New YouTube CEO Optimistic About Web3 Technology, Such as NFTs and the Metaverse

Neal Mohan was chosen last week to oversee the Google-owned streaming platform after outgoing CEO Susan Wojcicki announced her resignation after more than seven years as the company’s chief product officer.

His rise is encouraging for Web3 technology supporters and proponents.

Wojcicki published a blog post announcing her departure. She praised YouTube’s “amazing leadership team” and said Mohan would be a “terrific leader” for his participation in the creation of businesses like YouTube TV and YouTube Music.

In addition, Wojcicki lauded Mohan for his thorough knowledge of YouTube as a company and as one of the most well-liked gathering spots for social groups. Wojcicki wrote, “He has a great understanding of our company, its operations, its user and creator communities, and its workers.”

The popularity and reach of YouTube as one of the most well-known websites worldwide cannot be underestimated. The website saw an average of 74.8 billion visitors per month from September to November of last year, placing it second only to Google in terms of usage, according to Statista.

Mohan has had an open mind about the development of the internet and its various platforms during his lengthy stint sculpting YouTube’s offerings.

He revealed in a blog post from last year that YouTube was considering how it might incorporate Web3 technology, whether by “making YouTube more immersive” by utilizing the metaverse or by utilizing NFTs, distinctive digital tokens that are frequently used to establish ownership of online material.

According to Mohan, “we think new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can empower creators to cultivate deeper connections with their followers. There are many factors to take into account to make sure we use these new technologies properly, but we think there is also enormous promise.”

NFTs, for instance, could be a compelling, “verifiable means for fans to own unique movies, images, art, and even experiences from their favorite creators,” according to Mohan, who also said that it would enable producers and audiences to engage in novel ways.

Although the use of the metaverse is still in its infancy, according to Mohan, YouTube will “try to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive.”

The term “metaverse” was first used in 1992 by author Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel “Snow Crash,” but popular projects like The Sandbox and Decentraland use blockchain technology to establish the ownership of digital land and other assets, despite the fact that the concept of a metaverse isn’t specifically built around it.

Throughout the past year, Google has also increased its reliance on Web3 services. The Blockchain Node Engine, a cloud-based tool for Ethereum applications and developers, was introduced by the business in October.

The service gives the digital assets sector the “reliability, performance, and security [users] expect from Google Cloud compute” by hosting and automatically managing individual nodes that contribute to a blockchain’s network.

The following month, the IT titan disclosed that it would also include support for the Solana Blockchain in its Blockchain Node Engine expansion, which was scheduled to be live in the first quarter of this year.

The network’s long-awaited “merge” transition to a less energy-intensive method of confirming transitions received support from Google last September. Google’s search engine included a “doodle” that displayed various statistics regarding the change in power consumption of Ethereum as well as a countdown to the completion of the procedure.

Some well-known workers of YouTube have fully embraced Web3, such as Ryan Wyatt, its former Global Head of Gaming, who left the company after seven years to become CEO of Polygon Studios in February 2022 and is now President of the company’s rebranded Polygon Labs.

Recently, Watt said to Decrypt that he sees similarities between YouTube and Polygon, an Ethereum-based sidechain that aims to outperform its rival by providing faster transactions and lower fees while acting as a platform for other blockchains to be able to communicate with one another.

In the sense [that] it’s a platform, and you’re helping others onboard onto it, there are many similarities between YouTube and Polygon, he said. All different kinds of creators have been posting gaming videos up until the present, when games and other projects are being developed.