Tuesday July 8, 2025
Why VR Still Hasn’t Had Its Moment
One of the most difficult challenges I’ve faced throughout my career as both an operator and a venture investor is timing. You can have the right vision and the right product, but if the market is not ready, none of that matters. I’ve seen this firsthand more than once.
In the late 1990s, we built a digital printer for the corrugated packaging industry. The technology was well ahead of the curve and attracted real interest. Still, the market was not mature enough to support widespread adoption. Today, that same technology is finally gaining traction, more than two decades later.
We experienced a similar outcome with one of our early digital asset investments. We backed a company that was developing a crypto-based infrastructure for IoT. The idea was sound, the pilot programs showed promise, and the technical foundation was solid. But once again, we were simply too early. The surrounding infrastructure had not caught up, and the adoption cycle never took off.
Virtual reality has followed a similar arc. We have spent a lot of time in the VR space, though fortunately not as much capital. Like many others, I believed VR could reshape how we interact. It has clear potential as a platform for collaboration, immersive education, professional training, and experiential learning. There is no question about its advancements in gaming, but that is where progress seems to have stalled. Even in that segment, the adoption has been limited.
VR has failed to deliver a single compelling use case that demands daily use. Despite years of investment and experimentation, most people do not feel any need to put on a headset. It is not that the technology is broken. It is that no application has yet justified the friction involved in using it. That friction remains substantial. Most headsets are still uncomfortable to wear for long periods. The devices are bulky, and in many cases still require external batteries or connections to processors. While companies like Meta $META have made real progress in reducing costs and improving portability, the experience still feels unnatural for most users.
Price remains another barrier. Meta’s Quest headsets are more affordable, but high-end systems like Apple’s $AAPL Vision Pro or Valve’s Index still require a significant financial commitment. When users make that kind of investment, they expect something transformative. What they often get instead is a novelty that quickly collects dust.
There is also the issue of physical discomfort. Many headsets still produce latency or visual lag that can cause nausea or dizziness. For years, investors joked that your gut would tell you whether or not to invest, and in the case of VR, that was sometimes true in the most literal sense.
The broader problem is that the industry has largely treated VR as an entertainment platform. While that works for some audiences, most people are not looking to escape into a virtual world. They are looking for tools that integrate into their real lives. The market has missed an opportunity to position VR as something more useful and more productive. Most people do not want to enter Ready Player One’s OASIS. They want to stay grounded and gain value from augmented capabilities, not disconnected simulations.
I have had the opportunity to test newer devices that blend virtual and augmented reality. Some are more like glasses than traditional headsets, and others attempt to offload processing to smartphones. The hardware is clearly improving, and pricing is moving in the right direction. But these gains will only matter when someone builds the software that makes the entire experience worthwhile.
The space needs a breakthrough application that transforms VR from a niche experiment into something essential. That application must save people time, improve their ability to communicate, or deliver meaningful insight that cannot be achieved through a traditional screen. Until that happens, VR will remain on the sidelines of the tech conversation. It will continue to attract interest, but not commitment.
I still believe in the long-term potential of the technology. It will eventually be integrated into our daily lives, but the shift will not be driven by hardware alone. It will happen when software delivers real, repeatable value to the average person. That is the signal we are still waiting for and when it comes, timing will finally be on our side.
◾ CoreWeave $CRWV is acquiring Core Scientific $CORZ in a $9 billion all-stock transaction. (Corewave)
◾ Robinhood’s $HOOD plan to offer tokenized equities in Europe is under review by its EU regulator, Lithuania’s central bank. (CNBC)
◾The SEC released guidelines clarifying disclosure requirements for crypto asset exchange traded products. (Sec.gov)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ The US government transferred $200,000 in seized ether to Coinbase $COIN suggesting a possible sale. (X)
◾ The US will impose new limits on AI chip exports to Malaysia and Thailand in an effort to curb rerouted semiconductor flows into China. (Bloomberg)
◾ Shenzhen regulators issued a warning against illegal fundraising involving stablecoins.. (Sz.gov.cn)
◾ The SEC asked spot Solana ETF issuers to address feedback and refile updated S-1 documents by the end of July. (CoinDesk)
Financial Notices & Public Company Releases
◾ IREN $IREN June operating update:
Bitcoin production: 620
Total hash rate: 41.1 EH/s
Bitcoin mining revenue: $65.5 million
AI cloud service revenue: $2.2 million
◾ Bit Fufu $FUFU June operating update:
Bitcoin production: 445
Bitcoin holdings: 1,792
Total hash rate 36.2 EH/s
◾ CleanSpark $CLSK June operating update:
Bitcoin production: 445
Bitcoin sold: 8
Bitcoin holdings: 6,591
Total hash rate 20.4 EH/s
◾ Hive Digital Technologies $HIVE June operating update:
Bitcoin production: 164
Total hash rate 11.4 EH/s
◾ Canaan $CAN June operating update:
Bitcoin production: 88
Bitcoin holdings: 1,484
Total hash rate 6.57 EH/s
◾ Strategy $MSTR reported a $14 billion unrealized bitcoin gain in Q2, along with a $4 billion deferred tax expense. (SecFiling)
◾ Murano Global Investments $MRNO will keep its real estate and resort focus while using operational cash flow to build a bitcoin treasury through a $500 million equity deal. (Murano)
◾ Bit Digital $BTBT generated $172 million from bitcoin sales as it shifts to an Ethereum-focused treasury approach. (PRNewswire)
◾ Semler Scientific $SMLR grew its bitcoin holdings to 4,636 BTC ($500 million) in Q2, recording a $90 million unrealized gain. (SemlerScientific)
◾ Genius Group $GNS raised its bitcoin treasury goal from 1,000 to 10,000 BTC. (GlobeNewswire)
◾ Amber International Holding $AMBR secured $25 million in a private placement to fund its institutional crypto reserve strategy. (PRNewswire)
◾ The Smarter Web Company $TSWCF added 226 BTC ($24 million), raising its BTC total to 1,000 ($108 million). (SmarterWebCompany)
◾ France’s Blockchain Group purchased 116 BTC ($12.5 million), bringing total holdings to 1,904 BTC ($205 million). (Theblockchaingroup)
◾ Blockchain Venture Capital $BVCI completed its acquisition of a 51% stake in Toronto-based crypto and fiat advisory firm Lumunus FX. (Newsfilecorp)
◾ Hyper Bit Technology $HYPE is financing a lease for 11 MW of Dogecoin and Litecoin mining equipment. (Newsfilecorp)
◾ Hyperscale Data $GPUS is launching a validator node on the Solana blockchain through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ault Markets. (GlobeNewswire)
◾ Grayscale Investments rebalanced it quarterly weightings for its multi-asset DeFi Fund $DEFG, Smart Contract Fund, and AI Fund. (GlobeNewswire)
Restructuring, Hacks, Losses & Legal News
◾ The US Court of Appeals approved a motion to dismiss the case between the Treasury Department and Coin Center regarding sanctions on the Tornado Cash crypto mixer. (TheBlock)
◾ Microsoft $MSFT has shuttered Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 laying off over 100 employees. (GamesIndustry.biz)
AI Announcements
◾ Meta $META hired the Apple $AAPL executive who led AI model development to join its Superintelligence team. (Bloomberg)
◾ Unilever $UL plans to leverage AI to shift its brand marketing strategy from TV-first to social-first campaigns. (MarketingDive)
◾ AI inference company Groq is launching its first European data center in Helsinki, Finland. (PRNewswire)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Telegram’s Open Network clarified it is exploring a UAE golden visa with a licensed partner but no plans are finalized or approved. (Cointelegraph)
◾ Metaplanet’s $MTPLF CEO plans to leverage the firm’s bitcoin to acquire “profitable…cash-flowing businesses” in the future. (FT)
◾ Elon Musk confirmed his new America Party will support bitcoin, stating “fiat is hopeless.” (X)