Nobody can say what the prospects of the metaverse will hold or how far out in the future it will fully materialize. Still, companies see the opportunity and are placing wagers now. Investment bank Citi recently predicted a metaverse market at between $8 trillion and $13 trillion by 2030, with some five billion users. Banks JPMorgan Chase and HSBC now have footprints in the metaverse. And, of course, late last year, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, an unmistakable indication of where CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees the future of the social media company. But while the opportunity may be enormous, figuring out how to make money during the development stage is another story; profits are further down the road. Case in point: Roblox, a game platform company, has millions of users playing in its metaverse but hasn't yet posted any earnings.