Across the metaverse landscape, digital assets worth billions of dollars remain trapped inside platform-specific ecosystems, unable to travel with their owners to new virtual environments. From blockchain-locked NFTs to format-incompatible 3D objects, the technical and commercial barriers to cross-platform portability are proving more formidable than early optimists anticipated. This investigation examines how walled gardens took root, who benefits from keeping them intact, and what emerging ope
Jul 11, 2026