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Decentraland Just Hosted The UAE’s First Metaverse Wedding
After the online ceremony, the couple held a metaverse afterparty where they interacted with those who joined and partied for hours.
When two people from different parts of the world decide to get married, they face many difficult challenges, and one of them is figuring out the logistics of getting their family and friends to attend the ceremony.
After all, plane tickets are not cheap, and not everyone is healthy enough to travel thousands of miles. Florian Ughetto and Liz Nunez, the owners of Easy Wedding Georgia, have come up with a truly cutting-edge solution: they decided to get married in the metaverse.
More specifically, the couple walked down the aisle in their own private Decentraland plot on May 19, accompanied by close family, friends, and select guests.
“We dreamt of flying in our family and friends from France and Paraguay to Dubai to attend our wedding. However, Covid and legal hurdles played spoilsport. That is when we decided to take things to the metaverse,” said Florian Ughetto.
During the wedding, their avatars were dressed in a black and brown suit and a white dress, both of which were purchased on OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace. As they exchanged their vows and said, “I do,” their guests were enjoying the ceremony from the comfort of their own homes using laptops and smartphones.
After the online ceremony, the couple held a metaverse afterparty where they interacted with those who joined and partied for hours.
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The biggest challenge Florian Ughetto and Liz Nunez faced when organizing the metaverse wedding was ensuring that everyone had a stable connection to the internet. To be extra safe, they had recorded backups of their vows at hand, but, fortunately, they were not needed.
The fact that people are already getting married in the metaverse even though the new iteration of the internet is still in its infancy goes to show just how huge its potential is, and it will be interesting to see what its impact on our lives will be a few years from now.
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Lebanon Ministers Meet Visa Over National Digital Payment Platform
Finance and technology ministers say a comparative study and roadmap will follow before any decision on adopting a model.
Lebanon’s finance and technology ministers met representatives from Visa last week to discuss a proposed unified national digital payment platform for government services, according to a readout from the Ministry of Finance.
The meeting brought together Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence Kamal Shehadeh, a Visa delegation, and experts from both ministries. Discussion focused on whether Lebanon could establish a single platform through which citizens and institutions would pay taxes, fees, fines and other official transactions electronically, using mobile phones and other digital channels.
The Visa delegation presented examples from countries that have adopted unified government payment platforms, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Estonia and Jordan. According to the readout, the examples were presented as having increased collection rates and expanded financial inclusion.
Talks covered settlement mechanisms, direct transfer to the treasury account, financial reconciliation, risk management, cybersecurity, fees, and an operational model that would involve the private sector. The parties agreed to continue technical and institutional consultations, prepare a comparative study, and develop an implementation roadmap before any decision on adopting a model for Lebanon.
Jaber said the Ministry of Finance had already enabled citizens to pay using credit cards and e-wallets through transfer companies, but described the proposed platform as a further step. He framed the development of electronic payment and collection systems as a priority within the ministry’s modernization plan.
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Shehadeh outlined the citizen-facing concept as a single mobile application through which users could settle obligations to ministries, government institutions and other bodies.
“The idea, in short, is that any citizen downloads an application on their mobile phone, through which they can pay all service obligations for all ministries, government institutions, or those owned by the Lebanese state, and others as well, as the platform is not limited only to state institutions,” he said.
Shehadeh added that the platform would not displace banks and money transfer companies that currently provide collection services to the state, calling it complementary to their work.
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