The Metaverse is an evolving technology that leverages the Internet infrastructure and the massively connected Internet of Everything (IoE) to create an immersive virtual world. In the Metaverse, humans engage in activities similar to those in the real world, such as socializing, working, attending events, exploring virtual landscapes, creating and trading digital assets, participating in virtual economies, and experiencing entertainment and cultural activities. By using advanced technologies such as IoE, extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and 6G communication, along with blockchain technology, the Metaverse bridges the physical and virtual worlds. In particular, Blockchain-Enabled IoE (BIoE) will play a crucial role in Metaverse applications by ensuring secure service provisioning through the integration of blockchain with IoE. It efficiently manages the massive connectivity of physical world objects and enhances security, integrity, and decentralization of trust, while increasing resilience against failures, thus securing and fostering trust in both physical and virtual Metaverse networks. While some view the Metaverse as a detached virtual world, technologies like mixed reality and digital twins highlight the need for complementarity and interactive co-existence between the physical and virtual worlds. Blockchain facilitates this co-existence by providing a secure and trusted framework for integrating and synchronizing data and activities across both environments, developing trust through the reliability and authenticity of interactions and transactions. However, despite substantial advancements in related fields, there remains a significant gap in comprehensive surveys that address the integration of AI/ML, 6G, and blockchain in the Metaverse. In this paper, we fill this gap by examining BIoE’s capabilities in bridging the physical and virtual worlds and securing Metaverse applications across various domains, such as immersive energy grids, immersive healthcare, and immersive living. We explore BIoE’s role in service provisioning in the Metaverse, including access control, privacy protection, authentication, attack identification, and trust management. Additionally, we present a detailed taxonomy of existing literature, discuss novel use cases, and explore the synergies and practical implementations of BIoE in Metaverse applications. Finally, we address current challenges and propose future research directions to advance the field of BIoE in the Metaverse.

中文翻译：

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万物互联与元宇宙相遇：用区块链连接物理世界和虚拟世界


元宇宙是一项不断发展的技术，它利用互联网基础设施和大规模连接的万物互联 （IoE） 来创建一个身临其境的虚拟世界。在元宇宙中，人类从事与现实世界类似的活动，例如社交、工作、参加活动、探索虚拟景观、创建和交易数字资产、参与虚拟经济以及体验娱乐和文化活动。通过使用 IoE、扩展现实 （XR）、人工智能 （AI）、机器学习 （ML） 和 6G 通信等先进技术以及区块链技术，Metaverse 将物理世界和虚拟世界连接起来。特别是，区块链支持的 IoE （BIoE） 将通过区块链与 IoE 的集成来确保安全的服务供应，从而在元界应用中发挥关键作用。它有效地管理物理世界对象的大量连接，增强安全性、完整性和信任的去中心化，同时提高对故障的弹性，从而保护和培养对物理和虚拟 Metaverse 网络的信任。虽然有些人将元宇宙视为一个分离的虚拟世界，但混合现实和数字孪生等技术凸显了物理世界和虚拟世界之间互补和互动共存的必要性。区块链通过提供一个安全可信的框架来集成和同步两个环境中的数据和活动，通过交互和交易的可靠性和真实性来建立信任，从而促进这种共存。 然而，尽管相关领域取得了重大进展，但在解决 AI/ML、6G 和区块链在元宇宙中的集成的综合调查仍然存在巨大差距。在本文中，我们通过研究 BIoE 在桥接物理世界和虚拟世界以及跨各个领域（如沉浸式能源网、沉浸式医疗保健和沉浸式生活）保护 Metaverse 应用程序的能力来填补这一空白。我们探讨了 BIoE 在元宇宙服务提供中的作用，包括访问控制、隐私保护、身份验证、攻击识别和信任管理。此外，我们还提供了现有文献的详细分类法，讨论了新的用例，并探讨了 BIoE 在 Metaverse 应用程序中的协同作用和实际实施。最后，我们解决了当前的挑战并提出了未来的研究方向，以推进元宇宙中的 BIoE 领域。