Metaverse- A short summary into future
The topic of the metaverse has become the new mainstream in crypto in recent months. After studying several articles and resources, I concluded that while the topic is blurred, it looks more like a voiced idea than some kind of real space.
I believe in the prospect of this direction, so I will try to figure out what the essence of the idea is, what projects are or classify themselves as meta, and how interesting this direction is for investors. Ideally, I want to test a thread myself, so it is assumed that the article will be in several parts.
What is it
Metaverse ( Metaverse ) - the idea of a virtual three-dimensional world, designed to enhance and complement the real. Different companies, development teams can create their own virtual worlds, which together in the future will form a single metaverse.
Also, the concept of "metaverse" is used to describe the future new version of the three-dimensional Internet Web 3.0, characterized by a higher degree of user presence.
The metaverse has a literary prototype - the metaverse from the 1992 novel Avalanche by science fiction writer Neil Stevenson. In the novel, the author uses the concepts: avatar, monorail, smart box, etc., and his main character is a hacker, programmer, one of the creators of objects in the metaverse.
One of the reasons why the idea has flared up so much lately was Facebook's announcement of plans to create the Metaverse and rename itself Meta. According to their concept, in the future the whole world will turn into a mixed reality, in which objects and phenomena from the real and virtual worlds will interact in real time.
Facebook presented its developments of gadgets for virtual reality: tactile gloves that will allow you to touch virtual objects, the AR Project Cambria headset with facial and eye tracking technology, AR Project Nazaré glasses, which will be equipped with a holographic display, a projector, chips, cameras, sensors and speakers.
Besides Facebook, other large companies are also developing metaspaces. For example, Microsoft in 2022 plans to launch its own metaverse by updating Microsoft Teams, where user avatars will be able to hold conferences and exchange documents in the virtual world.
Nike launched its NIKE LAND metauniverse on the Roblox video game platform, where users can gather, compete, and share experiences. In the future, it is planned to conduct online versions of world sports events, for example, online basketball, football matches.
By and large, the modern Internet is already a metaverse, with its resources, social networks and games. Mark Zuckerberg calls the future metauniverse a voluminous Internet, the pastime in which will be of better quality.
For me, as of today, the closest in implementation to the idea of the metaverse are computer games. They contain the architecture of the worlds, storylines, events, communication between players, and the internal economy. Moreover, the game may completely lack 3D effects, but this does not prevent it from being its own universe. As a fan of Civilization III (an old toy), I know very well what it is like to get stuck in the game world for several days 🤦♂️
If you fantasize, then the future Metaverse for the user will be presented as a single virtual world with many spaces. Where, having put on VR gadgets, you can try on your avatar a suit bought in a virtual store for coins earned on virtual Mars, and go to a virtual bar to drink beer with the avatars of your colleagues.
Blockchain and Meta
Blockchain technology provides new opportunities for the development of the idea of the metaverse. This is the creation of a new management system and digital economy through the use of cryptoinstruments: transactions, wallets, tokens, pools, NFTs, etc.
For example, tokens will be money and voting rights, a wallet will be a point of entry into the world, pools will be banks, marketplaces, and NFTs will confirm ownership of objects in the virtual world.
Also, the blockchain gives the technology of compatibility of various virtual spaces into a single world. Using the example of building some blockchains based on others (on BSC, Ethereum, etc.) and creating bridges between them. Or building a blockchain ecosystem with a single baseline that provides overall security (e.g. Polkadot, Kusama).
Blockchain projects
There is no unified accurate classification, there are no criteria for classifying crypto projects as Meta. For example, the same Coinmarketcap and Coingekko, using the Metaverse filter, produce a very different list of projects. Despite the fact that none of them will fit the ideal type of the future metaverse.
But the current "meta" crypto projects work in this direction and develop components, prototypes of the future virtual world. Having studied several sources, so far I have conditionally divided the projects of the Meta sector into two types: game and functional.
Game projects or world projects
Blockchain games of the GameFinance or Play & Earn format that combine game, DeFi tools and NFT. Such games can be played and earned either directly by coins that are quoted on the market, or game objects that can be sold for crypto or fiat on marketplaces.
There are a lot of projects, some of them have not figured out yet. If someone knows a rating resource for game projects that takes into account financial metrics, write in the comment, it will be a useful addition.
The leaders in the Cape capitalization rating are Axie Infinity (AXS), Decentraland (MANA), SANDBOX (SAND), MyNeighborAlice (ALICE).
In Axie Infinity, you can breed Axies creatures and earn SLP tokens that are traded on the open market. Sandbox, Decentraland, MyNeighborAlice are different projects with the same idea of a virtual world in which you can own virtual land, real estate, items that can be resold or leased. The projects run on the Ethereum blockchain. I have not checked it yet, but there is a suspicion that the transaction fees are appropriate there 😅
I will note the Bloktopia (BLOCK) project, I have not heard about it before, the reader told the details. This is a skyscraper world with 21 floors, in which users will be able to receive income from renting real estate, advertising spaces, etc. The project works on the Polygon blockchain, is in the Coinmarketcap rating, and if it tests it, then an additional note to the article is possible.
There are also game projects at BSC. Of those that have a decent rating on Cape, I note MOBOX - the gaming platform combines profitable farming and NFT, and Alien Worlds - a virtual space world that also combines DeFi and NFT technologies.
Functional
These include projects that create and can provide the infrastructure of future worlds or have a connection with the real world right now.
For example, these are the city tokens of Miami and New York - MiamiToken (MIA), NewYorkCoin (NYC), which have already been launched and are planned to be used to participate in management and generate additional income for the city and residents.
Infrastructure tokens such as Theta, which provides decentralized video sharing, or Filecoin, a decentralized storage project.
How true it is to attribute them to Meta I do not know, this is a subjective assumption.
Investments
Meta is trending and many development teams are launching new projects. Time will show which of them will be successful in the future. Large investors have already announced their intention to invest in meta projects. For example, Gemini will allocate funds for investment, and its owners have already bought land plots in the Sandbox and are planning to introduce the functionality of the exchange into this virtual world. KuCoin Labs has announced the launch of a $ 100 million fund to invest in metaverse projects. Binance Labs invests in young startups, including the meta business.
According to Grayscale, the revenue of companies / projects from the metaverse sector in the coming years may reach $ 1 trillion. As you can see, this is a big and tempting cake for large players, but the market is so young and huge that there are enough pieces for micro-investors here too 🙂
Finally
I consider the topic Meta still "raw", at the same time promising.
I plan to choose one of the projects and test it as an overview as I do for DeFi sites. At least until the moment when you have to invest significant funds or pay large commissions.