re busy doing that right now – only for a better future.”
