Experts Predict the Metaverse Will Be Worth Trillions of Dollars. Will You Invest in It?
The metaverse is a virtual world where anyone can work, play, and learn. It may sound like sci-fi fiction but that’s because Neal Stephenson’s novel Avalanche inspired it. Since its inception, the metaverse concept was brought to life recently when tech titans such as Meta and Microsoft announced their intentions to enter the arena. Meta (formerly Facebook) is spending $10 billion this year developing its own version of the metaverse. However, BigONE believes this is only the beginning.
What is the metaverse?
The metaverse as a concept is still evolving, and there are several different definitions. However, the simplest way to understand it is to imagine the metaverse as an interconnected virtual universe. You don’t need a virtual reality device to access it; you can enter this new virtual world using a computer browser or even your smartphone.
The metaverse concept’s success is its independent economic system, with cryptocurrency serving as the sole payment method. Sandbox (SAND) and Decentraland (MANA) are the two top blockchain metaverses we currently have access to, and users can use their tokens to buy or store any item in these virtual worlds. The fact that users can buy and develop virtual real estate in these virtual worlds is the main reason for their popularity. Land sales in the metaverse have already attracted a lot of money, with Sandbox alone generating $86 million in transaction volume in the last week of November 2021, a record high.
Users can upload their creations into The Sandbox marketplace, where first they are registered as ERC1155 tokens (ASSETS) on the Ethereum blockchain. These ASSETS can then be bought and sold using the SAND token. This is an Ethereum-based game that, like Axie Infinity (AXS), follows the GameFi “play to earn” model. The Sandbox now has more custom settings for users to choose from, and it places a greater emphasis on player created NFTs. Users can create their own games and NFTs, as well as conduct transactions to gain benefits. Underlying its asset credentials going into 2022 Sandbox has announced several collaborations in recent months, including with NFT marketplace OpenSea, celebrity rapper Snoop Dogg, and TV show The Walking Dead. At the same time, it recently completed a US$93 million financing round.
NFTs are used to purchase land and other metaverse items. Because NFTs are essentially digital certificates of ownership, users can own any item they create or buy in these virtual worlds. Speaking at the recent Paris ETH event EthCC Ben Lakoff, co-founder of NFT-protocol Charged Particles, discussed the role of NFTs in the metaverse, highlighting NFTs as in-game items and in the metaverse as examples: “There’s actually a new publicly traded exchange-traded fund, META. In your brokerage account, you can now get exposure to the metaverse plays that are publicly traded. And then Epic [Games] has raised US$1bn to support their long-term vision of the metaverse. These are big, big numbers,” Lakoff said. There is undoubtedly demand for permissionless, trustless financial services with a high transaction rate for a metaverse to function optimally. However, the metaverse would also necessitate a large amount of data to be stored and unaltered, where blockchain technology comes into play. This is certainly another area for investment opportunity, evidenced last year for example when Valencia-based startup Internxt recently raised $1 million in funding with its decentralized storage solution.
Some predict that the overall market value of metaverse will reach trillions of dollars.
Furthermore, experts believe that the metaverse can penetrate all areas of the global economy. It will go beyond the gaming and consumer goods industries to play a vital role in every corner of people’s lives. As reported by This is Money website in an article looking at investment opportunities in the metaverse equity strategist at investment bank Jefferies, Simon Powell said: “A single metaverse could be more than a decade away, but it has the potential to disrupt almost everything in human life that has not yet already been disrupted.” Fund managers and investment analysts are therefore excited about the potential investment opportunities that accompany the creation of this parallel digital world, the article concluded.
Will you invest in the metaverse?
While the metaverse has the potential to become a multi-trillion-dollar industry, it is still in its infancy. We don’t yet know how they’ll play out or which metaverse projects will garner the most attention or traction. While we don’t know when it will be successful, it has become mainstream in the blockchain space as more and more people talk about metaverse’s virtual world.
The participation of several large corporations worldwide could make the metaverse a unique opportunity. However, the challenge ahead for investors is that these large companies may prefer to launch their crypto wallets and tokens rather than rely on existing decentralized cryptocurrencies. It is unclear which path the mainstream metaverse industry will take in the future. Indeed, Ben Rogoff, of investment trust Polar Capital Technology, says that rather than Meta that in fact Apple has the most potential to bring the metaverse to the mainstream, for example with a stylish AR (augmented reality) headset product.
The price of the metaverse cryptocurrency is currently rising as many investors fear missing out on their next opportunity to make a fortune. This is an excellent place to start if you already own some metaverse cryptocurrency. However, if you are thinking about purchasing metaverse cryptocurrencies, BigONE advises you to think about it carefully before deciding which one. Because speculation frequently drives the price of cryptocurrencies to unsustainable highs, overall prices are expected to possibly fall further in the coming months. There may be significant benefits to investing early, but risks will also be that many projects will fail too.
As with any cryptocurrency investment, the golden rule is don’t invest more than you can afford to lose, and make sure the cryptocurrency you buy is from a reputable crypto exchange such as BigONE. To avoid being swayed by the fear of missing out (FOMO) in your investment decisions, it is critical to research and learn thoroughly about each metaverse project before investing.
