Why Metaverse Is Poised To Transform Cryptospace

A few weeks ago, the social media giant Facebook made news because of its decision to change its name to Meta and move from being a social media company to a metaverse one. Up to what extent Facebook's rebranding will bolster its futures remains to be seen. But Metaverse has certainly arrived and is poised to go mainstream. but what, what is Metaverse? The term "metaverse" comes from the world of science fiction where meta means beyond the universe. As the name suggests, these are sprawling universes that users access via a computer or virtual reality headset, allowing users to work and play in a fictional, digital realm. In operational terms, metaverse refers to virtual worlds where it is possible to share land, buildings, avatars and even names that can be bought and sold, usually using cryptocurrency. In these environments, people can walk with friends, visit buildings, buy goods and services, and participate in events. While Big Tech has only recently woken up to the potential of the metaverse, this had been very much thriving in the crypto-world. however, these latest moves by the Big Tech have led to an increased interest in the metaverse-centric cryptocurrency projects and a subsequent price jump.

Rising Metaverse Projects

Decentraland (MANA): Decentraland is one of the best-known metaverse projects out there. It is a blockchain-based virtual reality platform (that runs on the Ethereum blockchain) where users can purchase plots of digital real estate called "LAND". In this metaverse, users can later travel through, build upon, and monetize the plots they buy. LAND is purchased using $MANA, Decentraland’s in-game cryptocurrency token. The aim of this project is to function like a "virtual social world" that mimics the real world. Even if you don't wish to play this specific game, the in-house currency, $MANA is available on all major crypto exchanges: Coinbase, Binance, Kraken. In late October $MANA gained more than 500% in 3 trading days. While its prices have dipped since its steep jump up, $MANA does seem like a good cryptocurrency to hang onto

Sandbox (SAND): Sandbox is another Ethereum blockchain hosted metaverse where people trade digital assets. Users can create a virtual world driven by non-fungible tokens (NFT), where they can build, own, and make cash off of their virtual gaming experience. SandBox plans on disrupting game makers such as Roblox and Minecraft by giving creators the opportunity to develop their own virtual worlds without a central authority. Its in-house cryptocurrency or token is $SAND which has a market cap of almost $2 billion. In addition to buying $SAND on traditional crypto exchanges, you can earn these tokens in gameplay.

Star Atlas ($ATLAS): Star Atlas is not as well-known as Decentraland and Sandbox and its token $ATLAS is only available on two centralized exchanges FTX and Gate.io (at the time of writing). But its focus on space explorations could make it a popular proposition. Star Atlas is a virtual gaming world hosted on the Solana blockchain that takes place in the year 2620. As a citizen of Star Atlas, it's up to you to excel at territorial conquest, political domination and resource collection. Now if you know anything about Solana then you know it's designed to offer the same services that Ethereum delivers, but without the wallet-burning gas fees and poor scalability. So being hosted on the Solana blockchain offers advantages in terms of lower gas fees but given Ethereum's hegemony in the DeFi and NFT space, one wonders how far Solana and the projects hosted on its blockchain could go. In addition to $ATLAS, Star Atlas has another token, POLIS, which is mainly used for in-game governance procedures (e.g. publication of laws and decrees as a Star Atlas leader). Two tokens could prove to be one token too many but this is something only time will tell.

Enjin (ENJ): Enjin is one of the leading nonfungible token and metaverse-focused blockchains in the cryptocurrency space. Enjin Coin (ENJ) is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency used to back the value of next-generation fungibles and NFTs. Earlier this year, Enjin secured $18.9 million in funding from investors, including major crypto exchange Crypto.com to debut Efinity, its Polkadot-based blockchain for the NFT industry. EFI, the native cryptocurrency of Efinity, went live in August 2021 following a $20-million token sale in July.

Axie Infinity (AXS): Axies Infinity is undoubtedly one of the leaders in the play-to-earn blockchain hosted videogame space which is also hugely reliant on NFTs. This game which is hosted on the Ethereum blockchain allows players to earn income through nonfungible tokens (NFTS) and cryptocurrencies by breeding, battling and trading digital pets called Axies. Axies Infinity has a huge fan following in the Philippines with Indonesia and Colombia acting as other major sources of players. In the Philippines, the Axies infinity craze has created a localised innovation, the practice of NFT-lending to allow other players the chance to win their own NFTs.

Axies Infinity has created a mini-economy of its own within the game or its virtual world (called Lunacia). Players can use their in-game tokens — Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and Axie Infinity Shard (AXS) — to buy land, farm, or breed Axies in Lunacia. Like the Axies Infinity (AXS) coin, these tokens also have a monetary value (or can be sold for cryptocurrency). The trade volume for SLP, Axie’s in-game reward token, is now so great that cryptocurrency exchanges BloomX and Binance P2P offer a direct swap between SLP and the Philippine peso. The surging popularity of the game has resulted in a sharp price rise for the AXS token.

However, Metaverse is not all about retinea shattering games and VR headsets. Metaverse could provide additional impetus to the already burgeoning NFT space. While games are an important part of the Metaverse, it is worth bearing in mind that Metaverse is now a new content medium, computing platform, social experience and financial ecosystem rolled into one. NFTs with their immutable blockchain verification could support an open and decentralised economy. Games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft have grown massive economies based on in-game transactions for skins, dances, weapons, etc., but purchases remain locked within the applications. Now, games and other platforms are starting to make such purchases into NFTs, Axies Infinity being a prime example. This part from being financially life-changing is also encouraging mass participation and tokenization of entertainment itself.