Abstract
A Metaverse provides an immersive and linked experience for individuals similar to what is depicted in the book “Ready Player One”. Experiences will be enabled by VR headsets, gaming systems, desktop computers, smartphones, etc., while there will likely emerge several metaverses which in turn will need interconnection. Thus, the Metaverse may be portrayed as a platform that utilizes networking to build an open ecosystem in which different platforms co-exist to serve all users. One key technology for the Metaverse is a distributed consensus system (DCS), underpinning a set of distributed applications, most notably for cryptocurrency and asset management in general, often characterized as blockchain-based trading platforms. But the use of DCSs is not limited to applications. We assert that for a true Metaverse experience, and to prevent metaverse silos, there will need to be DCS-based security between the various metaverse platforms interconnected by the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Key for such security is the permissionless notion in its participation to enable a truly open ecosystem, while also addressing key performance aspects such as low latency across the various interconnections. This position paper highlights various opportunities for integrating DCSs with BGP in order to provide a secure and interoperable Metaverse architecture, and we propose a BGP Blockchain system as one area for additional BGP route security. We further propose the necessary elements needed in order to address key performance aspects in such a BGP Blockchain environment.
