Coinbase wants a piece of the metaverse. But instead of building its own virtual world, the crypto exchange is focusing on how to manage people’s identities within this three-dimensional, immersive version of the internet. The company’s goals could put it at odds with tech giants like Meta Platforms, which plans to spend $10 billion on its metaverse division by the end of this year.  

Coinbase sees the metaverse as a series of interconnected virtual worlds that will use blockchain technology to verify payments, identities and ownership of digital goods, according to a blog post published Thursday by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Alex Reeve, an identity product lead for the company.